Build Smarter User Interfaces for Legacy Applications with IBM Rational Host Access Transformation Services

IBM Innovate 2012
Build Smarter User Interfaces for Legacy
Applications with IBM Rational Host Access
Transformation Services
Kenny Smith
Principal Consultant, Strongback Consulting
Kenny.smith@strongback.us
@smithkenny
PWR 1302

The Premier Event for Software and Systems Innovation

About Us: Strongback Consulting

 IBM Advanced Business Partner
– Rational, WebSphere, Lotus, Information Management certified
– Strongly focused on Enterprise Modernization and application lifecycle management
– Key Industries Served: Finance, Insurance, Healthcare, Manufacturing
– Rational Design Partner for HATS and other Rational enterprise modernization technologies

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© 2012 IBM Corporation


Why modernize my green screen?

 “If it ain’t broke…”
 “Only our call center uses it. … “
 “It’s a 3rd party app”
 “I’ve used it for 20 years.. Nothing wrong with it!”
 “We don’t need to integrate it”
 “Too much invested in it to throw it away”
 “But it has all our business rules!”
 “We’re going to all .NET …..next month”
 “We spent too much training everyone on this
system”
 “Joey retired and we lost his member files”
 “I’m retiring next year, what do I care?”

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Business Challenge: Data Entry Errors
 Terminal Apps offer poor data entry controls
 Garbage in – garbage out
 Poor data entry results in:
– Inaccurate business intelligence
– Giving the customer or patient the wrong order
– Longer call times
– Loss of productivity due to data re-entry, or data correction
– Having to purchase additional software to correct errors (i.e. Infosphere QualityStage, Optim, etc)

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Business Challenge: Longer Training Time

 Non-intuitive interface
– No tool tips, context sensitive help, coded fields, abbreviations, etc.

 Current generation knows the web
– Does NOT understand ‘field exit’, ‘clear’, etc.
– “Where is the PF3 key?”
 Training is often a neglected item in IT budgets
– Isn’t that what consultants are for?

 Average annual turn over in a call center is 33%*
– Longer training required == less productivity, greater cost per resource

http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/globalcallcenter/research/unitedStates.html

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Business Challenge: User Frustration

 Poor field labels
 No ‘hints’ on field controls
 Lack of access to documentation
 Complex navigation
 User workflow that does not make sense
 Post-it notes around the monitor as ‘documentation’
 Multiple windows
 Poor printing capability

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Business Challenge: Lack of Access to Source Code

Columns . . . .: Edit

SEU ___________________________________________________________

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Common with COTS applications
Legacy apps from acquisitions
Required use of a partner, vendor, or parent company application
Developer lock out
– You fired the guy who had the code, he deleted it as he walked out

Changes to source may involve costly risks
– “Everything is tied to our ERP!!”

==================================================================
__________________________________________________________________
02/009

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Business Challenge: Need a modern experience NOW!!!

• Rip and replace requires prohibitive or catastrophic spending
• Low ROI on rip and replace
• Time to market is of the essence
• Can’t access new markets
• Trying to pivot a battleship
• Large application audience
• Heavy load on testing
• Large cost involved in retraining

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Overview of HATS 8.0

 Web 2.0
– Dojo
• HATS Dojo widgets
• Transform for Dojo editing
• Dojo for IOs
– New templates
– RESTful web services

 JSR286 Portlet support
 iPad support
 Support for the latest runtimes
 Support for the latest development tools
 Support for Apache Geronimo 2.1.7
 Support for Android devices (default browser 2.3.4 +)

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Web 2.0: Templates

 Research, industry, and medical
 Benefit: Modern look and feel- tabs, menus, highlighting, fading, rounded corners

10 10 © 2012 IBM Corporation


Dojo Widgets: Enhanced Grid

 Allows advanced manipulation of tabular data
 Available components: Table, Table (field), Table (visual)
 No widget setting
 Enables both Nested Sorting and Multiple Rows/Columns Drag&Drop features by
 default
 In HATS Version 8, the table rendered by the Enhanced Grid widget is read-only

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Dojo Widgets: ValidationTextBox

