A Promis Overview

Promis is one of the two main programs covered in this guide. The other MM is closely linked with it, and data is by necessity shared between the two systems. Promis is the part of the system most closely concerned with the financial side of stock control; Promis is used mainly for

Promis Quirks

Using Promis requires the user to remember a few points about it which will make life a lot easier for the user.

  1. It is important to remember that Promis is not so much a single unified application as a shell from which individual helper applications are launched. It is for this reason that there is not such a common user interface across all the various functions as there is in MM.
  2. Promis allows various actions to be taken according to who is logged on and trying to perform the action. If a user is logged on as, say, controller 21 and tries to raise an order for a part controlled by another controller then Promis will disallow the order, and offer the chance to log in as a different controller. Click here to learn how to log on as a different controller
  3. Promis nearly always requires the use of the [RETURN] key. Using most programs the [ENTER] key (located on the numeric keypad of most keyboards) and the [RETURN] key are functionally identical, but when using Promis and MM they are not. In fact, one works when the other doesn't, and vice versa. Promis will never let you use the wrong key, complaining (if you use the [ENTER] key when it wants a [RETURN]) that the "INPUT FIELD LONGER THAN" some number. This is just a signal to use the correct key. If it is the other way round, and it actually requires the [ENTER] key but you press [RETURN] (such as in POGEN) then usually it will just ignore the keypress until you press the right key.

The Promis Interface

Promis is really a menu system consisting of three menus and 28 applications. The link between them is the menu from which they are accessed, which has the title of "Purchasing Menu (II or III)". There is also another common denominator which is that the programs all are related to part details and the financial side of materials management - ordering, contract information etc.

To move about the menus is straighforward: entering 10 takes you to the next menu, and typing in // goes to the previous one. Be aware, however, that entering // on the first menu will log you off Promis, requiring youto restart it and re-enter all the passwords and user ids etc.

When in applications, sometimes you can press a function key corresponding to a command, and sometimes you must type the number and press [RETURN]. Sometimes, as in the case of the front end menus (the Purchasing Menus), you can use either method of selection.

Once within a particular "screen", for example POGO or POMAINT, it is most common to have to press the F8 key to navigate backwards. This means that if you press a function key to move forwards, i.e. in POMAINT you press F2 to get to Order Rev/Change, you can press F8 to go back to POMAINT. There are occasionally areas in which this is not possible, but there will usually be an instruction such as "Press RETURN to go back."

Comments to Nik Makepeace