FAQs

• If you were passing a table via linkage, which is preferable - a subscript or an index?

  Wake up - you haven't been paying attention! It's not possible to pass an index via linkage. The index is not part of the calling programs working storage. Those of us who've made this mistake, appreciate the lesson more than others.

• What is the difference between a subscript and an index in a table definition?

  A subscript is a working storage data definition item, typically a PIC (999) where a value must be moved to the subscript and then incremented or decremented by ADD TO and SUBTRACT FROM statements. An index is a register item that exists o...

• What is the linkage section?

  The linkage section is part of a called program that 'links' or maps to data items in the calling program's working storage. It is the part of the called program where these share items are defined.

• Explain call by context by comparing it to other calls.

  The parameters passed in a call by context are protected from modification by the called program. In a normal call they are able to be modified.

• What was removed from COBOL in the COBOL II implementation?

  Partial list: REMARKS, NOMINAL KEY, PAGE-COUNTER, CURRENT-DAY, TIME-OF-DAY, STATE, FLOW, COUNT, EXAMINE, EXHIBIT, READY TRACE and RESET TRACE.

• What is the significance of 'above the line' and 'below the line'?

  Before IBM introduced MVS/XA architecture in the 1980's a program's virtual storage was limited to 16 megs. Programs compiled with a 24 bit mode can only address 16 Mb of space, as though they were kept under an imaginary storage line. Wit...

• What COBOL construct is the COBOL II EVALUATE meant to replace?

  EVALUATE can be used in place of the nested IF THEN ELSE statements.

• What is the difference between NEXT SENTENCE and CONTINUE?

  NEXT SENTENCE gives control to the verb following the next period. CONTINUE gives control to the next verb after the explicit scope terminator. (This is not one of COBOL II's finer implementations). It's safest to use CONTINUE rather tha...

• What is an in line PERFORM? When would you use it? Anything else to say about it?

  The PERFORM and END-PERFORM statements bracket all COBOL II statements between them. The COBOL equivalent is to PERFORM or PERFORM THRU a paragraph. In line PERFORMs work as long as there are no internal GO TOs, not even to an exit. The...

• What is an explicit scope terminator?

  A scope terminator brackets its preceding verb, eg. IF .. END-IF, so that all statements between the verb and its scope terminator are grouped together. Other common COBOL II verbs are READ, PERFORM, EVALUATE, SEARCH and STRING.

• What are the differences between COBOL and COBOL II?

  There are at least five differences: COBOL II supports structured programming by using in line PERFORMs and explicit scope terminators, it introduces new features (EVALUATE, SET .. TO TRUE, CALL .. BY CONTEXT, etc), it permits programs to...

• How can I read/write structures from/to data files?

  It is relatively straightforward to use fread and fwrite.

• Can I pass constant values to functions which accept structure arguments?

  Not yet. As of this writing, C has no way of generating anonymous structure values.

• What's the best way of implementing opaque (abstract) data types

  One good way is to use structure pointers which point to structure types which are not publicly defined.

• What's wrong with "char *p = malloc(10);" ?

  Function calls are not allowed in initializers for global or static variables.

• Why can't I initialize a local array with a string?

  Perhaps you have a pre-ANSI compiler.

• What am I allowed to assume about the initial values

  Uninitialized variables with "static" duration start out as 0, as if the programmer had initialized them. Variables with "automatic" duration, and dynamically-allocated memory, start out containing garbage (with the exception of calloc).

• What does extern mean in a function declaration?

  Nothing, really; the keyword extern is optional here.

• What's the best way to declare and define global variables?

  The best arrangement is to place each definition in some relevant .c file, with an external declaration in a header file.

• What should the 64-bit type on a machine that can support it?

  C9X specifies long long.

• How do you decide which integer type to use?

  If you might need large values (tens of thousands), use long. Otherwise, if space is very important, use short. Otherwise, use int.

• How will faculty and staff learn how to use Banner?

  The University has made a substantial investment in initial and on-going Banner training. We are in the process of developing a training plan to provide you with the customized training that you will need. You will be trained by professiona...

• What role will faculty and staff have in the ERP Implementation?

  ERP is a University project that IT is committed to and poised to support. As we move forward with system implementation, we will seek your advice, feedback and expertise in a variety of ways to ensure that we build a system that best meet...

• Why have we decided to purchase Banner?

  Banner has been developed based on best practices in higher education and is being used by hundreds of colleges and universities nationally. Human Resources, Finance, Student and Institutional Advancement are all integrated into one system...

• Why do we need to replace our current administrative systems?

  During the past ten years it has become increasingly difficult to maintain our existing disparate administrative systems. It has been difficult and time consuming to keep systems synchronized, to maintain accurate and consistent data and...

• What is a Portal?

  Web portals are sites on the World Wide Web that provide a single access point to distributed applications, from a number of different sources. Essentially, content from different areas or applications is all presented on one web page. Port...

• What is ERP?

