Finding consignment stock balance at any point in time - treat the data in the remarks field in the Delivery Order as "locations"

[SAP]
What??!!
Ok, here goes.

[background]
Remarks field - Users key the delivery location into the remarks field. This is separate from the address field supplied by SAP. There are no checks and user can key in anything they like. Eg: 7 level; 6th storey; etc.
Consignment - are goods that are placed on customers' premises. Eg: books in bookstores; phones in mobile phone shops.
[/background]

1. Get all material documents from the very first day my company opened shop. Filter off those that do not have Delivery Orders.
2. Get the Delivery Orders.
3. Get the Delivery Order Remarks field via a function call.
4. Sorted by this remarkable remarks field, start counting the material movements that has occurred since the dawn of time, allocating them to their respective "locations".

Sounds easy? Already worked 2 weeks on this...

Q&A
===
q1. Why can't you use your previous logic - the one that starts tracking from the closest match?
a1. Can you tell me what each and every student in a school has eaten today? You can know how many plates of noodles and sandwiches have been sold but do you know *who* bought what? You got to interview every single single student to find out.

q2. Err... wouldn't that be slow?
a2. You bet your ass.

q3. Very slow?
a3. You daft?

q4. How are you going to verify your results?
a4. Compare with my other report that gives me the stock balance at any point in time but with one material at a time. Then list out all the material movements that has occurred for that material since day 1. Take out my calculator and...

q5. The deadline is Monday, isn't it?
a5. Yeah.

Finding stock balance at any point in time 1/2

[SAP]

[Background]
material documents - system documents that log material movements.
material movements - any sales, transfer or purchase transactions involving materials.
materials - goods used for business operations.
[/Background]

1. What is the run date? Is it today? Is it in the past? If so, find the closest record of the closing balance.
2. How many days difference is the run date from the closest record? Take note of the dates.
3. Fetch all the material documents within the date range. Add / subtract them to the stock balance.

Sounds simple? My user wanted such a report in 3 days. I once took 1 month to write it; 2 more months to iron out the bugs.

Q&A
===
q1. Wasn't this one of your proudest work? Why are there still bugs in it? *snickers*
a1. ... Well, it's cleaner now.

q2. The current state can only show either normal stock or consignment stock in a single execution. Your user wanted to merge the normal stock and consignment stock report generation together. Are you going to do it for her?
a2. Well, looking at that I have like ONE day left before Monday and the other report is far from finished, I say she can take it or leave it. The report is completed, for all that it matters to me. Just run in twice in 2 different modes! Sheesh!

a3. Isn't that slow?
q3. Combining the two functions together will still take the same amount of time...

a4. Are you unstable?
q4. No, why?
a4. Nothing...

Digging through rubbish

[SAP] Oh well, here we go again..
https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/thread?threadID=122463


[Farukh Quadri] Hey, I need a function but it was in version 4.7. I'm using 4.6c. Can anyone help me find the start date of a fiscal year?


[Vinod Gunaware] Use this "GET_CURRENT_YEAR"
--Cool. I can find out what's the current year, when I already know the value. Rubbish


[Shashank Deshpa] Hey! Use this..
--rubbish, he just did a search


[KDeepak] Use this; Reward points if useful
--pui. Rubbish


[Gayathri Hariha] Use this "GET_CURRENT_YEAR"
--Cool. I can find out what's the current year, when I.. hey! Repeated! Rubbish


[sniper]
HI farukh ,

1.
"GET_CURRENT_YEAR" will give u the fiscal year


2.use "GET_DATES_FROM_GJAHR" ,

give the company code and the fm area .
this will fetch the FISCAL YEARS valid from date and
valid to date .

this is with 4.6 c .

--jackpot!

Work attitude

Bad
===
A user shot a complaint email to me and another colleague, with our bosses in the cc list. The module in concern is his baby. Why am I the only one digging information to defuse the situation?

Good
====
This guy from helpdesk impressed me. He didn't push the problem to me as the user is mine but helped me to look into the technical side of the problem. He was so excited in the learning and discovery. Nice...

