Re: How V8.1 Count concurrent users -- BPCS-L

We are 405 CD mixed mode licensed user based, in which concurrent seems to be defined by SSA not as people who access BPCS at the SAME TIME, but people who have security that at SAME TIME permits them to access BPCS, whether they are accessing BPCS or not.

As far as SSA GT is concerned, the user license is for all the people who concurrently have security setup so that they CAN access BPCS, not that they are doing so at any given moment. This includes test environment whose usage might be extremely intermittent compared to the production environment. We might go months without using our test environment.

We have a query listing ZSC file just name of user and what their security type is (regular user and BPCS security officer), total on deleted or active. This needs to be looked at for each BPCS environment on your system. When someone leaves our company, we deactivate 400 security on them and delete their BPCS security, and take a look at what objects they might own.

Every time I am told to add some sign on for a new user to our BPCS, after I have done so, I rerun the ZSC count query and inform management that under the BPCS license we now have X users, and since our license supports a total of Z users, that means we have room for Y more users before the license needs to be renegotiated for more users.

I also periodically run IBM Security reports to see what sign ons we have issued that are not being used. So for example, the QC manager had asked that I issue sign ons for 100% of the inspectors, then 6 months later I told management that none of the inspectors had used their sign-ons ... did we really need to have this consumption of our total towards the BPCS license?

If you are interested in concurrent users from a performance perspective, that is another topic. That is of intermittent concern to us. I believe IBM has support for tracking # users of software, which BPCS is not tied into. I suppose someone could add BPCS to that for the purpose of tracking ACTUAL concurrent users.

I have been looking at putting long batch jobs in different JOBQ than short batch jobs for example, to manage the productivity side of this topic. There is one modification in particular that takes 1/2 hour to execute off JOBQ and is extremely popular, so it got its own JOBQ, and I am lowering its run priority so as to be a mite less drain on overall system. When it runs, it sends msg to QSYSOPR and I encourage users to look there ... perhaps you would prefer to copy someone else report that finished 15 min ago, than run your own which will take 1/2 hour after JOBQ clears.

I not know how BPCS security functions differently on V6, let alone V8, from V4, and I do know that it has been significantly upgraded to protect access to BPCS objects from a variety of concerns.

From an ethical perspective, if someone is using BPCS data, SSA_GT license should benefit. But consider the scenario of putting some BPCS data on a web site, such as info about some of the parts you manufacture, or your customers key in some password and get at info about parts you make for them, such as last shipment history, revision #, ability for the customers to post requests. You probably would not expect heavy concurrent usage at such an information or inquiry site and not want to have to pay SSA_GT one licensed user for every single different conceivable web visitor that you might have.

On the other hand, extracting copy of BPCS data under one user id to go to web site, then returning web site input to BPCS data base under auspices of one user id, might not be fair to SSA GT either, but I believe that under that scenario, you count as one user for SSA license purposes.

We have people with multiple session terminal / PCs which means WRKACTJOB or WRKUSRJOB or whatever shows you that the same person has multiple BPCS sessions going, but when this is one device, multiple sessions, user typically only keying at one of them at a time. We also have people who wander the building sign on more than one work station at a time ... they not sign off when they wander away, so you got lots of sessions sitting idle in middle of INV300 SFC300 etc.

Under our license, if one user is signed on at one session, or 20 sessions, that counts as one user. But that is a real person.

I have about 5 separate sign ons, with different mixtures of IBM security, and BPCS JOBD that I use for testing modifications and checking out user complaints. They all count as one user.

We have work stations in strategic locations over each factory floor, where supervisors and team leaders use a sign on that can only access inquiry and selected reports, no updates to BPCS files. They are left on all the time. In actual fact, more than one person per facility is using this same sign-on. By arrangement with SSA-GT license, this one sign-on is counted as eight users.

Hello All..

We are on BPCS V8.1 mixed mode, AS400 based.
Licesncing is User based (Not CPU Based).

How BPCS calculate number of concurrent user at any
point in time and when to restrict additional user to
sign on.
For exapmple, if a user sign on to bpcs, and open
INV300 program, Another user is entering customer
order.
System will count 2 concurrent users ?

 If a third user is extracting a report from BPCS data
file (Using VB/Cognos/RPG) , but using inhouse
developed program (not BPCS program) will it also be
counted as 3 concurrent user??

Thanks for sharing some expert opinion on the
subject...

Regards...
Roy


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