It’s easy to think of AS400 support as a routine. A few password resets, some user updates, maybe a system check here and there. But anyone who’s worked with the platform knows that even the smallest action can have big consequences.

Take a password reset, for example. One wrong step, and a user could get locked out of critical systems. That means halted processes, delayed orders, and frustrated teams waiting for access. The AS400 doesn’t forgive carelessness ...its strict security rules are designed to protect, but they also demand precision.

And this isn’t just about logins. The AS400 often runs core business applications, databases, and batch jobs that keep your operations moving. So, support isn’t just about fixing what’s broken, it’s about keeping things from breaking in the first place.

That’s why having a team that truly understands the IBM i environment matters. Skilled AS400 support isn’t a side task; it’s what keeps your business secure, compliant, and running without interruptions.

These AS400 Facts Might Surprise You

  • 49% of IBM i systems had a profile with more than 100 denied sign-on attempts, and 20% had over 1,000 invalid attempts on a single profile. One system faced more than 3 million attempts — highlighting just how critical real-time monitoring and timely lockout alerts are.
  • Password reset delays might look like a small issue, but they often cause downtime that slows operations for hours.
  • One in four support tickets in established AS400 environments are related to security updates or vulnerability fixes, showing how critical regular maintenance really is.
  • Fewer than 5% of companies use Independent Auxiliary Storage Pools (IASPs) to manage or off-load their AS400 spool files.
  • 60% of respondents in the 2025 IBM i Marketplace Survey (Fortra) identified IBM i skills as a top concern.

1. Access Delays, Locked Accounts, and User Provisioning Failures

Some of the most frequent tickets we see are the kind that seem small at first glance. Someone can’t log in. An account is locked. A new hire doesn’t have access on day one. Permissions are missing or incorrect. But when you start tracking these, the pattern becomes clear.

Roughly 30 to 40 percent of support requests are related to password resets or account lockouts. Another 10 to 15 percent are tied to new user creation or changes to user access. These aren’t just technical issues. Every one of them slows someone down, and in some cases, it slows down an entire department.

One client shared how a simple access delay during a shift handover brought production to a halt. Their AS400 profiles weren’t activated in time, and the system they relied on stood still for hours. It wasn’t a system failure. It was a workflow failure.

So what actually helps?

  • Automating the user creation process so HR inputs data once and a bot handles the rest
  • Provisioning AS400 profiles with the right group permissions automatically
  • Syncing passwords with Active Directory to avoid mismatches
  • Sending approvals and alerts to the right people without manual chasing
  • Adding audit logs and access trails so you can always trace who has what and why

Teams that adopt this approach have seen up to 70 percent fewer access-related tickets, onboarding times cut in half, and far fewer incidents of locked or misconfigured accounts. And because the entire workflow is visible and trackable, compliance gets easier too.

The point is, these tickets might look routine. But they reveal where manual processes are hurting your speed, security, and scalability. Fix the workflow and the tickets take care of themselves.

Did You Know?

Despite its age, AS400 supports role-based access control, cryptographic protection, and real-time monitoring. Yet, these features are often underutilized because teams rely on outdated manual routines.

2. Stuck Orders, Incomplete Jobs, and Broken Transaction Chains

Some of the tickets we get are about orders getting stuck for no obvious reason. Or jobs that just stop halfway through. Sometimes it's a sales order that won’t go through, or a cut release that keeps failing even though everything looks fine. And a lot of the time, it comes down to something simple. A locked record. A job that didn’t finish. A validation step that got skipped.

It might not seem like a big deal at first, but these small issues pile up fast. One thing goes wrong, and suddenly a whole batch gets delayed, reports don’t run, or people are stuck waiting on a process they can’t even see.

In most cases, it comes down to cleaning up how the jobs and workflows are structured. Not a full rewrite. Just small, deliberate changes that make the system easier to manage and less likely to break.

Here’s where we’ve seen the biggest impact:

  • Modern job schedulers that can skip, retry, or alert based on what’s actually happening instead of running everything in a fixed order
  • Better error handling in RPG using MONITOR and ON-ERROR blocks so jobs don’t just stop without a trace
  • Simpler templates that drop unnecessary fields and reduce the chance of things going wrong
  • Modular batch chains that break up large processes into smaller, easier-to-recover steps

Fixing these might not seem like a big change, but they often mean the difference between a stable system and a support queue full of preventable tickets.

