There is some outstanding talent on this list. And it's always good to
run anything by a second opinion, such as this list. However, you truly
need to start out with a Business Partner or BP. A good BP should be able
to do many of the things that some of the people on this list have said. I
am not a BP. Our BP is Sirius. We came to them years ago when they hired
our SE from IBM (after the pension fiasco). That SE was with our company
before I started (I started here in 1986). He recently retired. However
they are still doing us a fine job. We also use them for some consulting
that's out of our area (TSM, etc). They helped us get Mimix going, BRMS,
etc. They are nationwide.
Some of the replies you've received are from people who are also BP's and
are good people. You may also want to consider them. They've done enough
gratis work on this list to deserve a shot or two at your business.
I don't know if you've done any V5R4 to 6.1 or 7.1 upgrades but it can be
a bit hairy. I've done about 7. There's a lot you can get done in
advance before you even order the hardware. You absolutely must read ALL
of the following. For example, do not skip the 6.1 Memo to Users just
because you plan on bypassing that and go straight to 7.1.
6.1 Memo to Users
7.1 Memo to Users
And the upgrading your OS part of Infocenter
all available at
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/eserver/ibmi.html
the MTU's will be inside each version of Infocenter, soon as you get in,
off to the right under Popular Topics.
I'd definitely upgrade your OS to 7.1 before upgrading hardware. And I
wouldn't plan on doing OS and Hardware the same weekend. 7.1 has been out
for a few YEARS so I see no reason to stop at 6.1. If your vendor still
does not support 6.1 - replace them. Even if you plan on not upgrading
your OS but just restore a few libraries and recreate a few users and
start out rather fresh YOU MUST STILL READ BOTH OF THE MTU's! Failure to
do so will make you look like an utter Scaramouche.
39 days until end of support for V5R4 (2013-09-30). That includes Infor
LX (BPCS) running on V5R4.
The clock is ticking.
Rob Berendt
midrange.com
