News & Views, December 2000

Lombard, IL, November 15, 2000 - michaels, ross & cole (mrc) and their long-standing customer, the Farner-Bocken Company, were recently honored as finalists in the Midrange Systems’ Innovation in Applied Solutions award program. Awards were bestowed to users of the AS/400 platform who have implemented solutions that highlight the unique capabilities of the platform, and the software and hardware products that were used to build the solution. The awards were announced at a gala ceremony held at the Fall COMMON conference in Baltimore.

A panel of judges evaluated over 50 applications to select the winning solutions. Specifically, award winners had to demonstrate that their solutions were innovative in at least one of the following areas:

• Delivery under tight time constraints
• Transformation of core business processes
• Infrastructure reengineering
• Globalization of market opportunity

Farner-Bocken’s under-budget and ahead-of-schedule deployment of a business-to-business Web site, developed using the mrc-Productivity Series2000, was a primary factor in its selection as an innovative solution. To view the full case study describing this solution, click here.

"This recognition of our B2B site is tremendous. When developing the site, we weren’t attempting to build an award-winning solution; our goal is always to do what’s best for the profitability of the customer while providing the best service possible," said John Perrin, Director of Information Services at the Farner-Bocken Company. "Most high-profile IT projects carry great risks, and are frequently over budget and behind schedule. By developing our Web applications with the mrc-Productivity Series, we deployed a highly visible e-business site under budget and ahead of schedule. I am pleased to receive this award as recognition of our innovative solution."

Accepting the award on behalf of mrc, mrc communications director Tracy Doell said, "Since 1981, mrc has been committed to providing quality software that increases productivity and serves our customers’ needs. We are very happy to see that such customers as Farner-Bocken not only deploy innovative solutions using the mrc-Productivity Series, but receive industry recognition for them as well. This award is further proof of the success that our customers enjoy."

The Farner-Bocken Company is a wholesale distributor of convenience store merchandise. The family-owned company serves midwestern restaurants, schools, and convenience stores with over 12,000 products, ranging from fresh produce to cigarettes and snack foods.

Don’t miss the January issue of News & Views for an article featuring Farner-Bocken’s success.

• GBF Graphics
• Dunlop Maxfli Sports
• Metropolitan Government of Nashville
• Advanced Marketing UK
• The Kerrygold Company
• SMC Pneumatics
• Jordan Windows & Doors

Two new commands have been added to the mrc-Productivity Series’ Web capabilities. MRCIMPHTML and MRCEXPHTML simplify the customization of mrc-generated Web applications. These commands address the issues that many AS/400 shops face today: the integration of IS staff, who understand the company’s back-office data, with Web developers and graphic designers, who understand HTML but not the AS/400.

The MRCIMPHTML command allows Web developers to design Web pages, using their development software of choice to create the HTML code, and then easily import that HTML code into the mrc-Productivity Series. This code is then applied to the appropriate applications, thereby allowing the IS staff (or other mrc users) to build and deploy Web applications that are consistent with the look and feel of the company’s Web site.

The MRCEXPHTML command makes it very easy for a graphic designer to improve the look of new and existing Web applications. The mrc-generated HTML is exported from the AS/400 to the PC, where the Web developer or graphic designer can modify it. When used in conjunction with the MRCIMPHTML command, HTML is easily passed back and forth between the PC and the AS/400.

Download the CGI software update (MRC8001114) here.

This month’s technical article was contributed by Matt Olson, mrc product specialist. Matt describes how he used the mrc-Productivity Series in a new and unique way to simplify our office. This technique is beyond the scope of "traditional" use, yet is quite useful. Are you using the mrc-Productivity Series in unique ways? Please feel free to share your techniques with us! E-mail your clever techniques to tracyd@mrc-productivity.com.

Recently, we began using a different e-mail program here at mrc. To simplify the distribution of everyone’s e-mail address, I was able to use an mrc summary application to extract data from the AS/400 to a PC file, which I could then import into our e-mail address books. This eliminates manually adding each employee’s name and e-mail address for each PC. Most e-mail programs, in our case Outlook Express®, should allow the user to do this type of import from a PC file. The key here is knowing how to use mrc to get the data from the AS/400 to the PC file.

What I first needed to do was find the correct files on the AS/400 that contained the data I needed for my application. Once I located the file, I was able to start building an mrc summary application over the data. In my case, our file contained fields with data related to First Name, Last Name, Email ID, and a Domain. In our case, the Email ID and Domain were the two components needed to make up the full e-mail address.

After selecting the correct file and fields for my summary application, I was able to go into the calculations (option 3) and create two concatenations. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, concatenations allow you to combine two or more fields into one larger field. In my case, I was going to take the first and last names, and combine them into a full name. It was also necessary to combine the Email ID and Domain fields.

Example:

The calculations/concatenations would then look like this:
Full Name = &3+&4:1
Result: Matt Olson

Email Address = &4+@:0+&1:0
Result: matto@mrc-Productivity.com

The concatenations are set up so that the two new fields (Full Name and Email Address) can be imported into the Outlook Express address book.

Once my concatenations were finished, the only thing left for me to do was go into the defaults (option 6) and specify that I want to download this application to a PC file. Once I specified "Y" for Download to PC, and "C" for format type, I was ready to compile my summary application.

When the summary file is compiled, the PC file is going to be placed in a folder on the AS/400. You will need to map a drive on your PC to the AS/400, and look in a folder named QDLS. Once in QDLS, you should have a folder there named after the dictionary you were just working in. In that folder, you should find your CSV file. You can then move it to your PC, or leave it on the AS/400.

My next step was to import the information into our mail server program. From the tool bar at the top of the screen, I was able to click on "file" and then "import." When given the import options, I chose "other address book." Then, I able to chose "Text File (Comma Separated Values)" because this is my data’s format. The next step was to tell the program where to find my CSV file (either on the PC if you moved it, or still in the folder on the AS/400). Once the correct file was found, I proceeded to choose which fields from the CSV file I wanted to import into my address book. Since I had set up the concatenated fields for Full Name and Email Address, I selected those two. Once I finished choosing my fields, I was able to click "finish," and my names and addresses were automatically loaded into my Outlook Express address book, ready to be used.

Happy Holidays
Our entire organization joins in wishing you holiday greetings and a prosperous new year.

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