Users are still users

Yesterday, I congratulated myself that I have finally built a rapport with my users.

Today the sky came crashing down.

Users are still users. They can make unreasonable demands and go extreme measures to ensure it. I have to remember this.

For now, I'm pissed. Nice-ness goes both ways.

Work..

I can't complain so I'll say, "I retract my earlier attempts to persuade my ex colleagues to join me". ha-ha..

My friend's brush with the China Scam. Conclusion.

Some time ago, I wrote [in the forums] that my friend "won" a prize and he was pretty excited about it. I on the other hand was pretty interested to know the ending. Now, neither of us was unduly worried because he don't have the cash to be scammed...

[1]
Gaz (not his real name): blah blah blah, I was called by the manager via an overseas call, so just wanna check with you if you had received the same call.
JW: nopez. This sounds like a very classical case..
Gaz: I also got read before. But they never ask for any money and it sounds authentic.
JW: [laughs] Send them the money!
Gaz: I know la, but I'm just hoping that it's true. Then it'll be 60,000 dollars!
JW: Well, the most sinister thing that can happen is that it's a money laundering syndicate. Don't give them your personal information in case they force you to work for them.

[2]
Gaz: The lady from overseas contacted me, said she's surprised that the transfer hasn't been made
JW: mm hmm...

[3]
Gaz: Well, congratulate me. I just won 60,000 dollars. So all I have to do is to send them 2,000 dollars.
JW: [laughs] So send them the money!

-end


Ok, that's that. Boring. Here's the sequence of the scam, fyi
1. Contact you to go down for some talk. (You prob will refuse)
2. Contact you that in your absence, you won 2nd prize. This will be given by a new Macau casino. If the prize is not claimed, they have to give it to charity, so they would prefer you collect it rather than they go through the hassle of the paperwork. Ask for details like bank account - which you'll give then panic and call cynical friends like myself.
3. Manager from overseas will call you, confirm data once again, cos they aware that there are scams around, so want to assure you (Woah?).
4. Calls to check if you have received the transfer. Express surprise.
5. Calls to check if you have received the transfer. Express surprise.
6. You'll have to pay 2000 SGD to help process the transfer, cos they wanna assure that it goes to you - securely. No, they cannot take it from your prize money as it is a secure transfer.

-end

Hope this helps. I can't believe that people are still falling for scams despite such news being published over and over again.

GrowIsland: A recruit program?

Argh!! I give up.
http://shingakunet.com/special/10054301/0285/index.html

Night Safari

A place that I had no interests in visiting as I thought that the sights would be limited. Turned out to be a good trip after all.

We promised to bring Kumar there; I promised to bring my colleague around. Two newcomers to Singapore; Just nice.

[Attractions]

Animal show - animals came in from the side, took their rewards, left the other way. Owls swoop in, swoop out. Mountain lion climbed the tree easily, took his treat, jumped off and exited. More shy of us then we are afraid of them.

Tram ride - A slow serene tour of the park, highlighting most of the animals. The animals can be seen easily as most of them are not shy of people, simply disdainful. The otters were simply thrilled to see us, chattering non-stop. "Stay for lunch! Be our lunch!", they said. The enclosures used natural terrain to keep the animals separated from bad-tasting food (us) and tastier steaks (other animals). Yet, some of the mildest animals had no barriers at all. You'll wonder why they never wander off and take a dip in the lions' moat...

Footpaths - To access an area not reachable by the trams. Nice! However, the animals here are more shy, especially the cats. All you can see are trees and sand. If you're lucky, you can catch some movements behind the leaves as they spy on us.

[Good]

staff were well-motivated, cheerful and spirited

[Bad]
??


[Bad traits among visitors]

Flashes going off despite being reminded repeatedly that animals can get blinded. At one point, the keeper appeared upset because her barn owl was blinded while in flight.

"I can't see the cat. Hello?" [knocks glass]

"Here never say cannot use flash" [took a shot with flashlight]

[Blonk!] -startling a deer. "What's that?", asked a fellow passenger? -It was a plastic bottle left as litter by someone on a previous tram ride.