Did You Know?

AS400 supports advanced job management options, including conditional job chaining, API-based triggers, and integration with modern DevOps tools. Yet many teams still rely on legacy job control logic that limits visibility and flexibility.

Still relying on manual updates in your AS400 inventory system? Learn how automation, integration, and best practices can bring modern efficiency to your retail operations.

3. Missing Reports, Inaccurate Data, and Export Failures

Some of the most common support issues we see around reporting aren’t caused by bugs. They’re caused by batch jobs that silently fail, templates that fall out of sync, or exports that break because formats or permissions didn’t match up. The reports either don’t generate, show the wrong data, or never make it to the user.

And it happens more often than you'd think.

A missing parameter here. A template that was never updated after a schema change. A job that ran out of sequence. Each on its own looks like a minor glitch, but together they can bring reporting to a crawl.

Here’s what’s behind most of these issues — and what helps fix them:

  • Batch job chains that fail quietly because dependencies break or the job runs with stale input
  • Outdated templates that don’t reflect the current data model or reporting logic
  • Mismatched mappings between business rules and report definitions that create confusion
  • Export errors when Excel jobs fail due to format mismatches or permission restrictions
  • Spool file limitations when legacy report formats don’t convert cleanly to modern tools

These are all fixable with a few targeted practices:

  • Monitor every job involved in reporting. Don’t just check the final export — track data prep, transformation, and delivery
  • Review report templates regularly and tie them into your system update process
  • Add validation steps in reporting workflows so bad inputs don’t ripple downstream
  • Use format conversion tools to go from spool files to structured formats like CSV or XML before pushing to Excel
  • Audit export job permissions to make sure file generation and delivery don’t fail silently

Did You Know?

AS400 supports pre-export data validation, structured error handling in report jobs, and automated retry mechanisms for exports and transfers. These features are rarely used to their full potential, but they can eliminate most of the common issues seen in reporting and data analysis tickets.

Still manually converting spool files into reports? Discover how AS400 automation can turn legacy outputs into real-time dashboards that drive faster, smarter decisions.

4. Invoice Generation Issues, Payment File Errors, and Pricing Delays

Some of the most common tickets we see in this category look like billing glitches at first. Invoices not generating, price changes not reflecting, or payments failing. But if you dig a little deeper, most of them come back to the same thing. Batch-driven workflows that quietly break when something upstream fails or runs out of order.

One healthcare client running an AS400-based billing system faced all of these issues. Claims piled up because submissions were manual and error-prone. Some were sent to the wrong payers, and there was no visibility into why they were rejected. A shortage of RPG resources made it harder to catch up. The real issue wasn’t the system. It was the lack of structure, automation, and traceability in how those workflows were built and managed.

Here’s where things usually go wrong:

  • Invoices don’t generate because upstream jobs didn’t finish or the service is still marked as pending
  • Price updates don’t apply because journal receivers were delayed or skipped
  • Payment files fail to post due to formatting mismatches or silent file transfer errors
  • Duplicate invoices appear when batch jobs reprocess records without checking what has already run

What actually helps:

  • Monitor every batch job tied to pricing, invoicing, or payments and flag any that fail or exit halfway
  • Track journal receivers closely to ensure price changes apply on time
  • Add status checks before invoicing to confirm services or items are marked correctly
  • Log all payment attempts and use retry logic to catch temporary network or gateway issues
  • Sequence jobs carefully to avoid running processes before their dependencies are ready
  • Add safeguards to detect and prevent duplicate processing using transaction or invoice IDs

In the case of the healthcare client, we helped stabilize the AS400 billing engine by implementing structured job monitoring, rules-based automation, and intelligent reprocessing logic for failed claims. Bots were deployed to validate and resubmit claims using 835 and 837 formats, and eligibility checks were automated. Dashboards were added to track KPIs and improve visibility. Within months, the client cleared its backlog, improved billing accuracy, and got ready for a phased migration to .NET without disrupting ongoing operations.

