Re: Clarification of BPCS-L guidelines

Hi,

I will give my opinion on this since I was personally mentioned several
times. First, thanks for spelling my name correctly.

I am not the official voice of SSA, and I post replies on my own, not
because it is 'my job' or because someone told me to 'watch BPCS-L' . I do
it because I am a AS/400 geek who needs to get a life.  :-)

To tell the truth I have been participating on this forum for over a year
now, under another name. I had people write questions directed to me
previously during a discussion thread that developed, but no one mentioned
anything about that being 'off topic' until I now started to post as
'novakg@ssax.com'.

I honestly do not see anything different about Peter's reply than I do to
any other posting thread that has occurred where someone reports a problem,
someone else posts additional questions to get more specific about the
problem, and then the questions are replied to. The fact that he addressed
his post to "Genyphyr" was out of politeness, and this is done very often on
the list group. I don't see why that is a problem or why it might be off
topic.

More people than myself and Peter participated in this thread, and in fact
my intial advice to him was only partially correct, and the correct answer
to the other part (the BMR at fault for changing the behavior of CEA500BN)
was posted by another user on the list, Rindi Wheeler. So, obviously others
had this same problem/question and it DID indeed apply to more than one
person on the mailing list. Therefore, I don't think the point you bring up
is particularly valid in this case.

This is a mailing list, so naturally it generates e-mail in your mail inbox.
Most e-mail programs have an agent or filter that can put mail from a
particular subject line or what have you into it's own folder automatically
and you can scan and read the mails at your leisure. . .

You can also subscribe to the list under 'Yahoo' 'hotmail' or other free
e-mail address to keep the mailing list mail out of your company mailbox if
you find the numbers of postings to be over-whelming.

Don't count on me for 'insider' SSA news and information. You can do that on
OGS Online - there is an Info Center where you can ask questions about the
future direction of the product, and where official replies are given and
official notices are posted about sunset dates, product bulletins etc..
These questions are directed to the SSA Managers who can provide official
answers. If you don't have access to OGS, you can ask your Sales Rep from
SSA to get this information for you.

I personally would not answer any 'official policy' type questions directly
(is/when there going to be a 6.1.00 cume), unless an official document
already was in existence which I could point someone towards.

My answers regarding ADK versions, for example are only reflections of the
official install instructions that come with that product and the official
support policy of the SSA HelpLine.

In other words, I am not going to give out "inside information" that is not
available elsewhere. I will try to clarify any mis-understandings of SSA's
policies or information if I notice it.

And naturally, some things are truly better handled by a HelpLine call, and
I will say that in my postings when that is my opinion. I am not part of SSA
HelpLine any longer. From working there previously, I notice the majority of
people who post to this list are people who also subscribe to OGS and who do
call HelpLine - so I really don't think this is going to replace or threaten
that in any way shape or form.

In my postings, I often point out how to better use, navigate or understand
the other SSA services that exist, such as OGS, or our custom programming
solutions. Other vendors plug their services here, and as a software vendor
employee, I choose to plug my companies' services when appropriate to the
question at hand. As far as I know, that is well within adherence to the
list guidelines.

cheers,

Genyphyr Novak
System Software Engineer
SSA

"Opinions expressed are MINE - mine mine mine mine all mine"


-----Original Message-----
From: Kevin_Catlin@GM.cytec.com <Kevin_Catlin@GM.cytec.com>
To: bpcs-l@midrange.com <bpcs-l@midrange.com>
Date: Friday, February 04, 2000 2:26 PM
Subject: Clarification of BPCS-L guidelines


     Dean and everyone else:

     I would like to get clarification on the proper use of BPCS-L.

     First, messages like the one below (sorry to single you out, Peter,
     there are many who have done this) that are directed at a specific
     person and regarding a specific problem that one is experiencing which
     does not have broad relevance to other members of BPCS-L should be
     e-mailed directly to the person intended, correct?  I would like to
     ask participants to please do this to reduce the "noise level" of
     BPCS-L.

     Second, I have noticed that Genyphyr Novak of SSA has been an active
     participant of BPCS-L lately.  While it has been beneficial to have a
     direct channel via BPCS-L to someone of her experience level at SSA (I
     too have partaken of her bounty of knowledge in this manner) I would
     hate to see BPCS-L become some kind of "alternate HelpLine" with
     people posting messages to Genyphyr/SSA looking for "official"
     responses here.  I don't expect that Genyphyr or SSA wants it to turn
     into that, either.  I think this also fits into the first point above
     as it is a direct message to a single recipient (Genyphyr/SSA) and
     should be sent via established channels (direct e-mail to her or
     HelpLine).  The response, of course, would also be outside BPCS-L.

     As with anything, there may be exceptions to these guidelines
     especially if there are benefits for many BPCS-L users (personally,
     I'd like to post a message to Genyphyr asking about SSA's plans for a
     V6.1 cume and see what I get back).  I welcome posts from Genyphyr or
     anyone at SSA that fit this category, just as I would welcome them
     from BPCS users.  I guess the thing to remember is that our time is
     precious and our e-mail abundant, so please keep it relevant to all.

     Comments welcomed.

     Kevin Catlin
     CYTEC Industries
     kevin_catlin@gm.cytec.com

______________________________ Reply Separator
_________________________________ Subject: Re: july99cum
Author:  BPCS-L@midrange.com at Internet Date:    02/01/2000 6:19 AM



Hi Genyphyr,
Our users have not instaled july client, we use green screens for ORD. New
client is in me PC only, there was User pref set to interactive, i changed
it to batch.
On ORD700 green screen is user pref. set to Batch.


CPR135D2          BPCS  BIOTIKA a.s. ?IVÉ PROSTREDIE        ICL4022B
31/01/00
Oprava                Správa aktivít servera                HALUSKA
21:41:38


Server
CEA500B Stav servera
Aktívny Spust. rady naèítan

et cetera...

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