Re: End user guide

Installment # 3 from Al Mac.

I am trying to pick up loose ends from the thread today, where some options
were not mentioned, or perhaps not made clear enough.

Here mainly I focus on more places to dig in the documentation treasure
hunt.

In one of the posts, someone questioned how long BPCSDOC been around.
It existed on V3 and V4 of AS/400 and it existed on IBM platforms which BPCS
was on before AS/400.

It is critical to nail down what you are supposed to be doing at your
company.
You do not need to spend $350 on the BPCS costing manual, if what you will
be managing is Customer Orders.
You do not need to spend $350 on the BPCS engineering manual, if what you
will be working on is Accounting.

It is critical to nail down what version you are on . BPCS . 400 . PC world,
because the manuals and educational materials are specific to the versions.

If you are a real end user, not a programmer, or other computer staff
responsibilities, all you need are BPCS user manual(s) relevant to your BPCS
version, and job responsibilities, and a very basic AS/400 access guide for
IBM novices.

If you were hired as a programmer, you also need access to AS/400 manuals
for programming languages used by your BPCS version, and whatever languages
are involved in add-ons and modifications installed by prior staff at the
company.
405CD uses RPG CL DDS and whatever that is in PNL.
Modifications also good to know SQL/400.

Some people in computer administration need to know more, such as security:
PC network;
AS/400 security;
BPCS security.
BPCSDOC SSALOG00 helps with latter two.

I think the 3rd party manuals are superior, because SSA-Infor documentation
is like IBM white books, Menu driven . JOB-X does what, here are your
options walking through the programs. They are not much help telling you
what sequence you should run the programs, or how to cope when something
goes haywire.

UPI manuals are great for end users, and managers. They are like IBM red
books. You want to do X? You want to find info Y? What is the logic for
how all this stuff is inter-related? Here is how to get the job done,
within BPCS capabilities. You want to modify BPCS? These manuals not so
great to help you there.

UPI still publishes manuals for 405CD. Most vendors do not.

DS Solutions BPCS Reference Manual to the rescue. They explain the function
of every field of every file of BPCS. However, they no longer publish for
405 CD.

BPCS 405 CD does have an XRF function which can show what files are updated
by what programs, but it does not explain for what purpose, it is not 100%
complete, due to some programs look up names of objects at run-time, the
source code is not hard coded connections, and there are also security
problems with XRF.

I use a work around.

All of the available manuals have lapses, because of a conflict of interest
with the publishers. They want to be your tech support place, to get paid
to help out when something goes wrong, so their manuals do not do a good job
of guidance for dealing with things going wrong.

It is inconceivable to me that a company installed BPCS, and has no manuals.
They existed at some time, people learned how to work BPCS, those people no
longer needed those manuals. They are probably stuck in some closet
collecting dust. The HR dept probably can help you locate prior hires, who
are now BPCS proficient, and you ask them what they used to learn the ropes.
The HR dept probably can help you locate prior hires, who have been with the
company for many years, and are likely to know where the manual skeletons
have got buried.

I suggest you ask your boss (who you report to) and-or HR, what the
arrangements are for teaching new employees about the stuff they are
supposed to be working with. Most companies have some kind of standards
manual, or policies, how you code stuff for new customers, new vendors, new
items. This is important because different companies use the same ERP, same
computer systems, but their products and services are structured
differently.

On my first day after being hired, my boss told me they had arranged to send
me to IBM school for a couple weeks, to bring me up to speed before I was to
get started.

Since then, I have been to multiple weeks of IBM school, multiple weeks of
BPCS school, several technical conferences.

Before this job, I have been to multiple weeks of IBM school, several
technical conferences, subscribed to some wonderful technical journals.

If you are in a big city, there are probably IBM partners there, which offer
classes in some IBM topics, but remember in an earlier installment, I said
that IBM stopped making and selling AS/400 over 10 years ago? There's not
much demand, or offerings for classes in stuff that old. There are however,
still BPCS classes offered for 405 CD, but without cooperation from your
employer, you'd have to go out of town for several weeks, pay multiple $k.

Does your company have a computer room? That's where the AS/400 is
physically located. It looks like an extra large PC tower. In most
companies, there are manuals in the computer room, which you do not find in
the rest of the company. Ask the people who are in charge of that room, if
they have an AS/400 manual which shows people, like yourself who have never
worked on an IBM computer system before, illustrations of AS/400 5250
screens, and what kinds of commands are used to navigate those screens.
They may have several, and can loan you one. Also ask them if they have any
BPCS manuals which you may peruse.

I suggest you visit the manager of quality control for the manufacturing
operation. Many companies, including ours, have a system of manuals for the
company, of which BPCS user guide is a portion.

For example, we have a manual for the shipping dept, which tells people how
to cope if they are trying to ship something, and cannot find the customer
order, or maybe the inventory they are shipping is not in the computer. The
manual walks them thru how to get the job done, regardless of the situation.

I suggest you do a walk around to co-worker offices. Ask if ANYONE has ANY
BPCS manuals which you can borrow. They may have some, but not know them by
correct name. Ask if you may peruse their book shelf to see if there's
anything relevant.

On command line, key WRKOBJ ORD50* then enter
This will give you a list of all software objects which start with ORD50
And are in your library list
(library list on AS/400 is like root in other computer worlds)

Notice ATTRIBUTE
RPG means RPG program
CLP means CL program . notice they are named with C on the end.
DSPF means a display screen . notice they are named with FM on the end,
occasionally PM (prompt screen)
PRTF means a print-out report layout
Then there are some with no attribute, which end in letters HT . those are
the HELP screens. If you know where the source code is stored, and you know
how to work SDA, then you can view the help screens, without actually
running the programs.

This is an alternative way for a programmer to figure out all the stuff a
program can do. Sometimes people want things, but don't know the right
terminology to look it up in what passes for the manuals. With this kind of
tool, a programmer can research all that a program can do, and what is the
right terminology to get it to do it.

On your PC desk top, you probably have an icon which is a short cut to a WS
session, which is opened with PCSWS. It looks like a picture of a computer
monitor attached to a tower. This is how most end users access BPCS.
That's all you probably need if you are an application user, not a
programmer, not involved in moving BPCS/400 reports to Excel or other
venues.

On your PC desk top, you may also have an icon which, depending on AS/400
version, is a connection to some kind of Access system. On mine it is
Operations Navigator. It looks like a compass. This is a way of accessing
AS/400 through an interface that is similar to Microsoft Windows folder
drill down.

Al Mac (WOW) = Alister William Macintyre
via WOW WAY.com ISP
2012 April I had a serious PC melt down, from which I am still recovering

-----Original Message-----
From: bpcs-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:bpcs-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Fellingham, Ryan
Sent: Monday, October 15, 2012 3:51 AM
To: bpcs-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [BPCS-L] End user guide

Hi all

I am trying to get my hands on and end user guide to the basics of BPCS
version 5.9 for Windows (Iseries)

Appreciate any help
Thanks

Ryan