Re: Asset Question -- BPCS-L

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Terri,

In a message dated 1/24/02 1:55:43 PM US Eastern Standard Time,
THarteau@felkerbrothers.com writes:


>      We are on V6.0.4, mixed mode. I was wondering how other people manage
> their modified action diagrams. We have two sets, V64BPCSUSR & V64BPCSPGM.
> We do all our mods in PGM. The problem is, the action diagram isn't put
> back in USR after it goes into production. The result is in PGM, we have
> mods that never went live, programs being worked on, and production
> programs.  (It's not to hard to manage because we have a small shop.)  The
> big reason they don't get moved is the fact you can't do a replace to
> another set. You first have to delete the action diagram from USER, then
> copy it to there, then delete it from PGM. Is there an easier way to do
> this? I just got lightly burned by modifying a program that had been
> changed previously, but not thoroughly tested. When I put my changes in
> place something unexpected blew up.  Thanks for any input.

Most places I've worked use a change mangement system to handle program
promotions.  SoftLanding (a good one), Aldon (sort of), and MKS (which I've
never used) that I know of utilize an AS/Set interface to promote action
diagrams.  Generally, there is a developer environment (application set name
same as the developer's user profile where the developer tests new functions
independently), a unit or integration test environment (where the developer
tests the program in conjunction with other programs it touches), a Q/A
environment (where the business analysts ensure proper operation from a
business perspective), and production.

A small shop might have problems coming up with the cash for a CMS.  You
don't really need one in that situation, but you _DO_ need to ensure that
nobody modifies production action diagrams without regenerating them.  Sounds
like you need at least one more promotion level, IMO, and you can secure the
production application set by author to keep people out -- although a bright
person can circumvent this security if they're determined to do so.  The
point of securing the application set is to make conscientious people think
before acting, not keeping people with malevolent intent out.

There is no way to circumvent the "existing diagram" error in the "copy set
to set" function.  However, you might check into the undocumented SAVRSTAST
command in ADK.  I've never tried, but the latter command might not care if
the diagram exists already.  If not, you might be able to write your own
promotion tool.

HTH!

Dean Asmussen
Enterprise Systems Consulting, Inc.
Fuquay-Varina, NC  USA
E-mail:  DAsmussen@aol.com

"Nothing is so embarrasing as watching someone do something that you said
couldn't be done." -- Sam Ewing