Not going to go into a lot of detail but holy moly was that a tough problem.
We have 3 programs we use to run cost accounting. They all work together (Sort of) but not in real time. Those feed into each other both ways, down and up. However only when they do what is called a cost run or data submission. That is done only once a week.
I work for a large food processor. We have what I will refer to here as recipes. In the last month we have 3 new recipes attached to 12 new products. The problem is the recipes were valid in two programs but not the 3rd. The 3rd program is used to enter production. Production could not be entered for the 3 recipes. Yes we are producing them before they are fully implemented. It has to do with Hostess closing. You have to grab the shelf space while it's there. Maybe I should say while there's that opportunity.
So I asked the question can I use an existing recipe that is similar to the recipes that missing. Never got a clear answer on that. That was after calls all over the United States. Finally I found a tech Guru. He said to look on a drive for a certain file. Found that. It was text file. Let me tell you about our system. It is one step above IBM cards. In fact we can export IBM like cards from Excel into the system. The original manual is dated 1958 and is still valid.
Back to the issue. The tech Guru said to change the text files to the recipes that are not included in the 3rd program and showed me how to do it. That didn't seem enough for me. After several more calls I get a guy who has the same position has me. He's a Texan. Sounds like a Texan too. Slow talking and low key. Not exactly inspiring. No offense to Hitech. Then after about an hour talking with him I realize this guy is on the ball. Then he without knowing any of my previous conversations substantiates what the tech Guru told me. Then goes on to tell me more. Just a great learning experience.
Earlier I had told the person who enters production to go ahead and use the similar recipes. While not exactly right it would at least allow production to be entered. The weight of the world was on my shoulders at that moment. Something had to be done and there was no one else who could make that decision. My boss had her hands full with other duties. Then I went in after submitting the recipes and changed the wrong recipes to the correct ones in the text file. Are if you like changing the cards.
Then I exported the data into the system that had the correct recipes. It worked!! No rejects and I submitted the batch to the database. The real proof will be shown in the reports tomorrow but I feel good about it. It was 4 hours on the phone and numerous calculations to make sure the batch had the right numbers.
Perhaps the greatest compliment came from my co-worker who said, "I'm so glad you work for us! You really stick with things."
So I'm hoping all is good tomorrow. It seems it should. One never knows though.
