The AS/400 application was supposedly replaced. After I retired, I discovered it was still alive—supporting a category the standard package had not absorbed.
Systems are normally replaced because they can no longer follow the environment, the rules, or the work. That was not what happened here. The AS/400 application had not stopped meeting its purpose.
I retired at the end of August 2023 and said goodbye to the attendance system. Later I had an opportunity to see the current operation. No one should have been maintaining my program, yet it was still running perfectly well.
Regular and part-time employees appeared to use the parent-company system, but the AS/400 application remained in use for contract employees—probably because the standard system did not absorb that employment pattern cleanly.
Seeing it felt like meeting a child after years apart. I almost wanted to pat the machine on the head.
The series began with paper sheets and strained eyes, then moved through leave rights, part-time work, payroll, compliance, and standardization. The conclusion is simpler: see the workplace, hear the difficulty, turn it into a system, and let that system keep supporting people.
Long live the AS/400 attendance system.
CHAPTER 03 · PART 05 · EPISODE 3 / 3 STORIES · 35 STORIES TOTAL