The solution did not erase twenty days. It rearranged when valid entitlements appeared as available inventory.

Imagine one HOLCOUP record as a steak, then cut it into twenty bite-size pieces. Each piece is a right that can be consumed on a particular day.

The goal is not to throw away pieces when the visible inventory would exceed forty. It is to control when each piece becomes available: some slightly earlier, some later, always within rules that preserve the employee’s benefit.

  • Keep the displayed paid-leave balance at forty days or fewer.
  • Do not erase a right that has already arisen.
  • Preserve every legally required validity period.

The implementation divided grant timing more finely, adjusted availability only where it did not disadvantage the employee, and changed the presentation of already-earned rights rather than destroying them.

Paper could not have managed this cleanly. Once each entitlement existed as data with its own dates and history, the AS/400 could arrange the inventory without sacrificing the right behind it.

WRITTEN BYYoshio Taki

A systems engineer who loves IBM i / AS/400

CHAPTER 03 · PART 04 · EPISODE 4 / 6 STORIES · 35 STORIES TOTAL

Chapter 3 index · All 35 stories