mrc Fulfills United Way's Client/Server Dreams

"Our end users were sounding the battle cry, 'Let's dump the AS/400,'" recalls Sherryl Perry. The same haunting battle cry is echoing in the troubled, late-night dreams of many CIO's and MIS managers today.

A technological class conflict is brewing in the age of the Windows desktop. On one hand, users are revolting against text-based AS/400 green screens, field exits and function keys. On the other, MIS and techno-savvy managers are struggling to hold on to the AS/400 and its unparalleled enterprise benefits. Consequently, many businesses are held hostage - unable to institute urgently needed IS strategies for lack of consensus on how best to implement them.

Keep What's Worth Preserving

As CIO of the Rhode Island-based United Way of Southeastern New England, Perry is no stranger to the platform tug-of-wars. But she has grown adept at navigating mine fields leading her MIS department on the path to modernization.

Perry considers MIS' efforts a success if they've helped advance the organization towards its ultimate goal. "Our mission statement is to increase the organized capacity of people to care for one another. Last year alone we raised over $17 million." As the demographics of the donor pool changes, and competition to attract charitable donations intensifies, MIS must respond. "In the past, our organization looked at our customers as primarily being companies with employee fund-raising campaigns. That's because formerly, people would go to work for a company and stay there until they retired. That is no longer the case. People move on to other organizations, they go to temporary work forces or work at home. But their hearts are in the same place - they always give. We can't lose track of these people. We can't lose the opportunity to ask them for a donation simply because they've moved. So, we had to track them now as individuals and not just as part of a group campaign."

VIP of MIS, Ken Facchiano and CIO, Sherryl Perry receive their "Dream" application along with a commemorative plaque. To address these new realities, United Way customized the campaign and fundraising software package they purchased six years ago for their IBM System/36. Among other things, they added new fields allowing them to track social security numbers and other individualized data. The task was further complicated by the organization's embracing a new concept called donor choice, which allows donors to choose where they want to give their money. This meant United Way needed to build a database to track how donors' gifts are being designated.

To handle the flood of additional data captured, today United Way uses their legacy code on a Model C20 AS/400, which runs in System/36 emulation mode. While the customized system captures the data they need, it has become difficult to maintain. "We discontinued maintenance on our software because we had made so many modifications," says Perry. "We've doubled our disk space use. And with two separate databases, we had no efficient way of tying them together." Consequently, Perry says users have to scroll through a maze of screens and call up multiple applications just to get basic donor and donor designation information.

Build on What You've Got

United Way's modernization needs also involved rethinking their hardware configuration to bring the power of the desktop to end users. "When I started here seven years ago, we had approximately 45 dumb terminals and five PC's. The numbers are reversed now. We implemented a Novell Network consisting of a Compaq Proliant 10000 pentium PC as a file server. We also have a Compaq ProSignia as a communications server. This PC acts as a gateway with a token ring connection to the AS/400 and an ethernet connection to the 60 node ethernet LAN."

Once properly equipped, users were able to start producing more effective fund-raising pieces. "A key element in our fund-raising efforts is creating marketing materials and soliciting donors through the mail. We have a direct marketing person who uses word processors to customize pieces. We were dissatisfied with the quality and the limited fonts we could produce on the AS/400. When we started producing pieces on desktop publishing in WordPerfect, people started seeing the difference in quality."

Perry says the ease of the Windows environment has empowered her users and transformed the way in which United Way does business. "In our present day culture, CEO's of large companies are no longer impressed by spreadsheets and columns of numbers. They are used to seeing colored graphs and pictures illustrating how their dollars have made a difference. Our investment in PC technology lets our users produce more visual charts with colors - the really nice looking, nicely produced documents."

When Platforms Collide

It was bound to happen. As the popularity of Windows spread, so did end user frustration with the AS/400. For those who did most of their computing with graphical, desktop applications, interfacing with the midrange became unpleasant at best - and avoided at worst. "For many of our users, their first exposure to computing was a PC. Previously, they operated strictly with pencil and paper. Even though every PC is able to run terminal emulation, they still didn't want to access the AS/400. It's very difficult to take a person who has complete control with a GUI environment on the PC, and put them in front of an IBM AS/400. There is a lot of reluctance."

Before long, Perry recalls, a movement to abandon the AS/400 mounted. "This organization was of the mind that the AS/400 should go. I was being told by almost everyone that it's not user friendly, it's old, and that we have to stay current. Senior management was driving the GUI-based, 'Dump the AS/400 campaign.'"

Not all users felt that way, however. Those already accustomed to the AS/400 were content with their black and green screens. "We had a small core group that always relied on the AS/400. Their attitude was, 'well, it's meeting our needs. It's still providing our data, so we don't want to get rid of it.'"

