Re: new version and FAQ

[MacWheel99@xxxxxxx]

>  From:    P.Rigole@solar-it.com (Patrick Rigole)

>  Hi all,
>  I'm new to the list (and BPCS).
>  Please forgive me if I'm asking a FAQ question.
>  
>  1) Is there a FAQ?

Not really .. depends on what you are looking for
I would start with OSG & the 3rd party BPCS sites & budget infinite time with 
no definite prospect on when your answers will materialize

>  2) Where can I get information when a new release of BPCS is planned and
>  what the new changes are? (We have 6.1)

Harrass Tech Support & Your SSA Account Representative to keep you informed, 
then every few months harrass them with the same question, then when they 
send you a new release, budget a few months to try to figure out the 
"documentation" that comes with it

>  3) Am I wrong when I say that BPCS is not well documented and that there is
>  almost no technical information on the SSAx site?

You are both right and wrong.

BPCS has a large volume of documention from SSA but the quality of the 
documentation & the quality of its cross-indexing is non-existant. 

There is lots of technical information on the SSAX site but getting at it is 
a nightmare.

Third parties have created what I consider to be excellent documentation, but 
each source is rather limited.  

Nex Gen & other sites have some great downloads of tips & meaningful BPCS 
newsletters you can subscribe to, but you are dealing with pieces of a 
puzzle, not an indexed FAQ that says "If you have this problem ... here is 
where to go to get the solution."

UPI's Manuals on major areas of BPCS is great for end users who need to know 
how all the functions interlink & what all they need to be doing to make the 
ERP work efficiently.  It is useless for explaining what the heck is going on 
behind the scenes when you are trouble-shooting why something went wrong ... 
for that you need the DSL Reference Manual, and your MIS department ought to 
get the IBM Red Book on BPCS performance.

If you go to Midrange dot Com & check out the References section, you can 
find links to many of the sites that have BPCS documentation, but not all of 
them by a long shot, and the way things are organized there, you cannot tell 
just by looking at a link description if it is one that you need for finding 
BPCS documentation.

You also need to check out what the various BPCS Universities have to offer.  
Students bring back lots of useful material from some, and junk from others.

Al Macintyre  ©¿©
http://www.cen-elec.com MIS Manager Programmer & Computer Janitor
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