These kinds of fixes do not require ripping out the system. They just require better coordination, clearer handoffs, and smarter automation at each step of the workflow.

Did You Know?

AS400 provides native tools like DSPJRN for journal tracking, WRKJOBSCDE for job sequencing, and spool file management to monitor output. Many environments still run financial processes without retry logic, state tracking, or structured error handling, which is why billing errors tend to repeat unless workflows are stabilized.

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6. File Transfer Failures, Mismatched Records, and Integration Breakdowns

Some of the tickets we get here are about file transfers failing, vendor or asset data not syncing properly, or customer codes that don’t match across systems. And the tricky part is that the AS400 itself is usually doing fine. The breakdown happens when that data leaves the system and starts moving between platforms.

Here’s how these problems tend to show up:

  • FTP transfers fail because of the wrong file mode or mismatched CCSIDs. Binary files sent as ASCII get corrupted. Text files sent as binary come out unreadable.
  • Sometimes the transfers don’t even start — DNS delays or port blocks in the firewall stop them before they go anywhere.
  • Asset, vendor, or customer data doesn’t sync properly because the validation logic is different across systems. One platform might accept it. The other doesn’t.
  • After system patches or upgrades, integration settings get wiped or security rules change, and the data flow silently breaks.
  • Third-party apps miss events triggered by AS400 because of expired tokens, failed API calls, or sync rules that don’t align. The job runs but nothing gets processed on the other side.

What’s helped teams avoid repeat issues is focusing on the handoff — not the entire integration.

That means:

  • Checking file mode and CCSID before sending anything over FTP
  • Making sure firewall rules and DNS settings support stable transfer sessions
  • Validating data format consistency before sync jobs kick off
  • Testing all integrations in a staging environment before rolling out any upgrade
  • Adding retry logic, event logging, and token refresh checks for external APIs

Did You Know?

You can use IBM i commands like TRCTCPAPP to trace FTP transfer errors and WRKTCPSTS to see live network session info. These built-in tools are often enough to catch and fix silent failures before they hit production.

7. Incorrect Pick Lists, Incomplete Pack Slips, and Logistics Sync Gaps

Some of the tickets we see are tied to issues like incorrect pick lists, missing packing slips, or finished goods showing up wrong in the system. These problems often come down to data not syncing on time, batch jobs that didn’t run, or updates that stopped halfway through. The AS400 system usually did its part, but something in the flow broke.

When packing slips print with the wrong items or scanners don’t match the inventory, the warehouse slows down. Even a small delay at the packaging station can lead to missed shipments or wrong deliveries.

Here is where it typically goes wrong:

  • Batch jobs that update packing or pick list data fail silently or run out of order
  • Memo lists and spool files never print because the writer is stopped or the queue is full
  • Product master data gets updated in one system but not pushed to others, causing mismatches
  • Pick list logic is based on outdated stock data due to lagging transactions
  • HighPoint or other integration partners drop files or timeout on syncs
  • Label printers or handheld scanners are not in real-time sync with AS400

These aren’t caused by one system failing. They are usually gaps between systems that no one is watching until something goes wrong.

Here is what helps:

  • Add error handling and job status alerts to all pick and pack batch workflows
  • Monitor spool queues and restart writers automatically to avoid stuck packing slips
  • Use transactional logic for finished product updates so nothing is left half-done
  • Run scheduled audits on sync jobs between AS400 and third-party systems like HighPoint
  • Keep scanners and label printers updated and connected to live inventory feeds
  • Automate queue cleanups and spool file validations to prevent downstream delays

Did You Know?

AS400’s WMS tools offer real-time inventory tracking, multi-location control, and automated pick-pack-ship workflows. But without close monitoring of batch jobs, spool file queues, and integration flows, these capabilities often go underused — which is where most warehouse-related tickets begin.

8. Notification Failures, Duplicate Tickets, and Escalation Loops

Some of the tickets we get are not about broken systems, but about the things that never show up. A ticket doesn’t generate. A notification doesn’t send. Or worse, it sends again and again until someone manually steps in to stop the loop.

A lot of this happens when AS400 workflows are integrated with platforms like HappyFox or other ticketing tools. When everything works, it’s seamless. But the moment one piece misfires, it creates noise instead of support.

