Thanks for the feedback-much appreciated
I will be an end user-the full needs I am not certain of yet-just wanted to get an overview of the system from end user point of view and query generator of table names etc to be able to create reports and queries.
I have a lot to learn as am completely new to this system and have been working on SAP which is quite different, but will go through everything you've given me and see if I can get some education :)
thanks
-----Original Message-----
From: bpcs-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:bpcs-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Al Mac Wow
Sent: 16 October 2012 01:37 AM
To: 'BPCS ERP System'
Subject: Re: [BPCS-L] End user guide
Ryan ... I work on 405 CD. I have over a decade experience that version, and over 2 decades BPCS experience. I am now semi-retired swing shift, so sorry I did not respond to thread sooner (I did not get to bed until 9 am today, although it was not because of work. After Work done, I read transcript of a hearing in Congress about GPS spoofing, which is a potentially dire threat to the national critical infrastructure - fascinating stuff.)
In this first installment by Al Mac, I address:
* People networking alternatives - you know some, here are some more.
* Some navigation fundamentals for you to try, see if they work for
Ryan, then you get back to us, to let us know which worked for you, which did not.
* Questions of clarification - Ryan responsibilities - helps us define
needs, and direct you to solutions.
If you tell us your geographical location, that might also help us help you.
If you lucky, one of us may be within reasonable commute distance so we can meet in person, maybe even arrange for you to visit us at work, for a quick tour of our access to BPCS, and what we use for BPCS manuals.
There are such things as BPCS user groups, and BPCS user conventions. I have been to some of the user meetings, but none of the conventions. You show up at a restaurant meeting, and there are 2 dozen people there who work at companies in your area, with BPCS on AS/400. These groups are not as prevalent as they used to be. In my area we now only have an AS/400 user group, and it meets quarterly (next meeting in January), and we stay in touch through Linked In, and other social media. Incidentally, there are multiple BPCS groups on Linked In. If you are there, you could go to my profile,
http://www.linkedin.com/in/almacintyre
then check out list of Linked In groups which I am in.
A question ... were you hired as a BPCS end user, who is to update customer orders, do inventory transactions, run MRP etc. Were you hired as a Programmer, to modify BPCS programs, using RPG DDS SQL etc. Or were you hired in a different capacity, such as to manage BPCS Security? The collection of manuals and training you need, is different (although some needs may overlap) depending on what you need to know to do this job that has been dumped on you by an HR dept, which unfortunately is typical of a lot of HR depts. These days, which are incapable of matching what the job requires with the people ready to do it.
This kind of topic has come up before, many times.
You could go to BPCS-L discussion archives, search for "Documentation."
Try this:
From the SPLASH screen, which Dan Sweeney illustrated for you, do F14.
If
you have the typical piece of PC keyboard cheap junk, that is upper shift F2.
This will take you to the main menu of vanilla BPCS.
Vanilla means un-modified stuff.
At that menu, try F1.
F1 is universal help key for BPCS and AS/400.
Ignore the key which says the word HELP.
F1-help in BPCS/400 land is cursor sensitive. It tells you about stuff which is relevant to where you were when you pressed it.
F12 takes you back a screen at a time.
F3 takes you out of what you got into.
Note on bottom of screen, there may be reference to MORE function command keys available wherever you are ... you can get to see what they are by F24 (upper F12).
So let us know if F1-Help command is working for you.
Years ago I had time for blogging. I may get back to that again some day.
There's an old page I created which has not yet been removed.
If you know how to work Browser - Save a page - you might want to copy this for reference before it is gone:
http://radio-weblogs.com/0107846/stories/2002/11/08/bpcsDocSources.html
I have not kept this current, so some links are broken, but the named outfits still exist, at replacement web sites, so do an Internet search on any name which intrigues you, but whose links are broken.
If you do not know how to Browser - Save Page ... then you might want to print a reference copy.