-

Dispassionate City People

We made ourselves cold so that we don't need graces.
We made ourselves blind so that we do not need to see.
We made ourselves not to care so that we do not need to care.

-

Coding Bliss?

Monday, 8.45am. I arrived late in office with rainwater on my person to prove it.
My mentor is on sick leave; The day looks set to be crazy.
The post you are about to read is a rant, but it's short.
The names are made up but the problems are real.
I'm JW; I'm a slave of the phone.

As the day crept towards mid-afternoon, I realised I am on the way to achieve a pain-free start of the week. Could this be happening? A Monday without being interrupted every 15 minutes?

To take full advantage of this rare opportunity, I chose to catch up with my programming work. I optimised the program's speed by a factor of 11 and smiled inwardly at what Lie Noi would have said. Shaking my head at such sloppiness, I proceeded to tear down the cobwebs and rearranged everything in a systematic order. An afternoon well wasted; Heh!

Joyce has tasked me to improve an existing program; After analysing for 2 interrupted days, I concluded that it could not be done: The Sun cannot glow; The Moon cannot blind. So I have free rein to tear apart the codes to my heart's delight and give her a new one. The final coding, however, will be tough. She wants it to report the stock quantity at any point in time. This is similar to a program I did for my first employment. A program I was most proud of and it took me 3 months to iron out the bugs. Fun, fun, fun.

Ahem. I've in a different role now. Must not fall back into habits of wasting time...


*note1
Wasting time --> Optimising codes when the job request did not ask for it

*note2
JW (I) is/am not a perfectionist, despite his habits of wasting time.

Earth shattering finding: Laws Of Attraction

A study released on Monday suggests that men homed in on the most attractive women and the women were drawn to...

*snort*

Help unasked for: Complimentary or Reward?

I know I have been lucky; I always had a good mentor, no matter where I go. Some had helped me when I'm lost, without me asking for it. Some had went the extra mile, when I thought I had all I needed from them.

I'm not totally selfless and my help extends mostly to my team and my juniors. When approached, I have not turned down anyone.

I know that rapport is needed and my situation is improving; I just wanted to complain about my initial hiccups. However, as I gain co-operations with our increased relationships, I wonder.

Fugu@Kuriya

1. I tried Tempura Fugu!
2. Kuriya still one of the best

JW the SAP Consultant: What is required of him

-

[2 months ago]
JW: Hey guys, I'll be doing SD (my old rice-bowl) in the new company.


[6 weeks ago]
The-nicer-HR-gal: This is JW, he'll be doing the SD/MM module.
SD/MM?


[5 weeks ago]
JW: Shi-jie! Got user wants to request for access to GRMS system, who I look for ar?
Shi-jie: You la! I gave you the access, remember?
JW: Oh ya.

Snow-white: So how many years of ABAP experience do you have?
Oh shit...


[4 weeks ago]
JW: Hey! This is Purchasing! Interview never ask me if I know Purchasing.
Shi-jie: You in Logistics mah.
JW: Ya, luckily I know, haha.


[3 weeks ago]
Class: Can you teach us more on Dialog programming, ALV and RFC?
*Gulp*


[2 weeks ago]
Survive 3 days without Shi-jie, she hurt her back.


[1 week ago]
JW: Shi-jie! Helpdesk kept routing Workflow issues to me, like got my name like that. I think I need to talk to them later.
Shi-jie: You support Workflow mah, I taught you how right?
JW: Yah, but I thought it's for my SD only?
Shi-jie: No... The entire one.


[this week]
JW: AP, AR, GL. I thought I do SD/MM? Why I need to know so much other knowledge one?

JW @ 7.30pm: When's the latest day that you need your data?
Uncaring: Latest tomorrow morning, else cannot do month-end closing.

-

Why no personal updates

Could mean...
1. I'm not stressed
2. I'm not pissed
3. I'm pissed about work but I can't blog about it as I am trying not to
4. Nothing exciting is happening
5. Too busy to blog

Erm... most of the above.
All's well...