Re: New to BPCS

In V6 a company has the option of saving $ by not buying the 
source code or AS/Set ie. not having ability to do 
modifications ... there can also be the scenario of having 
the stuff but it not installed on the system during 
implementation ... you need to determine what the reality is 
at your company.

Once upon a time BPCS programs written by humans then over 
multiple versions application by application converted to 
replace human written with AS/Set.

If AS/SET and/or Source on your system, you need to figure 
out where it is ... ie. what you have for system 
documentation ... have you viewed fo;e-BPCSDOC library-
SSALOG00 which contains lots of rules how BPCS programs are 
named?  This can help you see what is human vs. AS/Set ... 
BPCS own rules not followed 100%.

My employer opted out of spending $ on AS/Set and expects me 
to modify the RPG source ... we are on 505 CD in which many 
applications still have human written source code.

For some AS/Set generated source, I have told management and 
users that to change this one program is at least a 6 months 
project to accomplish something that if I was doing the same 
thing to human written source, or via AS/Set would be a 2 day 
task.  Changing the RPG created by AS/Set without access to 
AS/Set can be a nightmare for an experienced RPG programmer, 
irrespective of whether you are experienced in BPCS.

BPCS Consultants have AS/Set, teach it, offer alternatives to 
the all or nothing SSA $ options, which may have changed 
since our aquisition of BPCS ... what I would want today is 
not to buy AS/Set on ALL applications, but only on those 
created by AS/Set and for which we have modification 
desires.  I not know if that is an option.

You need to determine which tech support place(s) your 
company is using for BPCS and what services they provide with 
respect to access to AS/Set if you are in the same boat that 
we are.  e.g. you or someone use AS/Set on THEIR host to make 
programming changes ... I not know how legal this is.

Yoy might search BPCS_L archives for past posts disccussing 
AS/Set and BPCS documentation in general.

There's also an AS/Set forum, but I do not know the url.

Al Mac home PC hassles again ... details sent to another 
discussion group I am in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TYR/message/23293