I originally created this because at one time we were having turn-over with managers who did not believe in BPCS education for themselves, and consequently did not know what anyone was missing. I created this, and other tools as back doors, to help some of my co-workers victimized by this attitude.
Ok, so SPLASH then F14 (to main vanilla menu), then F1 (test help).
Now F21 (upper F9) to invoke command line.
If this works for you, key CALL QCMD and enter, then F10.
This will give you both elbow room, and easy access to log of recent activity. I find that when I make keying error, or want to do similar command, it is much easier to put cursor on line in log, F9 to copy that to command line, then tinker with what I actually want to enter.
Key on command line WRKMBRPDM then press F4.
F4 is prompt, to give you list of parameters possible with the command.
Fill in the screen
File = BPCSDOC
Library = *LIBL
Rest of lines *ALL
PDM uses SEU under the covers, on my version of AS/400, but other versions may use other editing tools. PDM is a programmer tool.
You need to tell us if you were able to get this far.
You want to be very careful not to accidentally delete any of this stuff.
On our system, I have a rule of thumb:
We may add lines of clarification (and we have added many).
Never delete a line unless it is a blank line, all the way across.
If we need our own added documentation, either add a new member here, or do documentation outside of this system.
My employer, on multiple occasions, has asked me to provide documentation to other co-workers. I started with native stuff, and Word. For various reasons they let me work on creating documentation for months, then tell me that's no good for them, start over a different way. I am now on an approach I think is stupid, it is in Excel format, but that's what they want. I was about 1/3 done with that when a PC crash wiped me out. Another thread there. I could e-mail you some samples, where I think the content is not proprietary us. Or we could agree on some upload site.
I like BOX NET on Linked In, and Google Drive Docs.
Library *LIBL means library list on AS/400 ... a list of the libraries you have access to. Libraries can contain files, software, other objects.
File BPCSDOC is a source file.
In AS/400 land, there are source files, and object files.
Source files have software source code. Object files have software execution.
BPCSDOC is using a source file, with members of type TEXT, to store a certain kind of documentation.
For each 3 letter prefix
INV = Inventory
ORD = Customer orders
Etc. (there's dozens of them)
There are several manuals ... the RUN manuals are the most useful Be careful, the RUN manual for ORD is too big to view via regular PDM. You have to know some extra steps to get at that.
F3 back to command line.
WRKOBJ then F4
Object = Q*
Library = BPCS405CDS
Type = *ALL
What you are seeing is a list of the source files for vanilla 405 CD software.
Each programming language has its stuff stored in a different file, which is setup to format things properly for that programming language.
On our system we have six such libraries in the format Q___SRC
* CL is the job stream programming language which is kind of glue
which holds everything else together
* CMD is for IBM commands embedded in CL, and the capability to create
new commands.
* DDS is for design of files, screens, print layouts
* PNL is for ... I do not remember name of language, it is
conceptually like HTML, it is used to manage help and menus, most of which you can also view via SDA
* RPG ... our version is written in RPG/400 which is kind of like RPG
III and a 1/2 ... we also have some modifications in RPG IV, and embedded SQL
* STD is not a programming language, but it is for re-useable chunks
of code, where the same exact sub-routine could end up in 10,000 different programs.
If part of your job responsibility will be to do programming modifications, this is a list of IBM programming languages you need to get up to speed on.
In addition to these, you will need to know how to work various kinds of IBM objects like message members, data structures.
Part of our programming standards is not to mess with the vanilla stuff. We copy it to a modification library, leave original stuff intact, for many safety reasons.
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
--
This is the BPCS ERP System (BPCS-L) mailing list To post a message email: BPCS-L@xxxxxxxxxxxx To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change list options,
visit:
http://lists.midrange.com/mailman/listinfo/bpcs-l
or email: BPCS-L-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Before posting, please take a moment to review the archives at
http://archive.midrange.com/bpcs-l.
midrange.com
