February 6th, 2013
By using a UDF to manipulate your raw data during the SQL select process, you can;
- retrieve associated values that require complex calculations,
- perform data cross-referencing, and
- manipulate data beyond the basic build in SQL functions.
Using traditional methods without the utilization of SQL/UDF, several steps are involved. They include copying required data to a work file, running business logic to perform calculations (e.g. inventory age), then sorting and outputting the data in the desired format.
Through the use of a UDF, the inventory age calculation can occur during the data selection process, eliminating the overhead and processing associated with using temporary files for this task. This results in your selected data being fully ready for output into the final format desired.
Additionally, a UDF offers the same benefits and advantages of service programs and APIs. The most important benefit is developing standard business logic external to any specific program, allowing it to be re-used instead of repetitively developed and debugged! If you need help deploying this strategy on the IBM i, let us know!
June 11th, 2010
Four of our consultants attended the Inovis User Conference held in Chicago this week. The Inovis folks in attendance were very knowledgeable and our consultants were impressed with the level of expertise in attendance. Key topics included both new and advanced features to the EDI translation software. Upgrades to automated operations are available. The standards presentation was great with much information regarding both XML and X12.
Silveredge has been doing complex EDI implementations since 1991. As a business partner of Inovis, we believe attending conferences of this sort is important to our customer base. We ensure our consultants are well versed in new features and technologies available. By sending our most talented EDI consultants, they can pass this information to others in our firm.
March 22nd, 2010
WordPress, according to Wikipedia, is an “open source blog publishing application powered by PHP and MySQL… It has many features including a plugin architecture and a templating system. Used by over 2% of the 10,000 biggest websites, WordPress is the most popular blog software in use today.”
Our Director of Technology used WordPress to manage our web blog, which is running on our IBM i. WordPress and IBM i. You can do it!
March 4th, 2010
Silveredge has recently implemented a full warehouse automation solution custom designed by the client utilizing LANSA as the development tool. The wireless devices display html pages, which are easily understood by the warehouse staff. The pages are directly generated by the IBM i, without the need for additional hardware. The client utilizes this method for picking, receiving, shipping, and cycle counting. While this solution interfaced with the HFA ERP solution, the approach is universal.
September 4th, 2009
Silveredge had the opportunity to aid the customer service department at one of our clients by enabling them to automate return merchandise authorization shipping labels via email. Utilizing the IBM i (System i AS/400), the system converted the RMA report into an HTML formatted email which is sent directly to the customer. As part of that process, the program calls a web socket utility at UPS ultimately resulting in UPS transferring GIF images of all labels back through the web socket. Those images are then stored on a server and the link is embedded in the HTML email.
The ERP software utilized is of no consequence; this approach can be utilized universally. Additionally, although this application was specifically for RMA’s, any application requiring shipping labels to a remote or customer/partner location could use this template solution.