 Allows for user-side validation of text data
 Available for Input field component
 Use Regular expressions to define the validation rule
 Helpful prompt message
 Invalid message when the user types it wrong

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Dojo Widgets: Date Text Box

 Allows either typing or choosing a date from a pop-up calendar
 Available for Input field component
 Pass in common date formatting elements (MM/dd/yyyy)
 Prompt for invalid data

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Dojo Widgets: Filtering Select

 Allows users to type or select an option
 Available components
– 1. Selection list
– 2. Input field with hints
– 3. Command line
– 4. Input field
– 5. Item selection

 Note that for 3-5, items are from the
Fill from strings widget setting.

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Eclipse based development: HATS as a perspective on RAD/RBD

• Similar IDE experience as
Rational Developer for
POWER
• HATS toolkit plugs into
existing IDE

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Improving data entry accuracy

 Calendar drop downs ensure date formatting
 Radio buttons eliminate non-valid values
 Drop downs give the user legible options
– Avoid post-its around the monitor to decipher field label values

 Dojo enabled widgets
– Easy to inject client side validation
– Type ahead features make it easier to find values in long lists

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Improving the user experience

 Macros improve navigational flow
 Replace acronyms, & codes with real legible field labels
 Clickable buttons & links replace function keys
 The more intuitive the interface, the less demand for documentation (or the less it gets used)
 Dojo layout widgets better organize the screen
– Tab, accordion, stacked containers organize fields appropriately

 Print directly from the browser
– Use “print” style sheet where needed

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Reducing training time

 Leverage web browser familiarity
 Make it intuitive
 Make labels & field options readable
 Client side validation give instant feedback.
 Reduce training time by up to 75%
 Anyone ever taken 3 months to train on Facebook, Gmail, or other popular site?
– Anyone ever seen the documentation?

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Build the solution RAPIDLY

 Initial application transformation in under an hour
 Gradually improve the application as you go
– Default rendering handles the bulk of the screens
– Global rules to further enhance default rendering
– Custom transformation for the most used / busiest screens

<image of iterative screen develop – need recent image, not the previous boiler plate ones>

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No need for access to RPG/COBOL code

 Rendering engine transforms the Data stream on the fly
– 5250 , 3270, VT100

 Does not access display files, or file members
 Multiple panes of data – not a screen scraper
– Text, Field, DBCS, Color, Extended Attributes, Grid

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About DMS Systems

 ISV, selling System I based ERP software
 Rocky Mount, NC
 ISV Focused on ERP and CRM packaged applications
 Also an IBM Premier Business Partner
 DMS Systems Corp. is an established and leading supplier of integrated Warehouse
Management Systems (WMS), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Supply Chain
Management (SCM) Solutions for Automotive, HD Truck, RV, Marine Parts and other hard-
goods Distributors in the U.S. and Internationally.

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DMS Systems: Need to Modernize Yesterday

 Rapidly changing customer base
– Economic downturn costing customers
– New customers want a Web UI (not 5250)

 Pressure from customers for cloud based solutions, mobile solutions
– Competition readily available, but not yet mature for this industry

 Deep investment on IBM i, RPG based 5250 application
 Screen logic tied in closely with business logic
 Need integration with other systems & databases
– Web Catalog
– CRM

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DMS Solution: HATS Transformations

 Quickly used default rendering to transform the interface
 Adjust global rules and add screen transformations as needed
 Dojo Widgets control data entry where applicable
– Radio buttons for 1-3 options
– Drop downs (filtering selects) for >3 options
– Validation rules on certain text boxes

 Call out to DB2 tables to populate common drop downs
 Develop iteratively
– Use RTC to capture stakeholder request for enhancements
– Prioritize, and release regularly

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Before ….

What’s
The MFR
Remember the Code??
Item number!

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After…

 Elegant template done with CSS, and carefully
selected images
 Populate dropdowns via JPA calls from Business
Logic
 Display using Dojo widgets for optimal Experience.

