Question re: replacing Cobol programs as Infor phases out Cobol

I'm just trying to plan for moving forward so I'm curious about something. As Infor moves toward eliminating the Cobol backend, what's the proposed solution for formatted reports (not csv files) that have been created using custom Cobol programs? Just trying to plan how we can start preparing to address this.

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unknown

Plan on addressing data integrity too. When I retire, I will happily write replacement reports for you, in whatever sloppy language is out there that replaces COBOL. And when the reports give you unexplainable results, I'll also gladly charge you consulting hours to find out why. Getting rid of COBOL is wonderful. It's the major part of my retirement funding plan.

[There is an urban legend running through tech circles that the C++ programming language is preferred by programmers because the boss can't understand what the programs do. IMO, around 75% of security errors for years have been the so-called "buffer overflow" problem. ("buffer overflow is the most frequently exploited security vulnerability in computer systems" - www.cs.sjsu.edu/faculty/stamp/students/cs298report.doc ) This is why programmers do not prefer COBOL, which is too stable for job security. The only institutions that love COBOL are banks and accountants.]

0712050808501819.doc

unknown

Despite my negative tone, may I also contribute this: Crystal Reports is a very good product to produce replacement reports for Lawson tables. I have been using it for over 10 years and it is very successful. Also there are vendors out there who provide pre-written reports that you can just purchase and don't have to write. I have even figured out a Crystal Reports trick that allows me to produce massive csv file dumps, which doesn't look possible but can be done by a little bit of trickenology.

unknown

We use Crystal heavily and we have a very savvy that creates these. I'm just wondering if Infor plans to provide some new reporting tool for custom reporting needs. Tis all.

unknown

Let me add, that these customs don't just produce reports, they often produce reports based for the data before processing and after processing. We have IPA that can handle the processing but smart reports can't handle this piece. We would basically be generating data that we would need to have in a report.

Rhythm for Commerce Customer Newsletter July 2020.pdf

unknown

Initially, I became a programmer due to COBOL and it's stability and reliability. It did and still does appear as a symbolic 'wheel'. How does one improve on a 'wheel'? Milo, let me know if you need help charging others. LOL

PO_BODtoCSV.zip

unknown

Guys, while I appreciate your sentimentality with Cobol, this is really a serious discussion to determine which is the best way to approach replacing the custom jobs. Thanks.

unknown

You are quite right. My apologies. I cannot offer any help on that point.

unknown

What about Infor's LBI? This is what Lawson was pushing us to initially when we upgraded from 9 to 10 and it is supposed to be a reporting tool. We didn't go with it, because we already own SAP's Business Intelligence Reporting System. We have already written reports to tie into Lawson and use our SAP BI for the users to view those reports. (Crystal Reports back-end)

unknown

Nicole,

To your questions on if infor plans to provide some new reporting tool... Infor has acquired Birst, I believe this will be the direction they head in.

www.infor.com/.../

bhillz

If you have Cobol programmers who want to code, you could change the language: Java would be a natural as it's the language used for new Infor/Lawson app development. This may be more applicable for interfaces than traditional reporting.

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