Here’s where it typically goes wrong:

  • Webhooks are outdated or pointing to the wrong URL.
  • API tokens expire and no one rotates them on time.
  • The AS400 job completes, but the notification never reaches the ticketing system.
  • Sometimes, it keeps trying and creates the same ticket twice.
  • Sync toggles are turned on in multiple systems with no limits, leading to infinite updates.
  • A single change on one system updates another, which triggers the first again — creating an escalation loop.
  • New hire workflows send onboarding alerts repeatedly because the acknowledgment step is missing.

These are not platform failures. They’re gaps in how integrations are structured and managed.

Here’s what helps:

  • Review and update webhook URLs regularly.
  • Rotate API tokens and track their expiry.
  • Add guardrails around ticket sync logic to prevent duplicates.
  • Use unique ticket identifiers across systems to stop overlap.
  • Add retry logic that doesn’t flood the system if something fails.
  • Monitor ticket updates and escalation paths to catch loops before they grow.

Did You Know?

HappyFox integrates with dozens of platforms via webhooks and APIs. But most users only apply minimal logic and don’t monitor the endpoints for failures. Many notification issues are not caused by the platform itself but by how AS400 jobs trigger ticket events without safeguards.

9. System Lag, Unmonitored Jobs, and Missed Maintenance Windows

Some of the tickets we get are not about broken systems, but about ones that slow down or stop quietly. A job never finishes. A report gets stuck in the queue. Or the entire system starts lagging, and no one knows why until it's already affecting users.

This usually happens when routine maintenance falls behind. In AS400 environments, reliability depends on jobs finishing cleanly, journals being trimmed on time, and updates being tested before they go live. When these tasks are missed, the system still runs, but not efficiently.

One global distributor of decorative fabrics had been running a custom RPG ERP for years. Most of the original developers were no longer around, documentation was thin, and the support team was overwhelmed with tickets. What looked like recurring performance problems turned out to be a maintenance and visibility issue. Jobs were running out of sequence. Journals were filling up. Batch processes were timing out, and no one had clear insight into which subsystem was causing the delay.

They addressed it by shifting to a managed support model with round-the-clock monitoring, structured maintenance routines, and clearer governance. The results were immediate: a 50 percent reduction in their ticket backlog, a 30 percent improvement in batch throughput, and SLA compliance above 95 percent on high-priority items. Most importantly, the internal team got back the bandwidth to start their long-planned modernization efforts.

Here’s where things typically go wrong:

  • Journal receivers fill up, slowing down write operations across critical files
  • PTFs are outdated or installed directly in production without prior testing
  • Batch jobs are scheduled with no output checks, allowing failures to go unnoticed
  • Subsystems remain untuned and indexes are not optimized, leading to performance lag
  • Admin access is shared with no change control, creating risks and overlap
  • Backup jobs exist but are never tested, resulting in failed recovery when needed

Here’s what actually helps:

  • Monitor system health continuously using built-in IBM i tools and smart alerting
  • Apply PTFs regularly and validate each change in a test environment before rollout
  • Tune subsystems, clear journal receivers, and optimize indexes to reduce contention
  • Use structured access controls and track every change to avoid conflicts
  • Automate backups and test recovery workflows on a scheduled basis

Did You Know?

AS400 provides native tools like WRKACTJOB, DSPRCDLCK, and WRKJOBSCDE to monitor activity, check for locks, and review job schedules. Consistent use of these tools helps detect early warning signs of resource strain or configuration drift long before they cause downtime.

Read this case study to see how we helped a valve manufacturer automate their AS400 backups and eliminate downtime between shifts.

Conclusion

Well, what happens most of the time is we end up trivializing the very issues that keep surfacing again and again. A stuck job here, a missed report there, an account that won’t log in, they all feel small in isolation. But they’re not.

Resolving AS400 support issues is not just about fixing problems. It is about bringing structure, clarity, and automation to the systems that have supported your business for decades. This requires more than general IT knowledge. It requires deep AS400 expertise.

If you are experiencing any of these issues, or if you are considering AS400 modernization, iSeries integration, automation, or performance improvement, speak with our team. We can help you turn recurring challenges into sustainable solutions.

Get in touch with our experts today.