Re: Long display device names in BPCS -- BPCS-L

I am familiar with 405 CD ... the rules may have changed on later releases.

I believe the restriction is 7 not 8.

Different applications use different numbers of characters in association
with the first most characters of the work station identification.  The vast
majority of the usage is 8 ... for example, if you look at files with
multiple members, there are a few files that have specially named members to
track like RMA in customer orders for example, but there are a bunch of files
with members to track the work in process by different users with 2
characters designating the type of work.  Also look at member WORK of FLT
that has labor ticket reporting not yet to a conclusion & each user's input
has a work station related batch name within the same member.

There are a few that use 9 & I believe I saw one that uses 7, but I not
remember now exactly where that was.

When we sign onto BPCS we are running BPCSMENU which some people might
consider to be the mother of all CL programs, but I have seen more complex.
BPCS keeps track of who is where on which menu & application using the work
station name truncated & some character(s).  If two or more users were signed
on with a work station-id different by only the last character, BPCS would
not be able to tell who is who ... it would be like you are at a menu & it
jumps on you because some other user just keyed something in using the same
work station identification except for the last character.  Then you key
something & that other user's screen jumps.  You are both using the same
identification.  All kinds of stuff can get messed up.

In a recent set of posts (security topic) there was some discussion of
BPCSDOC & how to access it by version.  You need to look in SSALOG00 within
that file - it talks about the types of objects that utilize display device
names, and should be up to date with respect to Version 6 or whatever you are
on.  There are a bunch of data areas, work files, and members within some
files ... about 20 or so files of BPCS 405 CD.  You need to ask here & ask
your tech support if there are any other objects other than what SSALOG00
spells out ... there may be some holes in BPCS documentation & I would not be
surprised if there is some OSG document talking about this topic since I am
sure it has come up many times before.

You will need to come up with a new naming convention.
Is your company also locked into user names that are long?
If you can use user names that are 6 or less characters long & some other
character to simulate multiple sessions of the new convention, that might be
a starting point for the new convention.

Remember the function of this is to keep track of the work that is being done
BY USER SESSION ... your new naming convention needs to be able to track
stuff on that basis.  I think that depending on how you are using long
display device names, you MIGHT be able to modify BPCS as is ... for example
if you use QPABCDE0001 or something like that with the last few digits unique
... you might use QPA0001 as the input to where BPCS assigns the tracking
system ... ie. strip off middle characters if that will still give you unique
identification.

You will need to research & modify all of the CL that manages access to the
objects that are now identified by a combination of the device name & type of
application ... I am guessing somewhere in the low hundreds of programs
involved.  You may wish to create some program subroutine call that will
extract whatever new replacement information is being used for this purpose,
to simplify your modification effort.

You also need to factor in this modification effort with subsequent BMRs &
other upgrades.  If you seriously planning to move to V8, it will make life
for you easier if you do not modify the few hundred programs involved until
after the move there.

It does not matter if you doing it with inside staff or using some outside
firm to help you, this adds perhaps tens of thousands of dollars cost to the
project, depending on the timing of the two conversions.

You also ought to estimate, for your boss, the work cost involved in
researching & modifying a few hundred programs, even though it is a simple
modification for each one, and what impact that has on time associated with
installing subsequent BMRs, because it may be a company need to research an
alternative to BPCS ... some other ERP that is not locked into this way of
tracking different user sessions.

I recognize that modifying a few hundred programs is a much smaller task than
converting from BPCS to some other ERP, but if you plan on staying current on
BMRs, this topic opens for you a huge can of worms for future company
hassles, so it is important that your boss knows the scale of what he is
asking for.

Al Macintyre

> Hello all,
>
>  We are on BPCS 6.0.02 PLF January Cumulative PTF with many BMR's on top of
>  that.
>
>  I know there is a restriction on the length of display device names to a
>  length of 8.
>
>  My boss has asked me to find a way to allow 10 character device names with
>  the version of BPCS our company is currently on.
>  I can not shorten the device name. That is not an option. (That is what I
am
>  currently doing.)
>  What would I neet to change in order to make the software work correctly?
>
>  We are considering upgrading to V8. Does V8 support 10 character device
>  names?
>
>  Sincerely,
>
>  Chris Ertz

MacWheel99@aol.com (Alister Wm Macintyre) (Al Mac)