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About PBD Worldwide

 Fulfilment and distribution services
 System I back end ERP
 Based in Alpharetta, Georgia
 Maintains full PCI Compliance
 Ships in excess of 4 million packages for its clients each year. With an accuracy guarantee
of 99.8% on all shipments.
– Fulfillment - pick, check, pack, and ship
– Distribution and Transportation Services
– Customer Contact Center
– Accounting Services
– Information Technology and eCommerce Services
– Dedicated Account Management
– Implementation Project Management
– Accessible Reporting

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PBD Example: Change the workflow

 Customer uses JDE 5250 version
 Customer order workflow was bass-ackwards
– Get the payment type, then payment, then order data, then customer info

 Lack of access to source code (JDE)
 Solution: Use business logic & macros to reverse the flow
– Business logic is Java
– Access to all the API of the underlying Host On Demand environment
– Ability to enter data, capture data stream elements and more
– Call business logic from Screen Customizations
– Also use BL to call XPCML calls for IBM
RPG Web Service calls for additional add on functions

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About Arlington Heights Parks District

 Government Municipality
 Public park and recreation agency
 Located in Arlington Heights, Illinois,
 Largest community in Chicago's northwest suburban corridor
 Operate 5community centers with outdoor pools, Olympic Indoor Swim Center, two tennis
clubs, two public golf clubs, Lake Arlington, Arlington Heights Historical Museum, Senior
Center, an outdoor skate park and 58 parks including a sports complex, playgrounds, picnic
shelters and much more spread over 715 acres of land and 16.2 square miles

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AHPD Example: Legacy VT100 (COBOL on AIX)

 Telnet VT100 (a true dumb terminal)
 Government entity (i.e. limited budget)
 COBOL UI was only method of access
 Rip and replace was extremely cost prohibitive
– Application in place for decades
– ERP deeply hooked into it

 SOLUTION: Use HATS macros to create web services
– JAX-WS standard, means any client can consume
– New front end with elegant workflow written to integrate with existing Lotus Notes application

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AHPD – Macro Driven

 Visual Macro editor shows you the
visual navigation
 Drag and drop screens in the desired
order
 Add actions as needed (extracts,
prompts, if-else, etc)
 Macros then get wrapped in JAX-WS
– Java API for XML Web Services
– Wizard generated deployment

 Web Services consumed by other
apps
– Lotus Domino web site in this case

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Lessons learned, recommendations, tips and techniques, etc.

 Develop your HATS apps iteratively
– Don’t spend 6 months waiting on the big bang
– Gather feedback with each iteration
– JPA 2.0 and WAS 8.0 makes RDBMS integration simple

 Version your assets
– HATS apps are Java EE apps
– A file system does NOT make a version control system

 You don’t have to, but you CAN do very complex things with HATS
– Business Logic is Java, and at the heart of how HATS and HOD work
– Macros have their own language elements
– Custom widgets/components can make your site unique

 Utilize a designer to help you with UI for maximum benefit
– The latest HATS templates are very good
– Dojo Widgets greatly simplify client side validation and data entry
– Custom branding needs a designer

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For more information on how we can help you improve your interfaces, increase
user productivity, and accelerate your SOA, contact us at sales@strongback.us,
or call us at 904.351.6658.

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Discover us at:
http://www.strongback.us

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© Copyright IBM Corporation 2012. All rights reserved. The information contained in these materials is provided for informational purposes only, and is provided AS IS without warranty of any kind,
express or implied. IBM shall not be responsible for any damages arising out of the use of, or otherwise related to, these materials. Nothing contained in these materials is intended to, nor shall have
the effect of, creating any warranties or representations from IBM or its suppliers or licensors, or altering the terms and conditions of the applicable license agreement governing the use of IBM
software. References in these materials to IBM products, programs, or services do not imply that they will be available in all countries in which IBM operates. Product release dates and/or capabilities
referenced in these materials may change at any time at IBM’s sole discretion based on market opportunities or other factors, and are not intended to be a commitment to future product or feature
availability in any way. IBM, the IBM logo, Rational, the Rational logo, Telelogic, the Telelogic logo, and other IBM products and services are trademarks of the International Business Machines
Corporation, in the United States, other countries or both. Other company, product, or service names may be trademarks or service marks of others.

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