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® IBM Software Group © 2006 IBM Corporation HATS Case Study
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IBM Software Group 2 Business Challenge Infor Global Solutions Technology Financial software and services provider for fundamental transactional activities (accounting, procurement, inventory management), expense management, regulatory compliance, and enterprise performance management Over 12,500 customers worldwide, including half of the Fortune 100 and 18 of the top 20 US banking institutions An IBM Business Partner who develops and sells financial applications and the supporting software licenses. Applications are licensed by the customer and may be further enhanced. Infor ® provides support to the customers. Need to modernize mainframe applications Back-office applications are older CICS, COBOL, Assembler applications Need to provide an intuitive web interface for customers, employees and vendors Need to combine multiple host screens into single web page to improve navigation and ease-of-use Goal to improve user interface Lower total cost of operation by not having to own and maintain separate 3270 terminals and/or desktop terminal emulation software Improve accessibility for internal users, remote employees, and casual users Accelerate the learning curve of new and infrequent users through a more intuitive, web-like interface Enable personalization of applications through customization tools Improve productivity by streamlining interfaces and workflow in support of business process reengineering efforts
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IBM Software Group 3 Previous Solution Overview of Active Client 1.1 Active Client is an application developed by Infor which provides a GUI to access a full suite of back- office financial applications 3270 green-screens accessed across the web using Host on-Demand Screens transformed using Screen Customizer Customers could choose to use the default screen customization Or they could choose to further personalize the customization on the client IBM products used in Active Client 1.1 Host on-Demand V7.0 Screen Customizer V2.0.70 IBM HTTP Server – multiple versions supported Other products used in Active Client 1.1 Microsoft Internet Information Services V5 – used as alternative to IBM’s web server Microsoft Internet Explorer browser
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IBM Software Group 4 Technical Challenges Problems with previous solution from technical perspective Screen Customizer reached end of life New customer features and enhanced functions couldn’t be implemented with the previous solution, such as Combined screens Embedded java Global variables JavaScript Style sheets Needed to further modernize the GUI to enhance the end user experience Customized templates and style sheets Populate drop-downs and pop-ups to reduce data entry errors Tabbed folders to combine multiple screens on single web page Macros to retrieve data JavaScript to validate data entry prior to submitting to host application
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IBM Software Group 5 Alternatives Considered Other products Jacada® HostFuse IBM products Host Access Transformation Services (HATS) Infor decided on HATS IBM is strategic partner Wanted to provide one technical solution for all web-enabled products Decision was made by Infor VP of Development and Marketing team to go with HATS
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IBM Software Group 6 New solution IBM zSeries Suite of back-office applications Production Server HATS V6.0.4 WAS V6.0 IBM HTTP Server V6.0 on Windows 2003 Server Client Workstation Microsoft IE V6 SP1 or later on Windows XP/Windows 2000 Key Components Software IBM WebSphere Host Access Transformation Services V6.0.4 IBM Rational Web Developer V6.0.1 IBM WebSphere Application Server V6.0 IBM HTTP Server V6.0 (or alternatively Microsoft IIS V6) Servers IBM zSeries Services IBM Software Services for WebSphere (ISSW) Development Workstation HATS V6.0.4 RWD V6.0.1 WAS V6.0 on Windows XP/Windows 2000
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IBM Software Group 7 Key Technical Benefits Implementation of Active Client 2.0 Application developed using HATS installed on Rational Web Developer (RWD) Resulting application utilizes both default and customized transformations Deployed to WebSphere Application Server Key HATS and RWD functions used Customized screen transformations using JSPs Host components rendered using drop-down, popup, text input, field and calendar widgets Business logic and global variables used to populate drop-down and popup lists Tabbed folders with macros used to combine multiple related host screens to single web page Fields from multiple host screens combined into single web page Modified keyboard mappings Enhanced templates and Cascading Style Sheets with application buttons and hyperlinks provide consistent style and ease-of-use JavaScript to validate fields on web page to prevent unnecessary calls back and forth to host Embedded Java business logic performs business functions against data extracted from host Utilized component based development to easily reuse and share between screen customizations
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IBM Software Group 8 Key Business Benefits Business results achieved Active Client 2.0, using HATS technology, is easy to deploy, requiring minimal integration and can provide immediate cost savings. Application includes a rich set of web components and takes advantage of web technologies to improve presentation, navigation and productivity. Zero-footprint, web-based application requires no installation or management of special software on user desktops. Common tasks may be performed more rapidly and effectively with drop-downs, menus, and navigation which provides options to support novice, casual, and "power" users. Expectations and how they were met Modernization: Takes advantage of web technologies, such as drop-downs, menus, popups, and combining multiple host screens in a tabbed folder to increase productivity. J2EE compliant: Enables greater openness, flexibility and extensibility. Skills in Web technologies are more widely known. Usability: Improved user interface provides streamlined navigation which is user-friendly and intuitive, and saves time to perform routine procedures. Portability: Application may be accessed from anywhere and now available for those unfamiliar with the green-screen host application and reduces their learning curve.
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IBM Software Group 9 HATS in Action Screen shots of the 3270 screen and the screen transformation using HATS 3270 Host ScreenWeb Browser
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IBM Software Group 10 Deployment Experience – The Good What did it take to implement HATS and get it production ready? A team of 10 developed Active Client 2.0. Full time project duration was 10 months; available for license in May, 2006 Required new hardware for development environment Developers learned web development skills Infor worked with IBM Software Services for WebSphere (ISSW) for 2 weeks - provided education and mentoring Took advantage of project level settings for components, widgets, templates which enabled reuse for customizations What will it take for customer deployment? Infor will provide 40 hours of education and mentoring Can provide additional services to further customize the application Estimate a month for rollout, but dependent upon customer needs
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IBM Software Group 11 Deployment Experience – The Bad What did not meet expectations? Started with RAD, but Infor needed a lighter solution Solution: Decided on RWD Big learning curve for some Infor developers Mainframe developers needed to learn HTML, XML and other web technologies Solution: Were able to use the Design View in RWD Technical issues encountered Support for host field colors rendered in pop-up widget Error messages were highlighted in host application. Field widget supported host field colors, but not pop-up. Solution provided. Widget bleed through Drop-down bled through pop-up widget when next to each other. Fix provided. Next screen Next screen not being used when executing macros from run macro command key. Fix provided. Autotab With turnAutoTabOn enabled, autoAdvance skipped the last field on the transformation. Fix provided.
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IBM Software Group 12 A Success Story Infor built a user-friendly, intuitive GUI for accessing their back- office applications by taking advantage of the rich web technologies provided by HATS and RWD. Common tasks are performed more rapidly and effectively with drop-downs, menus, and navigation which provides options to support novice, casual, and "power" users. Active Client 2.0, built on HATS technology, is a robust and feature rich replacement for users currently on Active Client 1.1. Utilizing HATS Technologies, Infor can provide to its customers a flexible and powerful web based solution to connect users to our financial applications.
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