RE: New COMMON Conference

Actually, Booth, it was years ago when the company (for which I worked at
the time) looked at giving the foremen PCs (laptops were new and PC-DOS was
still the rage) for completely different reasons. But, hey, if they're
going to have a laptop anyway, why not send in time cards?

Well, the cost and logistics were just too prohibitive at the time.

My boss at my previous company developed an app that salesmen could use to
send in orders via their iPhones. Point only being that you're right -
there are lots of different ways to do these things today. I like
alternatives.

Jerry C. Adams
IBM i Programmer/Analyst
The only thing more accurate than incoming enemy fire is incoming friendly
fire.
--
A&K Wholesale
Murfreesboro, TN
615-867-5070


-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Booth Martin
Sent: Friday, August 17, 2012 12:37 PM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
Subject: Re: New COMMON Conference

Why would a company give a foreman a PC today to type in information?

Provide a bar code scanner and the bar codes and let that be the end of it.
If a worker doesn't get paid if he doesn't get scanned, then the problem of
waiting until Friday to fill out time cards gets disappeared.

If it is a union job, the scanner ought to be an easy sell since it
documents so well.

The advantage of scanning is that no one is keying in anything anywhere.
Zero time spent is always cheaper than clerical time.



On 8/17/2012 7:42 AM, Jerry C. Adams wrote:

Yeah, I had the same thought when I saw the suggestion. I, too,
worked on construction systems for >20 years. I've only gotten
halfway through this thread, but I feel an urge to jump in at this point.

The argument that I always got when I suggested "outsourcing" timecard
and other entry to the foremen was, "Our foremen are lucky if they
have a sixth grade education." I don't know if that's true anymore,
but the GUI is so ubiquitous these days that I am hard pressed to
imagine any foreman that couldn't deal with it. Probably better than with

a 5250 interface.

The foremen with whom I dealt just filled out timecards and sent them
to the payroll department for data entry. In that scenario 5250 may be

faster.

But, if foremen are entering the time, the time difference would, in
my experience (and opinion) be negligible. The problem I had with
foremen was that that invariably waited until the end of the week to
even fill out the time cards, which meant they had to remember which
cost code "Paul" worked on Monday, etc.

Finally, (trust me on this one, Paul) pay rates by cost code within
pay item within job (you know the drill) is easier to program than
pricing structures for wholesalers! Give me the logic of construction
(cost) accounting any day.

Jerry C. Adams
IBM i Programmer/Analyst
Never draw fire; it irritates everyone around you.
--
A&K Wholesale
Murfreesboro, TN
615-867-5070


-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Paul Nelson
Sent: Thursday, August 16, 2012 6:21 PM
To: 'Midrange Systems Technical Discussion'
Subject: RE: New COMMON Conference

Take a ride over to Ames Construction there in Burnsville and have
them tell you why your suggestion wouldn't work that well.

Carl Bolander over in St. Paul would give you the same kind of answer.

I don't mean to sound like a smart aleck, but when you have guys
working different cost codes at different rates in the same day, a
mobile time clock ain't gonna cut it.

Paul Nelson
Cell 708-670-6978
Office 512-392-2577
nelsonp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Dan Kimmel
Sent: Thursday, August 16, 2012 6:07 PM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
Subject: RE: New COMMON Conference

Why are your users keying time cards at all? The workers should be
clocking in and out on a mobile timeclock and the entries
automatically collected in time cards. The guy in the trailer does a
quick edit on a good gui and submits for payroll.

-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Paul Nelson
Sent: Thursday, August 16, 2012 4:37 PM
To: 'Midrange Systems Technical Discussion'
Subject: RE: New COMMON Conference

OK, now key 150 time cards in time to make a union payroll.

:-))

Paul Nelson
Cell 708-670-6978
Office 512-392-2577
nelsonp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Richard Schoen
Sent: Thursday, August 16, 2012 4:35 PM
To: midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: New COMMON Conference

You can roll a jQueryMobile theme in green and black and viola !!

Green Screen Mobile :-)

Regards,
Richard Schoen
RJS Software Systems Inc.
Where Information Meets Innovation
Document Management, Workflow, Report Delivery, Forms and Business
Intelligence
Email: richard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Web Site: http://www.rjssoftware.com
Tel: (952) 736-5800
Fax: (952) 736-5801
Toll Free: (888) RJSSOFT


------------------------------

message: 7
date: Thu, 16 Aug 2012 16:22:13 -0500
from: "Paul Nelson" <nelsonp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
subject: RE: New COMMON Conference

FWIW, for a construction company, nothing beats a green screen for
banging in time cards and invoices.

Paul Nelson
Cell 708-670-6978
Office 512-392-2577
nelsonp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Scott Klement
Sent: Thursday, August 16, 2012 4:19 PM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
Subject: Re: New COMMON Conference


FWIW.... I agree with your users. When I see green screen, I go
"ewwwwww", too.

However, I don't like that you are associating GreenScreen=IBMi, and
GUI=Windows.

You can (and should!) write GUI apps on IBM i. I've been telling
people to do that for 10+ years. Your users shouldn't know or care
where the data resides... what they should know/care about is that
it's stable, and always there when they need it. And IBM i excels at

that.

Take iPhone, iPad, Android phones, Blackberries... all easy to use GUI
interfaces, none of them are Windows in any way shape or form. How
about XBox, Wii, PS3... all easy to use GUI devices, no Windows involved.

IBM i can be a major player in that world too, using GUI technologies
like web. The only reason you still code green screens is because you
(or someone else in your environment) has made that choice.

Note that we actively discourage green-screen sessions at COMMON.
(Much more so than Richard's .NET sessions!)


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--
Booth Martin
802-461-5349
http://www.martinvt.com
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