Re: advice on training for operators new to iSeries?

[Al Mac <macwheel99@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

IBM has business partners all over the world offering IBM classes.  I 
advise you buying the IBM Education Card for your IT staff, and possibly 
more of work force.  This gives you one year of unlimited IBM education, at 
any of these business partners, for one reasonable price.  You can use it 
at technical conferences.  There are some 3rd parties that offer classes 
that are not exactly IBM certified, but IBM lets them also on the card.

When I go to this education, a major expense can be transportation and the 
motel/hotel.  Your company may have limited budget for education, so you 
don't want extraneous expenses draining it.  If you do need a bunch of 
people getting the same education, it is cheaper for one instructor to come 
to you, than for you to send a bunch of employees to the education.  Don't 
put all your key people on one airplane.  There are user groups all over 
the place which organize classes where the instructor is brought in, and 
the students come from companies that are members of that group, and groups 
from neighboring cities.  These classes cover the gamut of IBM education 
topics and typically cost fraction of what it would cost to go to one of 
the IBM business partners classes.

I have been to COMMON conferences in cities where the hotel rates were 
several hundred $ per nite, but I was staying at Bed & Breakfast, for no 
more than $ 50.00 per nite, within easy commute of the conference.  With 
hotel/motel you can reserve on short notice, but with B+B you need to plan 
longer in advance.

Depending on your location, and where the education is located, traveling 
by Amtrak can often be a heck of a lot less hassle than by air.  You don't 
have passenger luggage restrictions that get in the way of you bringing 
back handouts from the seminars, I have NEVER had Amtrak lose my luggage, 
as often happens by air, or put it on a carrousel where I have to pick mine 
out of the bags of 400 other passengers.

> List,
>
> We are new to the iSeries world. We will be migrating from a VSE/ESA system
> to i5. We've already migrated our database from DB2/VSE to UDB/iSeries. So
> far - so good.
>
> I would like to get some advice concerning the best way to train operators.
>
> 1) What is the best application to train operators to use that are new to
> the iSeries?
> iSeries Navigator?
> WDSC?
> traditional green-screen via TN5250?
> All the above?
>
> 2) Are there any recommended classes for operators that are new to the
> iSeries?
>
> 3) Is it better/more economical to bring someone in for the training?
>
> 4) Any other ideas or suggestions we should be aware of as we move forward
> with the migration?
>
> --
> Regards,
>
> Michael Rosinger
> Systems Programmer / DBA
> Computer Credit, Inc.
> 640 West Fourth Street
> Winston-Salem, NC  27101
> 336-761-1524
> m rosinger at cciws dot com
>
>
> --
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