June 1999 | Issue #27 | Page 3 of 6

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COUNTY GOVERNMENT TAKES THE FORESITE CHALLENGE:

Brings Legacy Applications to the Web

by Kara Phillips

Treehouse Software, Inc. (TSI), recently visited Allegheny County of Pennsylvania to demonstrate the patented ForeSite™ Application Server. During the demonstration, several attendees learned how this application server brings dynamic data from existing client/server, midrange, and/or mainframe applications to the Web.

"We were prepared to do the usual presentation of the ForeSite Application Server, but the County employees thought it would be more interesting to see a demonstration that involved one of their own applications," said Antonette Roppo, TSI Technical Sales Support Representative. "I dialed into the County's mainframe and Web-enabled some of the data from their land application during a live 20-minute demo that convinced them to invite TSI back for the ForeSite Challenge," she continued.

TSI began the ForeSite Challenge by installing the ForeSite Application Server, a product developed by InfoSpinner, Inc., on the County's Windows NT Server and Web-enabling the County's logon screen. This created a porthole through which anyone with a valid User-ID and Password could logon to Allegheny County’s mainframe from anywhere in the world, from any PC platform.

THE OLD WAY A text-based logon screen used to access Allegheny County's mainframe from 3270 terminals.
THE NEW WAY A graphical user interface (GUI) created with the ForeSite Application Server, which is accessible from a Web browser (e.g., Netscape® Navigator or Microsoft® Internet Explorer), on any PC platform, from any location.

After the initial logon screen was Web-enabled, everyone joined in to tackle the land application, which is frequently used by attorneys, real estate agents, and several county departments. These users are currently required to logon to the mainframe, pass through several menu screens, and enter a property number. Then, a screen containing general information about a specific piece of property that is available for lease and/or sale in Allegheny County is displayed.

THE OLD WAY A text-based 3270 screen containing general information about a specific piece of property that was displayed in response to a user inquiry.
THE NEW WAY A GUI display containing general information about the same piece of property. This data from the County's mainframe is now accessible from a Web browser, because it was Web-enabled using the ForeSite Application Server.

During the challenge, the layout of the property information was changed and several graphical enhancements were added within minutes. And within a few hours, the mainframe application was accessible through the Internet. As a result, attendees were able to make inquiries from their PC's Web browser and immediately receive information from the land application on the County's mainframe.

"After a brief introduction to the ForeSite Application Server, we continued to successfully Web-enable data from our mainframe application on our own. We were very impressed by how simple it was to get this information to the Web, despite our limited knowledge of the product," remarked the Manager of Application Development at Allegheny County. The county is now preparing extensive usage and performance testing.

Contact TSI today for more information, and schedule your own Challenge!