  An ERP project gives Fordham a software solution that integrates information and business processes. It enables sharing – throughout the university – of information entered once in a database. Examples of ERP are Peoplesoft, SAS and Banner.

• What is the option "Documented goods movements" on Selection of Individual Object Lists (transaction code CO28)?

  Use Transaction code OPL8 to customize by choosing the order type, select all the checkbox under "Documentation of goods movements" at the bottom of the page. Create a new Production order, make GI to it, and run the report.

• We want the system to run a single level MRP automatically on receipt of sales order. How to configure triggering event

  This can only be run if material master has planning strategy 41 (made-to-order) in the MRP2 view. We need to run for other MRP types. We have to create a user exit in the sales order processing (VA01) to start MRP based on data from...

• What is the difference between "planned consumption" and "Unplanned consumption"? Can safety stock calculation be

  While customizing movement types (OMJJ) it is defined as to which set of consumption values gets posted during the material movement. For some it may always be the total consumption and for some it is always the unplanned one and for...

• We have a lot size procedure here which is creating more order proposals. How do you set the limit value for maximum

  Under customization, try materials management->consumption based planning->maintain all plants

• We defined SOP in months. However during SOP transfer to demand management, our independent requirements are

  Check transaction OMPA for general split. OMPS - based on the MRP group. Ensure that MRP group assigned to the material. Delete any allocations in these tables. Then periods will be transferred to Demand Management with the same...

• Can we use same routing for materials undergoing the same process/operations? Can we avoid separate routing for each

  Presume that there are 50 products and the fabrication shop uses a set of 10 machines. If all these products use the same settings of the machines, Reference Operation Sets (task list type S) can be setup for common processes that us...

• Can we have more than 6 standard values in standard value key?

  One way to achieve this is to create another operation step using the same work center. However this shall be with a control key that is not a milestone. When the milestone operation is confirmed, the previous operations up to the nex...

• What is the difference between by-product and co-product and how do you differentiate them in a BOM?

  In case of Co-product costs are settled with a apportionment structure. In case of By-product the price of this by-product is credited to the order or the material stock account of the lead material being manufactured. Co-Product as w...

• How can we assign 5 day a week and 7 days a week against a factory calendar to the related resources? Is it possible to

  Assign factory calendars to the work centers.

• How to configure the planning calendar for the ATP calculation where goods are shipped every other working day?

  Use Transaction MD25 and define calculation rule for every other working day. Check the lot size settings in OMI4 and maintain relevant data in MMR.

• SAP Exchange Infrastructure (BC-XI)

  SAP Exchange Infrastructure (XI) enables you to implement cross-system business processes. The aim of the Exchange Infrastructure is to integrate different versions of SAP and non-SAP systems implemented on different platforms (Java, ABAP,...

• SAP NetWeaver 7.0: Importing Process Integration Content

  SAP NetWeaver uses the usage type ‘Process Integration’ (this usage type includes all previous functions of the SAP NetWeaver Exchange Infrastructure and the Business Process Management functions) to support cross-system applications. In ad...

• Defining Source System in BI 7.0

  BI 7.0 Source System Definition for Source System with Basis Release lower than 640 is quite different. As of release 640, you can use upper and lower case characters for user passwords. This is only uppercase characters for previous relea...

• What is New in ECC5?

  Central User Administration (Extended) An improved Central User Administration is available to you as of SAP NetWeaver ‘04. In particular, the following functions have been improved or added: Central User Administration (CUA). These c...

• SAP NetWeaver

  SAP NetWeaver is a business oriented integration platform, able to streamline current IT solutions and infrastructure. Microsoft .NET, Sun’s J2EE, and IBM WebSphere can be used along with SAP Netweaver. SAP NetWeaver consists of 4 main l...

• SAP Enterprise Portal

  The Enterprise Portal is an environment that allows everyone (Employees, Suppliers, Partners, etc) to get a perspective of required information in one place. The Enterprise Portal is cantered on the user. It creates an environment that prov...

• SAP XI

  SAP Exchange Infrastructure, or SAP XI, is a component of NetWeaver that aids in the exchange of information between internal and external parties. Its now SAP PI Process Integration, that means its not only Exchange Infrastructure (XI)...

• What is a SAP system?

  The union of all s/w components that are assigned to the same databases is called as a SAP system.

• What is the means of communications between R/3 and external applications?

  The means of communication between R/2,R/3 and external applications is via the CPI-C handler or SAP Gateway, using the CPI-C Protocol.

• What is the protocol used by SAP Gateway process?

  The SAP Gateway process communicates with the clients based on the TCP/IP Protocol.

• What is a Spool request?

  Spool requests are generated during dialog or background processing and placed in the spool database with information about the printer and print format. The actual data is places in the Tem Se (Temporary Sequential objects).

• What are different types of Log records?

  V1 and V2. V1 must be processed before V2. But, we can have more than one V2 logs.

• What are the types of Update requests?

  An update request can be divided into one primary (V1) and several Secondary update components (V2). Time-critical operations are placed in V1 component and those whose timing is less critical are placed in V2 components. If a V1 update fai...