Best Customer Solutions-IBM,3rd Party software & web consulting,support,outsourcing,migration

Overview

Are you looking for an easy, effective way to web-enable your existing legacy systems? Are you concerned with the difficulty of migrating your corporate data to a different platform, and probably under the veil of a completely different data normalization, especially when this data comprises the majority of your corporate data? Would you like an alternative which keeps your corporate data safe and secure, but opens your corporation to the Internet in an efficacious and easy manner? Doesn't that sound great? Then the BCS Legacy System Web Enablement service offering is something you should investigate. This service offering is a wonderful way to turn your existing legacy applications loose on the Web.

The CICS Web Enablement Service Offering is provided by Best Customer Solutions, Inc. as a way for users of CICS on the S/390 or zSeries processors to easily and smoothly develop Web applications while taking advantage of the robustness and integrity of their existing legacy applications. Isn't that what you're looking for? The CICS Transaction Gateway – which runs on platforms ranging from Windows to UNIX to VSE to OS/390 (plus many others) – is a way to easily tie existing corporate databases to new, powerful Web applications. These new applications are usually Java-based browser applications which can call CICS facilities to access CICS data, whether it be VSAM, IMS/DB, or DB2, and present the data in a Web Browser format. For the most part, this data can be managed with the full data integrity which CICS has long provided, with all of the data management access methods it has long supported, including Logical Units of Work which involve all of these data access methods in a single transaction. You are able to build all of the robustness that CICS offers on a Web Browser, in all of your applications. This is a Service Offering that provides incredible flexibility while maintaining the exceptional integrity, security, and well-seasoned application robustness you've come to expect from legacy applications.

Description

A CICS Web Enabling project starts with a kickoff meeting and planning session held onsite at your location, and has the following objectives:

Familiarize members of the BCS staff with the S/390 environment where CICS Web Enabling is to be implemented. A System Environment Questionnaire is provided to aid in this process. This is followed by an investigation of what your web-enabling strategy is, so we can match these two missions to meet your corporate objectives.
Identify a prototype application.
Define project scope in detail. The CICS Web Enabling Plan Starter Kit is an aid in defining the specific details of an upgrade, to identify installation-unique upgrade tasks, to determine installation objectives and deadlines, to determine any unusual installation requirements and in general, to determine all the information necessary to tailor the Web Enabling Plan Starter Kit to a Web Enablement Plan for your company.
Assign responsibilities for project tasks. Responsible team members can include both your staff and members from BCS. This information is incorporated into the Web Enablement Plan.
Determine logistics such as Userids, security clearances, onsite facilities, dial-in access, a brief orientation to using the system, etc.
Determine status meeting/conference call schedule, status reporting requirements, etc.

Once the Web Enablement Plan is completed, the project begins in earnest. Best Customer Solutions can install whatever CICS products are needed to accomplish this project, we can build the code which is required on the mainframe (and this is a very straightforward process), we can provide guidance on how to move this application to production, and how web-enable further applications. Major tasks involved in this part of the project are:

Define a test plan and criteria.
Tailor subsystems such as MVS, RACF, OMVS, etc. for CICS TS Web Enabling.
Install and implement the CICS Transaction Gateway on whatever platform you've chosen. The CICS Transaction Gateway runs on almost any platform.
Tailor and run CICS TS installation jobs, create test system.
Tailor startup Procs.
Develop the Java applications on the browser.
Develop the DataServer applications on the Enterprise Server.
Bring up and test your Web-Enablement application.
Resolve any testing problems and finalize documentation.
Perform migration tasks which are installation-unique.

Bring up and test further Web applications. Once you do the first one, the others become a snap, and we will be delighted to show you how this works.

Perform system cleanup necessary for a smooth move to production.

After testing is complete, individual CICS systems can be prepared for and then moved to a production status. Major tasks involved in this part of the upgrade are:

Startup and testing of a system under CICS TS.
Resolution of any problems which arise, in conjunction with IBM Support if needed.
Implementation in production once problems are resolved, including related monitoring/support.

In addition to this Web Enablement, Best Customer Solutions, Inc., is willing and able to upgrade related, CICS-based Third Party products which must be tailored or upgraded for this project. Examples of this type of product are: (1) CICS monitors, (2) CICS system or transaction dump reading tools, (3) CICS debugging tools, (4) CICS utilities and (5) application software.

Best Customer Solutions, Inc., is also willing and able to provide training for systems, operations or application personnel, as negotiated at the time a contract is agreed to.

Summary

Let us help you to do what you need most, namely web-enable your existing legacy applications Please contact me via email at jschesvold@mainframehelp.com, or call me at 1(715)341-6489.