I'll jump on the bandwagon with my two cents.
I think Service Connect is a fantastic tool, it's really the only way to tap
fully into the business logic. With Service Connect, you can pretty much
duplicate what the end users do with just the data they enter, and you don't
have to concern yourself as much with ALL the other tasks the business logic
does. As an example if you are creating a sales order, you simply update
the customer field and the business logic defaults terms codes, ship vias,
ship tos, etc.
That being said, I also echo the sentiment that Service Connect is not for
the weary. Developing workflows is definitely an art, not a science.
Doing a trace gives you a pretty good idea of the methods you need to call,
but after that there are a bunch of tricks (undocumented features) that you
have to worry about. I've been developing workflows since about the
beginning of Service Connect and Vantage 8.0, worked with a lot of the early
Epicor staff, and we even used our site for some of the first documentation
(my apologies).
I now develop workflows for companies as part of my own consulting business
(shameless plug). Even now with lots of workflows under my belt, I still
run across those hair-pullers on a seemingly simple task. About the only
way you'll really get good at using the tool is digging in and battling it,
and finding some good resources when you inevitably get stuck. Once you're
on the other side, you'll find SC to be an unbeatable resource in certain
scenarios.
Kevin Simon
SimsTrak Consulting
simstrak@...
From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of
CarlH
Sent: Friday, May 07, 2010 7:59 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] Re: Service Connect Training?
My experience is pretty well along the same line as the other two comments.
Over the years I've written a lot of code and was looking forward to SC. But
after an on-site training exercise, the instructor and I failed to make it
through the sample in the Education guide. I still fiddle with it - trial
and error is a good way to explain it --- and still have yet to write even
one successful work flow.
Still I do believe it is a safe way to load data and will keep after at it.
--- In vantage@yahoogroups.com <mailto:vantage%40yahoogroups.com> , "Brian
W. Spolarich " <bspolarich@...> wrote:
the BOs are the only supported way to do transactions in Vantage outside of
the client, so you don't want to be touching the database directly. You're
either going to have to write .NET code against the BOs (not documented, but
some folks have provided examples here), or use the web services methods
with code of your own, or use the web services with workflows you create via
SC.
any particular language or toolset), and understanding of the Vantage BOs
and their peculiarities, and lots of trial and error.
Behalf Of Vic Drecchio
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/files/.
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/files/>
I think Service Connect is a fantastic tool, it's really the only way to tap
fully into the business logic. With Service Connect, you can pretty much
duplicate what the end users do with just the data they enter, and you don't
have to concern yourself as much with ALL the other tasks the business logic
does. As an example if you are creating a sales order, you simply update
the customer field and the business logic defaults terms codes, ship vias,
ship tos, etc.
That being said, I also echo the sentiment that Service Connect is not for
the weary. Developing workflows is definitely an art, not a science.
Doing a trace gives you a pretty good idea of the methods you need to call,
but after that there are a bunch of tricks (undocumented features) that you
have to worry about. I've been developing workflows since about the
beginning of Service Connect and Vantage 8.0, worked with a lot of the early
Epicor staff, and we even used our site for some of the first documentation
(my apologies).
I now develop workflows for companies as part of my own consulting business
(shameless plug). Even now with lots of workflows under my belt, I still
run across those hair-pullers on a seemingly simple task. About the only
way you'll really get good at using the tool is digging in and battling it,
and finding some good resources when you inevitably get stuck. Once you're
on the other side, you'll find SC to be an unbeatable resource in certain
scenarios.
Kevin Simon
SimsTrak Consulting
simstrak@...
From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of
CarlH
Sent: Friday, May 07, 2010 7:59 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] Re: Service Connect Training?
My experience is pretty well along the same line as the other two comments.
Over the years I've written a lot of code and was looking forward to SC. But
after an on-site training exercise, the instructor and I failed to make it
through the sample in the Education guide. I still fiddle with it - trial
and error is a good way to explain it --- and still have yet to write even
one successful work flow.
Still I do believe it is a safe way to load data and will keep after at it.
--- In vantage@yahoogroups.com <mailto:vantage%40yahoogroups.com> , "Brian
W. Spolarich " <bspolarich@...> wrote:
>touch workflows much in the past year. But it is hard to work with. However
> I don't hate SC with the vehemence that Vic does, buty I haven't had to
the BOs are the only supported way to do transactions in Vantage outside of
the client, so you don't want to be touching the database directly. You're
either going to have to write .NET code against the BOs (not documented, but
some folks have provided examples here), or use the web services methods
with code of your own, or use the web services with workflows you create via
SC.
>requires some programming experience (just for the basic mindset, not for
> This is definitely not an end-user kind of thing. To use this successfully
any particular language or toolset), and understanding of the Vantage BOs
and their peculiarities, and lots of trial and error.
>Picometrix
> -brian
>
> --
> Brian W. Spolarich ~ Manager, Information Services ~ Advanced Photonix /
> bspolarich@... ~ 734-864-5618 ~ www.advancedphotonix.com[mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com <mailto:vantage%40yahoogroups.com> ] On
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: vantage@yahoogroups.com <mailto:vantage%40yahoogroups.com>
Behalf Of Vic Drecchio
> Sent: Friday, May 07, 2010 9:34 AMalready linked your email address to a yahoo id to enable access. )
> To: vantage@yahoogroups.com <mailto:vantage%40yahoogroups.com>
> Subject: RE: [Vantage] Service Connect Training?
>
> I second Sean's input.
>
>
>
> Service Connect is not for the weary. You need to be a programmer or
> have a programming mindset. And it's very, very far from intuitive.
> I've been programming/"coding" for 20 years and I hate, hate, hate
> Service Connect. What takes me 1 hour to create and test in Service
> Connect it takes me 10 minutes to do in SQL.
>
>
>
> Just make sure that when you have completed training that you
> immediately start writing workflows otherwise your knowledge will be
> lost quickly.
>
>
>
> Service Connect I'm sure has benefits somewhere. It's extensively used
> on the PLM module "bolt-on" from ProCAD called ProFile. We use the PLM
> product a lot. When I have to troubleshoot Service Connect it takes
> forever and it's just not a nice interface.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> Useful links for the Yahoo!Groups Vantage Board are: ( Note: You must have
> (1) To access the Files Section of our Yahoo!Group for Report Builder andCrystal Reports and other 'goodies', please goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/files/.
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/files/>
> (2) To search through old msg's goto:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/messages
> (3) To view links to Vendors that provide Vantage services goto:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/linksYahoo! Groups Links
>[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]