RE: Web enablement options (previously private)

[jkrueger@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

>> With the goal, of course, being 100% conversion, as PSC400 does.  PSC400 does
complete conversion of programs, with no manual effort, and at the same time
automatically generates the 5250 emulation JSP and the original "gray screen"
JSP, ready to run.  Not only that, it's all done from a single AS/400 command.
No workstation required, no workstation software, no graphical interface.  A
single command, CNVPGM, and you're done.

One last public comment, and then we should probably take this discussion
private...  You and I both know that any conversion tool that promises 100%
success is probably exaggerating its claims; while good software developers
continue to work towards a six sigma level of quality, there is too much
undocumented/unanticipated behavior in software for anything to work at a 100%
level.  The Jacada people promise a 95% success rate, because they explicitly
want their users to go through a full testing cycle, just in case.  In my
experience, they have always exceeded that.  Your claims, on the other hand,
sound too good to be believed, and could encourage people to deploy converted
applications without a full test...  That, in my opinion, is dangerous and tends
to lead to disappointed users...

In my experience, the biggest problem with any screen conversion approach,
whether it is based on a clean messaging architecture or tied into the 5250
datastream, tends to be in a failure to fully understand and evaluate the base
requirements.  Often, when users are complaining about the look and feel of an
application, or asking for different deployment/delivery mechanisms or new user
access devices, we tend to assume the user requirements can all be delivered by
adjusting the user interface layer, without peeling back the onion and
discovering that either the application flow is wrong, or that the business
processes aren't working correctly.  Even in an ideal situation, where the user
interface is cleanly partitioned into a completely separate and distinct
application layer, if you get through 80% of the implementation phase before
discovering (and acknowledging) that you really do need to go in and adjust the
business logic, your schedules will be blown out of the water while you go back
and reset the entire project! What often happens is that the project proceeds on
the original assumptions, and then the users end up in a severe state of
disappointment and disenchantment, because even though you delivered what they
asked for, it isn't what they wanted!

From: Janet Krueger      507 529 8777 ext 110
Andrews Consulting Group       www.andrewscg.com