Re: Wow, I Coulda' Had a V8 -- BPCS-L

Hi Dean,

I'll mention a few things we know about from a technical/administrator
perspective. This informations is also available in our Net Change
documentation, which is available on OGS Online. If the client you are
working with is able to upgrade to V8, and is current on OGS there was no
reason they could not already have this information by viewing that web
site. They could also contact an SSA GT Sales Representative to get this
information.

I don't understand why in another posting you blamed lack of response to
this question on this mailing list for the client deciding to go to 6.1.02
rather than V8. Rather, it appears to me that it was a failure on either
your or the client's part to contact SSA GT using normal business protocols
to obtain this kind of information that lead to the lack of V8 information
they were seeking. Besides the normal modes of contact, there have also been
many 'road shows' that SSA GT has put on about V8 and it's enhancements
where there would have been question and answer opportunities.

It seems rather silly to me that any client or consultant should be using a
mailing list such as this to make such an important upgrade decision when
there are many other ways to obtain this information - calling SSA GT for
example, to request the Net Change document might be something to consider
next time. It would certainly tell you simple things such as whether or not
a user interface had been altered.

Some of the things mentioned in this post are my personal opinion, whilst
others are facts about the software release.

I would say the level of jump from say BPCS CD to 6.0.02 (or 5.2
or whatever to 6.0.01 or whatever that quickly sunset first release was)
compared to
going from V6.0.02 to V8.0.00 is easier by leaps and bounds. The basic
Client/Server interface from 6.x is unchanged, but is improved in ease of
configuration and speed, along with new program functionality and an
improved SMG/interoperable interface.

I don't know much about the conversion from personal experience. From what I
have heard it is pretty solid, since there were not a lot of changed fields
in the releases. If there is a bug found, it will become a BMR, so check
with SSA Support Center (Helpline) for any conversion BMRs before starting
to make things easier. This is true of any BPCS conversion.

The basic client/server user interface is unchanged. Users don't need
retraining on
the user interface, especially if you are coming from 6100 or higher. If
coming from 6004 or 6002, they will need training on the user interface for
the green screen version of the Order Entry product.

The Web Browser Interface to BPCS is available at this release, as it is at
6100, which makes maintenance of the
Client very easy (ie, there isn't any except for Fat Client). All Web
Browser fixes are loaded on the web server, rather than on individual PCs.
Some user
education may be required to get used to the web page navigation when using
the Web Browser if a site chooses to implement this (it is not required, it
is optional but it can be used to replace OPS 'thin' clients if you wish).
This needs to be requested separately if you want to use it - it is not
packaged by default with V8.

With AS/400s, we are using ILE RPG and you will have to train developers on
how to use STRDBG, rather than
the IS debugger. This is relatively simple education. The STRDBG in ILE is
actually interactive - you can step through source whether in batch or an
interactive program - it's just a different interface to get started and a
few different commands. There are available courses from IBM and other
education on how to use this tool. At SSA GT we used a video course that ran
for under 2 hours to give our developers the commands and understanding they
required. It is
always nice if one person on site is more familiar with the STRDBG product
to help others get along for the first week or so, but the learning curve is
very quick.

The AS/SET product itself is again basically unchanged in user interface.
The changes were done to the guts of AS/SET at the generator level. Note
that this version of AS/SET on the AS/400 side does not allow you to specify
ILE binding of
modules or service programs and AS/SET does not allow CALLB. This is being
considered for a future release enhancement.

The objects are also delivered with optimization turned on and debug off, so
that the object size is smaller and performance is better, in addition to
the natural performance gain under ILE.

Improvements were made in the base way the daemons log messages and that
sort of thing, so that errors in workstation settings are easier to
determine if you read the joblog and error message on the screen.

Set up of environments is simplified by replacing the USR, UST, USO, DOCA
and NEWI libraries into a single Environment Control library (EC), so that
all configurations for the environment are in a single place, making the
library list smaller as well. Also, functions were added to SYS600 to
deactivate, and then completely purge BPCS user profiles who are not users
on the AS/400, which should make administrators lives a bit easier.

A user based license key is added to V8 and V8 BPCS installs as a License
Program on the AS/400 in the GO LICPGM menu. This is done automatically in
the BPCS install, and this extra key is required from the SSA GT keys
department. The user key is per box, not per environment, as would be any
License Product key. BPCS installs with a default of 5 users allowed, so if
you don't have this at install time, you can still get into the product to
start set up. Users after the 5th user are denied access until the key is
applied. E-mail can be configured so that an administrator is notified from
the AS/400 when this BPCS user key is going to expire.

This same e-mail program (SENDMAILSV) is a BPCS service program which can be
used in any other custom programs or in modified BPCS to send e-mails from
BPCS programs on your AS/400 to any user you wish. It does need to be bound
to the program which is using it.

BPCS is delivered at V8 with the objects all compiled to adopt the authority
of the object OWNER. This allows easier set up of a secured database, if the
user wants this. The objects are delivered as owned by SSA and the install
instructions instruct users how to set up the higher security levels if they
choose.

For product changes, there is much more detail in the Net Change document
available on OGS.

Thanks,

Genyphyr Novak
SSA GT

----- Original Message -----
From: <DAsmussen@aol.com>
To: <bpcs-l@midrange.com>
Sent: Wednesday, January 16, 2002 4:53 AM
Subject: Wow, I Coulda' Had a V8


> --
> [ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
> Folks,
>
> Has anyone out there upgraded to Version 8 of BPCS?  If not, is anyone far
> enough along in their V8 implementation to point out "gotcha's" in the
> product?  Reports from SSA/GT itself would be welcome.  I have a client
that
> is considering an upgrade from 6.1.01 to either 6.1.02 or V8.  Are the
data
> conversions from 6.1.01 to V8 solid?  Ignoring new functionality, is
> significant retraining required for the user base between 6.1.01 and
> equivalent functions on V8?  How about developers on the V8 version of
ADK?
> Is the V8 jump significantly more difficult than the jump to 6.1.02?  All
> opinions are both encouraged and welcome...
>
> Regards,
>
> Dean Asmussen
> Enterprise Systems Consulting, Inc.
> Fuquay-Varina, NC  USA
> E-mail:  DAsmussen@aol.com
>
> "The greatest joy in life is doing what others say you cannot do." --
Walter
> Bagehot
>
>