Education Service Center (ESC) Region 20 in San Antonio, Texas, needed to provide Web access to its CICS data quickly to satisfy customer requirements. The customers, more than 30 school districts across Texas, use Region 20's services to improve both student and school performance. One of those services is an accounting system that allows teachers and counselors to enter and track student attendance data. Region 20 stores the data on a legacy CICS system whose business logic has been developed for more than 30 years. To access the data, districts had to purchase, install, and maintain 3270 emulators. Cash-strapped districts wanted to eliminate these expenses and were demanding browser access to the data.

Finding a solution that fits

Region 20 was given 12 months to provide a Web solution. Unfortunately, as many CICS shops realize, any number of factors make the leap to the Web difficult and time-consuming. One of the biggest concerns was re-creating the huge investment in its legacy CICS applications. Region 20's time-tested, reliable CICS applications contain complex custom programming and business logic to meet the demands of individual school districts and the laws of Texas. "The thing is, our software works," said Jo Ann Wallace, a senior analyst for Region 20. "We have to run reports with a lot of data for the Texas Education Agency, and when school districts get audited that's what they use. It would have been risky to convert it all to Java or something else and it would have taken a whole lot longer."

After looking at IBM 3270 Bridge, Sybase PowerBuilder, and IBM WebSphere, Region 20's Information Systems department brought in H&W's WebTek. Region 20 had two other H&W products (SYSM and CPMS) and decided to give the H&W Web-enablement tool a try. "We use other H&W products and know that they are reliable," said Wallace.

Region 20 also found that WebTek eliminated problems found with other solutions, such as a 32-K limit when passing data with WebSphere and the 3270 Bridge. They also found WebTek allowed them to work gradually. "We were able to incrementally convert the system by delivering Web-enabled applications as they were completed," said Claude Allen, a Web developer for Region 20.

With WebTek, Region 20 found a way to meet all of its goals: WebTek facilitated a quick development cycle, preserved legacy business logic, and allowed developers to provide sophisticated Web front-ends that school district personnel could access from a browser.

Dividing the work

Region 20's Information Systems department designated six CICS programmers and two Web developers to convert the 350 COBOL transactions for Web access.

The CICS programmers adapted the COBOL programs with EXEC CICS WEB and DOCUMENT commands provided with IBM's CICS Web Support (CWS), while the Web developers created HTML templates with embedded JavaScript for each Web interface. (See the sidebar for more information about CWS.) Converting most applications took three days; some took more or less depending on their complexity. "The first few took a while, but once the programmers figured out what needed to be changed, they began converting them a lot faster," said Wallace.

The CICS programmers assisted the Web developers by providing a conversion program to create a symbol list from the old BMS maps. They then gave the list to the Web developers so they could embed the symbols in the templates.

Adding the necessary tools

IBM's CWS provided the path to Web-enabling the CICS applications, but lacked the necessary tools to make the job easy and quick. WebTek provided those tools and helped minimize development time. First, WebTek provided an analyzer program. The analyzer is a user-replaceable module required by CWS. It processes incoming HTTP requests and determines whether to allow the requests to be executed. IBM provides sample analyzers, but leaves it to each CICS shop to create a production analyzer, a process that can be very time-consuming. WebTek eliminates the need for this step by providing a secure, production-ready analyzer. "The nice thing about WebTek is that we didn't have to write our own analyzer," said Wallace.

WebTek's analyzer is controlled by another WebTek tool, the URL Control Table (UCT). The UCT provides an interface that allows developers to manage all URLs into CICS. Developers can rename, add security to, and provide presentation requirements for any URL.

Building the Web presentation

Region 20 created sophisticated HTML templates with embedded JavaScript using Macromedia's Dreamweaver and then uploaded them to a designated PDS file using CA-Roscoe. The Web developers who made changes to templates used the WebTek Developer Kit to newcopy templates. Without WebTek, the newcopy requirement is awkward for Web developers and hinders the template-building process.

Uploading images to CICS

Web developers used the WebTek File Transfer utility to upload GIF and JPEG images to a VSAM file in CICS. File Transfer functions like typical FTP tools that move files to a Web server. The files can then be linked to the template and served out when the HTML document is requested.

Meeting the goal

Wallace reports that in 11 months, Region 20 Web-enabled more than 350 transactions, and customers have responded enthusiastically. Performance has been excellent, and users say the applications are easier to use. "We find that kind of interesting because basically it's the same application only with a different front-end and some additional functionality," said Wallace.

According to Wallace, users are now able to interact with an interface they are more familiar with while retaining the legacy business logic that meets their needs.

Getting the response from customers

Because teachers and district staff could access contemporary-looking Web applications from a browser, more teachers began using the service. Teachers also received training on how to use the new user interface. Region 20 was able to discontinue 3270 access. "Hopefully, Region 20 will get more customers because now we have this Texas product that any school district can use," said Wallace. "School districts don't have to do anything to get access; they just have to have a browser."

Continuing to receive dividends

Region 20 continues to get big returns from its small investment in WebTek. It has used WebTek to Web-enable more than 700 additional COBOL programs used by administrative personnel for accounting, payroll, and personnel functions. Region 20 also upgraded CICS to provide SSL support, which allowed teachers to access student data from their home PCs.