Education (was Re: ERP Survey) -- BPCS-L

From Al Macintyre, also BPCS 405 CD

You may notice frequently that the computer news of the world is focused on 
the latest nuisance computer virus, which we in the 400 world do not have to 
sweat & sometimes when there are companies we in contact with sweating this, 
we might thank top management for allowing us to keep our ERP on a computer 
system that DOES NOT GET VIRUSES.

Is your need for better understanding related to BPCS, ERP, the computer 
platform it runs on, all of the above?  Each one has various kinds of 
education available tailored for the beginner all the way up to Jedi Master.  

Where I work, I have people who came up the ranks within production control & 
as they rise into management positions their challenge is often how to 
navigate the mass of BPCS data that can help them understand where we are 
competitive, why some costs are way off, what can be done to improve the 
accuracy of labor & inventory reporting with less hassle for all concerned.  
For such an audience, I think the most useful education is a class in 
Query/400 in which the examples or exercises given are related to using FLT 
file to get at shop floor efficiencies, which files have actual vs. standard 
cost at time of transaction, and just basically data that is familiar & how 
to get at it & manipulate it.  The second most useful is probably how to get 
query/400 data of this kind into GUI.

Check out thread "ERP Education & BPCS Specific" ... I could send you a copy 
of my original post that was too long for this list.

I am both on this list, and others like it, and I also use similar topic 
discussion groups that are structured as message boards, where we can pick & 
choose which threads & have e-mail sent to us automatically when anyone else 
posts there ... I am subscribing to scores of such threads that might have no 
activity for weeks at a time.  In some topics I am a beginner & some topics I 
thought I knew what was what then got surprised.

Perhaps I should take this off-line.
I have also been contemplating doing an IMHO ... where do beginners go to get 
the basics of  ..... ERP, Computer Security, BPCS, some other topics.

> Unlike most on this list I'm not a 'Software/Computer Buff', but a
>  production man who worked his way up from the shop floor. While most of the
>  software part of the discussions go over my head, I do make efforts to 
learn
>  as much as I can from the postings.
>  
>  Hope list members will excuse me if I do put in any 'silly' or amateurish
>  sounding queries.
>  
>  Also, are there any sites / lists meant for beginners /
>  not-professionally-qualified persons where one could gather some background
>  info and form a foundation?
>  
>  Thanks in advance.
>  
>  Bharat

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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