RPG conversion program

["Sherry McMahon" <smcm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I would appreciate any help on writing a conversion program to change the dates in an existing physical file to *ISO dates in a new data file.  My idea is to create a new physical file with new date fields and in an RPG program rename the fields, TEST(D) on any dates, move the 6,0 ymd dates into the new *ISO field, if a bad date, set it to *loval, write the bad dates to an exception(?) report, and move all the new fields from the PF to the same name PF in a test lib.  I feel I have a fairly good idea of what I want to do but darned if I'm sure of how to go about it.  It must be pretty obvious I'm a new programmer and could use some examples on how to set the RPG up, the proper way to test the dates and how to write the exception report. I've read the books, been to the IBM site but would appreciate some 'live' advice.  Thank you all in advance for your time and patience.