BPCS Links & ERP Links -- BPCS-L

I had an idea about something I think the community of folks using software 
packages like BPCS need & I plan to suggest it to some of the trade 
publications.

There have been some recent threads involving folks who are new to BPCS or 
new to AS/400 & I have shared scores of links to key sites, but while there 
is an abundance of places with big collections of AS/400 links, there are 
darn few where links to everything BPCS all in one place & I suspect ditto 
for other major 400 software packages.

My vision is that we would go to one of the web sites associated with one of 
the AS/400 trade publications, or one of the Manufacturing Publications that 
is platform neutral, like midrange erp.

There would be a set of CATEGORIES like ERP, Finance, Education, Government, 
Health ... that corporations use our computers for ... click on one like ERP 
& get a matrix of platforms that it runs on (AS/400, Unix, etc.) & a list of 
major software packages that have a user community that is active on the web 
(BPCS MAPICS JDE & I not know what else) & other areas of interest such as 
vendors that serve that community & buyers guides that compare the add-ons 
... I hazard a guess that MIS has little input to the CHOICE of ERP but once 
we have BPCS or whatever, we are VERY interested in all the different ways to 
connect our legacy ERP to the internet, get reports off of 400 to e-mail our 
customers, know where classes are offered in BPCS, what freeware exists for 
BPCS, be able to find a directory of consultants that serve our home town & a 
vast spectrum of services specific to our ERP & our platform.

There are forums & mailing lists & newsletters & conferences, and for many 
ERPs like BPCS they can be one humongous secret.  A manufacturer buys into a 
particular ERP & all they know about is the vendor that sold it to them.  
Their employees cannot go to local bookstore & pick up "BPCS for Dummies" but 
BPCS FAQ are just a few internet point & clicks away if you only know where 
to start searching ... I know a lot of people disagree with me about the 
quality of this stuff, but I believe that having poor quality incomplete 
information is better than having none at all.

BPCS_L is a gift from the Gods (David & Dean) but how are companies using 
BPCS to find out that it exists & locate it?  Word of Mouth, Accidents?

So I am thinking there are thousands of manufacturers out there using BPCS on 
the AS/400 & similar numbers using other ERP, but when we go to a major web 
site for AS/400 interests there is no ERP linkages page & perhaps there ought 
to be.

Such a page would also have connections to ERP-neutral organizations like 
APICS that help us understand what we ought to be able to do with ANY ERP.

Now perhaps such a web site already exists & somehow it has escaped me.

MacWheel99@aol.com (Alister Wm Macintyre) (Al Mac)
AS/400 Data Manager & Programmer for BPCS 405 CD Rel-02 mixed mode (twinax 
interactive & batch) @ http://www.cen-elec.com Central Industries of 
Indiana--->Quality manufacturer of wire harnesses and electrical 
sub-assemblies - fax # 812-424-6838

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