Re: Data Conversion -- BPCS-L

When we converted from BPCS/36 to 405 CD the SSA conversion tool was not able
to handle all of our needs.  Much of this had to do with 36 to 400, and the
fact that we were going from 4 data bases to 4 facilities, but we also dealt
with questions of changing and rethinking our rules to take advantage of
features of new version that were not available under the old version.

One package that was a life saver to us was FILE TRACK from Outlook Computing
which was suggested to us by our consultant.
http://www.outlookcomputing.com

Think of the old / new versions of BPCS being like a jigsaw puzzle, where for
some files you want them populated with default information, for some you
just want to copy over to the new fields with minimal information, and of
course everything has to be in mutual sync.  Well, we were bringing in data
from different places & used file track to avoid any jigsaw puzzle pieces out
of place.

To use file track effectively, you need someone who knows RPG, and you need
people who know your business rules.

We had files like customer master, vendor master, where we wanted one and
only one record to a customer or vendor, combining totals from the 4 data
bases.

We had detail files whose contents needed to be populated with the unique
facility warehouse etc. designations, then otherwise merged into new combined
files.

We decided not to migrate history files, and leave the old reality open for a
year with people pass through to old reality to access history prior to the
conversion.

Certain accounting files such as GL were re-designed, so we had an
environment to get that populated.

The conversion sequence involved doing a regular month end processing the day
before the conversion, and a physical inventory a month later.  This meant
that the volume of unpaid invoices, unbalanced GL journals, unposted
inventory activity, unfinished transactions, and so forth was minimized,
while we had a plan in effect to know a month later how accurate our data
really was.

We transferred customer orders, purchase orders, inventory.  We regenerated
MRP & factory orders on the other side.

MacWheel99@aol.com (Alister Wm Macintyre) (Al Mac)
BPCS 405 CD Manager / Programmer @ Global Wire Technologies Incorporated
http://www.globalwiretechnologies.com = new name same quality wire
engineering company: fax # 812-424-6838

> From: jhandoo@hotmail.com (Jhando p)
>
>  We are upgrading our BPCS from version 4 to 6.1 which involves dynamic
> data conversion from 4 to 6.
>
>  I am being advised to do following by a consultant to convert some of my
>  dynamic data(Using SSA's conversion tool is not an option):
>
>  For AR open documents only RAR is required
>  For open POs only HPH and HPO needs to be converted
>  For GL open balances only GGM requires conversion
>  For AP open documents only Data from APH and APL is required
>
>  I would appreciate your opinion/comments.
>
>  Thanks
>  G