what my job is

I did a little more today. I got my computer and it was working. The problem is getting over the hurdle of the interface. There are four programs that they use. There is a fifth that many use, but it is the "old" system. Those who used it, love it and hate the new system.

The new program has advantages and disadvantages. It uses Windows capabilities and defeats other Windows capabilities. Because of the manner of data storage, the SQL is limited and needs more versatility and wildcards. What the users forget is that the system has to track down millions or billions of part numbers and correlate that to orders, inventory and more. Of course it should require some human-factor thinking (part number containing "7") should not be an allowable function -- consuming very valuable resources. On the same token, you may not know much about the part number so you should be able to do more with description, regardless whether you know the manufacturer.

This is also true if company A is bought be company B. Now, Company A might continue to produce the part and name it Company B; may manufacture a new part with Company A; outsource old part to Company C. This is where the complexity begins. Okay, I understand that some person may not know the part number, but they ought to have an idea what it is, right?

Part of my job will be finding parts for people who don't know the part numbers.
Another part of my job will be to order parts, ensuring that we have the parts (informing the customer approximae time of delivery) and getting prices.

The prices are the biggest mess of all.

Service Company F has a certain volume of business and gets __% off list price, unless ...
there is only a Net price listed
If the sale is a quote, numbers are rounded to integer dollars and freight is seemingly arbitrarily guessed.
I can see few instances when my team members actually calculate weight of parts for shipping.