Re: OLD System-36 version of BPCS question on BIR product.

We used to use BIR when we were on BPCS/36 but use Query/400 for the same
kind of thing today.

I found an old BIR manual, and brought it home for temporary reference (I
do most of my e-mail from home PC) - why don't you contact me off-list to
pump me for info from it, before I let it get buried again.  I also believe
that my boss would be happy to accept some financial offer for some other
company to take this off our hands, provided someone could assure him that
doing so would not violate BIR proprietory legalities.

What I am looking at is V 9.0 BIR copyright 1994 from Martin Spencer &
Associates Limited in New Zealand.  One manual is the User's Guide, another
is Database Setup, and there is also a tiny BIR set of pages labeled
Installation Instructions for AS/36 (remember that?) because we purchased
(for just over $1,000.00 an upgrade for BIR to run on AS/436).  System
Functions menu BIR002 option 6 gets you to BIR Master Security (it says
Authors).

We used to be in direct contact with Martin Spencer until their e-mail
address changed, because we wanted BIR tech support, at a time that SSA did
not seem equipped to do a good job in that area.

Our last contact had them at PO Box 4170 in Auckland New Zealand,  using
the name MSA (Martin Spencer & Associates).  While we call the package BIR
(BPCS Information Retrieval) they had another name for the core package
that BIR was cloned from

When you first installed this on a S/36 or RS/6000 (our manual was written
before AS/400 version) it was given a temporary license to operate for 30
days.  To license permanently to your CPU you must have a 15 digit "key
code" that is specific to the model and serial number of your
computer.  This key code is given to you by your supplier, which needs to
know the serial number and model number of the system you are using so as
to give you a correct key code.

To check your system's model and serial number from BIR: SLIB RTMAS then
GETSN ... On 400 I would use WRKSYSVAL

To enter the 15 digit key code in BIR: SLIB RTMAS then ISSUE
Of course you need to have the 15 digit key code for this to do you any good.

<snip>

BIR was created by a company in New Zealand.
They have an AS/400 version of it (vastly improved)
However, there is no conversion software to get from BIR/36 for BPCS/36 to
the 400 version.

<snip>

They really need to talk with SSA, because it is possible that their
BPCS/36 license is not valid for 36 on 400.

I ran into a company the other day that has a very old version of BPCS
running in Sys-36 Environment on the AS/400.

They have long since dropped maintenance with SSA and they had a company
come in and move their BPCS software from the System-36 to the AS/400
running in Sys-36 environment.

The only problem they are having is with the old BIR product.

They get the following error message when try to create a new report. "
Software Licence violation check.Call supplier for assistance."

Does anyone know a solution to this?      Thanks in advance for any help
giving.
_______________________________________________

Al Macintyre
BPCS/400 Computer Janitor at http://www.globalwiretechnologies.com/
Find BPCS Documentation Suppliers
http://radio.weblogs.com/0107846/stories/2002/11/08/bpcsDocSources.html