To turn complicated leave rules into a system, I first listed every condition the platform would need to know. Then an unexpectedly simple image appeared: a deck of cards.
How could an AS/400 manage leave that was too complicated for a manager’s notebook? I began by separating the requirements.
- The type of leave
- How each right is created
- When each right may be used
- When each right expires
- What the employee may see
- How balances are calculated for any date
- What managers and HR may see
- How HR may make authorized adjustments
- A complete history of every update
Once the conditions were visible, the implementation no longer felt mysterious. I did not need the computer to imitate a paper form. I needed it to hold individual units of entitlement.
In other words, I needed to teach the AS/400 to play cards.
Not an actual game, of course. The card was a model: one tangible, countable object representing one unit of leave.
CHAPTER 03 · PART 02 · EPISODE 1 / 9 STORIES · 35 STORIES TOTAL