Re: V5R4 upgrade

Biggest reason: Software maintenance of the OS.
Next reason: When you get new versions of any vendor packages at some
time they will stop supporting older versions of the OS, (if they have any
sand). And if you're waiting on your OS upgrade to get the new vendor
package to print a new format of W2's you won't be popular if you're the
reason for the delay.
Another reason: Staying current with the OS and with PTFs will reduce
security exposures. Lot's of PTFs have come out for that.
Another reason: Staying current with the OS and with PTF's will mean that
you do these processes more frequently and thus you don't forget how.
Another reason: Study all the new stuff that came out with 6.1. Study
all the new stuff that came out with 7.1. Decide which of these features
will have the most positive impact on your business and plan to implement
them. Or, look at your business and decide what does it need and how to
get there. Do you need a web interface but you'd still like to use all
those nice subprocedure based RPG code that you can easily convert into
sql external functions? Then maybe a product to help you bang out web
code like those from BCD, Profound Logic, etc will help you. Maybe a new
version of your vendor's package even comes with a web interface. Do your
users rekey stuff into Excel spreadsheets from reports? Then why not
write to excel directly? Save them a bunch of keying, etc. Use this as
an excuse to do the OS upgrade. After all, you may want to have the
latest version of Java and it's PTF's loaded.


Rob Berendt