Evaluating the AS/400 from an enterprise-wide perspective, MIS felt it was very productive. Except for it's text-based interface, in their opinion the midrange was meeting United Way's data processing needs. "Our department is happy with the AS/400 and would be glad to stay with it." Perry cites data entry as a function the AS/400 excels at handling. "We have thousands of forms floating in here in a period of a few months. It takes time to take your hands off the keyboard and point and click in the GUI environment. There is so much information - too many screens involved to be flipping over like that. The AS/400 is a work horse for processing data. I'm not convinced that Windows-based software is good for data processing and data entry. I think it's an impediment."

A Rude Awakening About the Windows World

The battle lines were clearly drawn. A healthy segment of United Way's users wanted nothing more to do with the AS/400. Those already using it before the PC transition were content with either platform. And MIS preferred the manpower of the midrange to the glitz of the GUI.

Knowing, however, that users had to be happy with the system if they were to use it, Perry investigated PC-based solutions. "When we'd tell companies that we have to be able to do this or that, they'd turn around and say it's not in their package, or that we'd have to do things another way."

Perry narrowed down the search to two vendors that produce Windows-based campaigning software. The first product proved to be underdeveloped for their needs. The other vendor was invited to give United Way a demo.

At that point Perry experienced, first hand, the "off-the-shelf" mentality dominating the Windows industry. "The software wasn't right for us. We're very customer service oriented. We try to meet the needs of our staff by providing them with information tailored to their needs. This vendor told us that any changes we wanted - we'd have to pay for. One company even said we'd have to pay their expenses to come to our offices, so that we could show them what we want, and they could consider whether or not they'd make the changes."

Perry knew from the onset that she wouldn't find the perfect product. But she hoped at least to find a "vanilla," off-the-shelf package that her staff could modify themselves. "I knew it was unrealistic to expect a package that would fit our needs exactly. But these vendors wouldn't even sell us the source code. Their attitude is, unless you're an expert in their programming language you're not going to be able to do this. I don't agree."

Beyond the "one-size-fits-all" mentality prevalent in the PC world, Perry also discovered that migrating to a pure, Windows-based solution would mean skyrocketing costs. "It would have cost us $70,000 in additional hardware and software investment for the first phase, which would bring fifteen people up out of forty-five. I'd have to invest in the hardware for the others later. And even at that point, it wouldn't include everything I wanted, like converting our existing data." Perry concluded that the PC world was not yet ready for her United Way chapter.

Client/Server Dreams

While the prospect of migrating to the PC dwindled, the battle cry to get rid of the AS/400 grew more intense. "Some people really believed the AS/400 was fading and we should just dump it. That's not my feeling, but I got to the point where I said to myself, 'Why fight it?'"

Determined to exhaust every option before giving in to the pressure, Perry shifted her focus to client/server computing. "I've been following client/server for almost three years now. I like that it's flexible, and lets me take advantage of my existing hardware. What we have basically meets our needs. I want to use our current system, but be able to customize our databases further. We need enhancements and the ability to give more computing power to users by letting them manage data."

But having heard horror stories about the chaos this new technology can wreak on smoothly operating systems, Perry was cautious. She didn't want to sacrifice the valuable benefits the AS/400 delivers as a cost of going client/server. "It really doesn't matter to users where the data is, as long as it's easy to look at and access from their desktop. I prefer to keep it on the AS/400 because it's a known fact that it's very dependable. It allows me to maintain security while end users are sitting at their desks, accessing data in a GUI environment."

Convincing management that this client/server would transform the AS/400 into something palatable, however, would be another story. "Client/server is a very difficult concept to explain to nontechnical people. I felt that when managers could sit down in front of the PC and access our data in a GUI environment, they'd realize it could be a valuable solution."

United Way's Dream application allows direct access to all donor information on the system from the main screen. Perry's search for the dream client/server development tool was discouraging. "A lot of vendors dismissed us immediately because we were using System/36 flat files. So finally we just concentrated our efforts on our LAN. We figured once a software package written for the LAN became available we'd buy it. But I never truly gave up on client/server."

On October 31, 1995 United Way was announced winner of mrc's contest. Just one month later, they received their "dream," Donor Information application which consists of over 250 objects retrieving data over their dissimilar System/36 databases.

Perry took mrc up on their offer. "There didn't seem to be an inexpensive way to bring C/S in here and show people what it could do for them. I thought if I won, maybe I could show them. I'd be able to say, 'This is what I've been talking about for the past two years.'"

Then one day, while browsing through a trade publication, Perry came across an intriguing advertisement. Lombard, Illinois-based michaels, ross & cole (mrc) was promoting a "Dream a Client/Server Dream" contest. mrc was inviting AS/400 shops to send in specifications for their "dream" client server applications. mrc would select the winner and build the winning application, free of charge, with their AS/400-centric, rapid application development tool - the mrc-Productivity Series C/S.

