BPCS

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BPCS is an acronym for Business Planning and Control System, pronounced as "Bee picks." BPCS was developed by System Software Associates (SSA), which later became SSA Global Technologies (which was then acquired by Infor), and is used to control the operations of manufacturing companies. BPCS is in the category of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software.

BPCS includes MRP logic to manufacturing operations, provided there are high standards of data validity such as engineering specifications and inventory accuracy. It runs on several systems, with the IBM System i (also known as IBM AS/400 or IBM eServer iSeries), being most popular. It is written in As/Set, RPG, SQL and other IBM languages somewhat unique to the System i.

Many of the BPCS applications are somewhat stand-alone, in that companies can choose to implement only the financial applications for example, and none of the manufacturing. The competitive strength of BPCS over other ERP vendor competition, however, is in its manufacturing and planning applications.

Contents 1 BPCS Applications 1.1 Financial 1.2 Planning 1.3 Distribution 1.4 Manufacturing 1.5 Systems Applications

[edit] BPCS Applications

BPCS Applications are very dependent on BPCS software version release, because SSA enters into partnerships with speciality suppliers of applications such as Data Mining, Bar Coding, etc. and supplies that integrated with a particular version; then in later versions it switches to a different supplier.

The BPCS Application suite includes:

[edit] Financial

• Cost Accounting CST
• Accounts Payable ACP
• Accounts Receivable ACR
• Billing BIL
• General Ledger GLD
• Cash Management CSH
• Multiple Currencies MLT
• Currency Translation CTR
• Financial Assistant FIN
• Fixed Assets FXA
• Payroll PAY
• Business Modeling
• Data Mining

[edit] Planning

Most planning functions can be used in either Distribution or Manufacturing.

• Forecasting FOR
• Master Scheduling MPS
• Material Requirements Planning MRP
• Capacity Planning CAP
• Distribution Resource Planning (inter facility) DRP
• Planner's Assistant PLN
• Simulations

[edit] Distribution

Most planning functions are used in both Distribution and Manufacturing.

• Inventory INV
• Purchasing PUR
• Customer Order Processing ORD
• Billing BIL
• Sales Analysis SAL
• Promotions and Deals PRO
• Performance Measurement PRF
  • such as supplier quality and on-time, our company performance in supplying our customers, our internal quality control
• Multiple Environments, Companies, Divisions, Facilities, Warehouses, Locations

[edit] Manufacturing

Most planning functions are used in both Distribution and Manufacturing.

• Manufacturing Data Management BOM
  • Also Routings as SFC sub-set
• Inventory INV
• Shop Floor Control SFC
• Master Scheduling MPS
• Material Requirements Planning MRP
• Capacity Planning CAP
• Laboratory Management LMS
• Just In Time JIT
• Quality Control QMS
• Repetitive Manufacturing
• CIMPath (barcoding and data collection) CIM
• Advanced Process (chemical) Industries API
• Performance Measurement (factory production) PRF

[edit] Systems Applications

• ASAP Information Retrieval
• Misc Reports & Retrievals
• System Parameters or Business Rules
  • Transaction Effects
• Documentation
• Data Base X-Reference
• Interest Area Menus
• Sliding Y2K Window

There are 3rd party companies, such as Advanced Systems and Products (known as ASAP, see http://www.BPCSPros.com) that support the application, providing services such as Consulting, Application Design and Programming, Education and Training, Upgrades and Implementations, Help-Line, etc.