September 2009 Newsletter
Gain Greater Visibility to Financial Data with RPG2SQL and Excel
Having the most precise data in the world doesn’t matter if you can’t get it into the hands of those who need it. That’s why we created RPG2SQL integrator.
Imagine gaining more insight into your company’s performance by generating multi-page spreadsheet reports that contain month-end numbers with negative numbers highlighted in red. Think of how much more informed you’d be if you could create daily sales summary spreadsheets that were automatically updated each night. RPG2SQL Integrator accomplishes this by automatically updating MS Excel spreadsheets with data directly pulled from RPG programs.
RJS Software’s RPG2SQL Integrator provides the ability to read and write to SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL and other database formats. The recently added integration with MS Excel helps your business get even more functionality from an already robust product.
RPG2SQL reads and writes directly to Excel spreadsheets so no data gets missed, and you have the full power of Excel available to your RPG application developers. Contact RJS to schedule a web demo and learn more about the ROI you can achieve by better communicating your key business indicators via RPG2SQL and MS Excel.
Richard Schoen - President, CTO richard@rjssoftware.com
Take Advantage of Section 179 Tax Savings
Are you a business hesitating to purchase much-needed hardware or software due to a tough economy or budget restraints? You’re not alone. Many businesses are in the same situation, but a solution might be available to you courtesy of the Federal Government. Section 179 is an IRS tax credit created to encourage businesses to invest in themselves.
Under Section 179 businesses may be allowed to deduct the full purchase price of qualifying hardware or software purchased or financed during the tax year. If you buy or lease a qualifying piece of hardware or software, you may be able to deduct the full purchase price from your gross income. The rules of Section 179 stipulate the type of lease that is valid to qualify for the credit.
If you think the Section 179 credit might benefit your company, you are encouraged to speak with your accountant or financial advisor. Call RJS for more information or visit http://www.irs.gov/ and enter keywords "Section 179" for more information.
Sam Ulrich - Hardware Sales sulrich@rjssoftware.com
Easy IBM i/Windows Data Integration Suits Bachrach
RPG2SQL Integrator helps improve online sales and drive customer service.
BACKGROUND
Founded in 1877 as a single store in Illinois, Bachrach, a privately held menswear company, today operates more than 34 stores in major metropolitan areas across 13 states. Bachrach also sells through a nationally distributed catalog and through its e-commerce Web site, http://www.bachrach.com/.
CHALLENGE
Offering the same discounts to all customers, whether in-store or online, is a challenge that Bachrach, like most retailers with brick and mortar and online stores, faces. To complicate matters, many of the company’s promotions are not simply a certain amount off a particular product. For example, some promotions are of the nature, “get x% off product y when you also buy products a and b.”
This presented a challenge because most of Bachrach’s business systems are IBM i-based, but an increasing number, including the company’s Web server and related applications, run on Windows. Moving product and pricing changes from IBM i to Windows servers and applying identical promotion logic on both systems was not easy.
The company tried using a bulk copy process to move data across platforms and databases, but this didn’t happen in real-time. Consequently, when a customer went to the Web to make a purchase that qualified for a discount, the Web site didn’t show the discount on the checkout screen. Instead, the customer saw a note that said, in effect, “Trust us. We’ll apply the discount before we charge your credit card.”
The discount was applied as promised when the transaction was sent to the company’s IBM i-based order entry application. Nonetheless, some customers felt nervous about placing an order without seeing the discount applied before they finalized the transaction. Consequently, some people didn’t want to shop on Bachrach’s Web site.
SOLUTION
RPG2SQL Integrator gives Bachrach and its Web customers the ability to take advantage, in real-time, of all of the products, prices and promotions available in its IBM i databases. The software provides seamless data integration by automatically transferring product changes from the IBM i server to the Web server where the updates are applied in real time to the SQL Server database.
RPG2SQL is also used to apply promotional pricing to purchases made through the Web. The company’s Web shopping cart application writes all of the items in the shopper’s cart to one table and it writes the order number to another table. A program constantly monitors the order table looking for a new entry. When it sees a new entry, the program uses RPG2SQL to check against the IBM i-based promotions application to determine if the ordered items qualify for a promotion. If so, the promotions application updates the price in the table and sends it back to the Web server via RPG2SQL.
RESULTS
RPG2SQL solved Bachrach’s product and pricing data integration problems, creating a more seamless and easy transaction process for customers, and an easier way to manage data for the IT staff.
The bottom line for Bachrach is that RPG2SQL “allows more integration, closer ties, more real-time updates and monitoring between System i and Wintel boxes,” said Bruce Bardini, a Programmer/Analyst at Bachrach. “When your shop has a skill set in RPG and RPG ILE, this is a natural product to use when you also have some Wintel boxes running SQL (Server).”
Surveys are Fun!
Fill out our annual customer profile survey and win an iPhone!
In an effort to help us better understand our customers and their needs, we've put together a survey that we hope you'll fill out. Yes, we know surveys can be a pain, especially if they're overly long. That's why this one isn't. In fact, if you fill out the survey, you''ll be eligible for an iPhone drawing. What are you waiting for?
Learn more or take the survey at www.rjssoftware.com/survey
Sophos Live Events
September event features baseball game for all attendees.
RJS Software Systems and Sophos are partnering to hold live seminars across the U.S. to educate companies about the latest network security threats and showcase what’s new in the areas of document management and compliance. Experts from RJS and Sophos will cover Data Protection, Web Security, Endpoint and Email Security and Advanced Network Access Control.
Our first event will be held on Wednesday, September 16 at our Burnsville, Minn. headquarters. Following the morning event, all attendees will be bused to the Minnesota Twins/Cleveland Indians baseball game where they can enjoy the contest for free in the comfort of our Metrodome suite.
Check the schedule below or visit www.rjssoftware.com/news/events for a live event in your area. Space for these is limited, so we encourage you to sign up as soon as registration opens for each event.
September 16 – RJS Headquarters Burnsville, MN
October 20 – Milwaukee, WI
October 27 – Houston, TX
Greg Schmidt, Director of Technology Services greg@rjssoftware.com
Better Data Means Better Search Results
Do you have multiple people entering index key information into WebDocs? Is the format of the metadata they’re entering inconsistent from one person to the next? Would consistent data give you faster, more efficient search results? If so, it might make sense to implement a custom drop-down or lookup list.
Imagine an Accounts Payable clerk selecting Purchase Order, Invoice or Check from a pre-defined drop-down list for that document type. All the AP clerks now select from this list, creating consistency across all documents. That same AP clerk now needs to enter the Vendor Number as one of the index keys. Instead of memorizing what could be a very long list of vendor numbers, the clerk clicks the list and locates the number automatically from your master vendor file.
The drop-down and lookup list functionality has been in the IBM i version of WebDocs for quite some time, but many customers either don’t use it or they don’t know it exists. Implementing a custom list creates consistently accurate data and more efficient document access.
Larry John, Technical Manager larry@rjssoftware.com
Download PDF version of September Newsletter