Now, with point and click ease, United Way users can access, graph and report on AS/400 donor and campaign data, from campaign to donor giving histories, without even realizing they're signed on to the AS/400. And MIS can retain central control over data security and business rules.

The Dream application accomplished this by addressing three dominant themes in United Way's client/server specifications. It enables them to: (1) Preserve what works in their existing system; (2) Make what works - work better; and (3) Create innovative solutions to existing and future challenges.

Via its server-centric approach to application development, the mrc tool handily preserved what was working in United Way's current campaign software. It functions with the equipment the organization already had: an AS/400, PC's, and a communications router (NetSoft). So, they did not need any additional hardware or software (and no middleware) to run their live, client/server application. By keeping the data on the midrange and preserving established AS/400 security levels, the server-centric donor information application assures that data will not be corrupted.

Finally, the application runs transparently over their existing System/36 flat files and ties the disparate campaign data and campaign designation databases together. So, without exiting the client/server application, users can access information from both databases simultaneously and not even know it. And while MIS doesn't have to restructure their System/36 databases to run client/server, they can do so whenever the need arises.

Perry says that the power to build on their legacy system rather than starting from scratch with an entirely new campaign software takes much of the risk out of migrating to client/server. "A lot of companies don't have AS/400's that can be upgraded to take advantage of IBM's client series. They're talking about an investment in a whole new machine to run client/server applications. With our mrc-Productivity Series application, I don't have to get rid of our AS/400."

By making their AS/400 data easier to access and use, the application also streamlines operations and helps users accomplish their tasks more efficiently. For instance, a user can call up the main, donor information screen by entering an account number, social security number or name. Previously retrieving the same information was cumbersome. "Under our old system," says Perry, "one customer may have numerous account numbers. There was no way to cross reference them. So, a user would have to do name searches in a minimum of two files to identify all account numbers."

Once the donor account has been accessed, United Way's Dream application makes point and click access to all screens related to that account, simple. By taking advantage of mrc's object-oriented SmartLinks program linking feature, users click on the "View" menu and retrieve any or all of the inquiry applications on the system relating to that particular donor. Previously, accessing different inquiry applications on a donor would require exiting from one application and opening another.

The client/server application also delivers more pleasing views to AS/400 data, making it easier to understand and analyze. A Pledge Designation Comparison graph, for instance, illustrates a donor's designations for the current and three prior years in a three dimensional bar chart. So a user analyzing the data can visually understand the trend very clearly. A client/server report on donor histories can be customized with multiple fonts, colors, graphs and pictures. Perry says the enhanced functionality the server-centric graphs and reports create will encourage users to access AS/400 data. "A lot of people don't want to look at and interpret a lot of numbers. If they can look at a graph and see where they are in comparison to last year, it will have a lot of impact."

Finally, United Way's client/server application delivers creative solutions that would be impossible on either the AS/400 or PC, alone. For instance, many donor service associates like to keep photographs of key donors in their paper files. Now, when a user retrieves a donor file, the Dream application automatically calls up a bitmapped photograph of the donor on the opening screen.

This application also can use graphics to convey vital donor contribution information. For example, donors who give more than $10,000 become members of the "Alexis de Tocqueville Society" and receive recognition as a leadership giver. With this application, a special bit-mapped logo of the French social philosopher, Alexis de Tocqueville, can then be used in correspondence with those donors.

For instance, when the mrc-Productivity Series application is retrieving a De Tocqueville donor's file, the bitmapped logo will automatically display on the opening screen to visually alert the user to the donor's giving status.

Adding to the professional look of the application, when a donor file neither has a photograph nor donor level logo associated with it, the screen will simply display the United Way logo.

Excited about the potential of merging graphical data on the PC with AS/400 data, Perry says the added functionality will open up new fundraising opportunities. "The addition of the photos and graphics is great. We'll use it to help identify our larger contributors. That's something we don't have available to us on the AS/400."

Having Your AS/400 and Exceeding it Too

United Way of Southeastern New England has discovered that sometimes the best way to resolve a conflict is by viewing it from a new perspective. Nontechnical users were rallying to get rid of the AS/400. Empowered by the Windows desktop, they felt they could no longer tolerate the seemingly archaic AS/400 interface. MIS, however, understood the value of the AS/400 and was reluctant to abandon it simply for a graphical user interface.

Perry, however, didn't look at the problem as requiring an either/or decision. With a lot of research, hard work - and just a little luck, she's learned that an AS/400-centric, client/server application can deliver the Windows interface users are accustomed to, the AS/400 efficiency, productivity and security MIS expects - and a whole lot more. Assessing her dream mrc-Productivity Series application, Perry concludes, "It will increase the efficiency of our staff in accessing and reporting on data."