Re: What do programmers do in new system? -- RPG400-L

In my experience this is more the case if you are moving to an entirely
different platform. My only experience with SAP was back in the 80's,
and it would have meant moving from AS/400 to DEC Alpha boxes with an
Oracle database. As the coding was done in ABAP (or ADAP ? - my brain's
going) there wouldn't have been much chance of my continuing with the
company in a programming role.

Having said that, the cross training in SAP and the heavy involvement
with mapping the functionality of SAP to our business processes would
have ensured that I would either have a) stayed with the company, or b)
been snapped up by the consultancy we were using (as was their habit).
Fortunately (or not, depending on your point of view) the company went
through a merger and the project was canned.

Where you're staying with your existing platform I think it's a lot less
likely that there will be job cuts. As others have said there are still
extra reports that need writing, functionality that needs to be bolted
on, etc. Any experience of the new package gathered during the
implementation stage of the project (e.g. coding new reports/functions,
training, migration routines, etc) helps to make the programmer more
valuable to the company anyway.

Just an opinion, but I wouldn't be too worried.

Jonathan

John McKay <jmckay@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote :

In my experience ...

I have seen a number of SAP and DERBY implementations where the
staff were made redundant after the new system was commissioned.

After the hand-over period, there is less need for the skill levels
previously required and those with the technical skills either had
programming insufficient business knowledge / skills to warrant them
being kept on or there was already a full quota of the relevant
in place.

Regards,
John McKay mba
www.mckaysoftware.ie
www.rpglanguage.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "Pete Helgren" <Pete@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: "RPG programming on the AS400 / iSeries" <rpg400-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, November 10, 2008 1:17 PM
Subject: Re: What do programmers do in new system?

business knowledge / skills Well, I think it will be hard to
continue to be just as needed as before, primarily because you are
predict. My gut tell me that you will coming off a home grown
in an environment like that.

package. People expect things to be "their way" My experience is
for school administration. The challenge in just about every
primarily with implementing an "off-the-shelf" package
implementation was either purging the "doing it the old way"
mentality, which was always difficult, OR we would customize the
could "do it the old way". Even in school districts where we did
displace a home grown package, the programmers had plenty of work
package so they because they still modified the package to things
wanted.

the way the end users In my experience I have never seen any package
successfully replace home grown programs with a generic report
this since 1985.

FWIW.

Pete

Adam West wrote:
writing capability. I've been at >Hi We are looking at some new

VAI, IBS, Lawson, and other Windows based.

software, RPG based systems, such as Infor, >For the RPG based

functionality that to my eye will cost us one or more programmers.

packages, from what I can see, there is a very serious >We are 5
older programmers supporting an entire home grown package. I >can't
see what it is I will be doing once this thing is installed. Most

reports can be done by the users, and more importantly, the nature

of the >database is such that mistakes are less prone to happen. Not

have many fires to put out but they do occur.

to say we >For example, most of what we do, will not be needed as it

more efficiently.

will be handled >I know that this sounds almost as a joke, but it's
a serious pro-active >concern I have. After an install period and

would be worried.

maybe another 6 months I >Perhaps those who have gone to such a
package would care to comment.

TIA,
Adam

http://www.amsterdamcentral.net

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AS400 / iSeries (RPG400-L) mailing list This is the RPG programming on
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Jonathan Mason
iSeries Consultant
www.astradyne-uk.com

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