Administrative Systems Vendors Talk Turkey on Client/Server Computing Copyright CAUSE 1994. This paper was presented at the 1994 CAUSE Annual Conference held in Orlando, FL, November 29- December 2, and is part of the conference proceedings published by CAUSE. Permission to copy or disseminate all or part of this material is granted provided that the copies are not made or distributed for commercial advantage, that the CAUSE copyright notice and the title and authors of the publication and its date appear, and that notice is given that copying is by permission of CAUSE, the association for managing and using information resources in higher education. To copy or disseminate otherwise, or to republish in any form, requires written permission from CAUSE. For further information: CAUSE, 4840 Pearl East Circle, Suite 302E, Boulder, CO 80301; 303-449-4430; e-mail info@cause.colorado.edu ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEMS VENDORS TALK TURKEY ON CLIENT/SERVER COMPUTING John Stuckey Washington and Lee University Everybody talks "about" client/server computing, although the careful listener notices that they frequently mean different things by the term. In this panel, product-development managers for three prominent administrative-systems vendors will discuss their products' evolution and their company's strategy. All will refer to the Gartner Group's classic "Five Styles of Client-Server Computing." We drew lots to determine order of presentation. 1. Datatel: Laird Sloan, Director of Product Development 2. SCT: Roy Zatcoff, Vice President, Product Development 3. CARS: Duane Burris, Vice President for Research and Systems Development After the vendor presentations, Grey Freeman of the Gartner Group will comment. DATATEL IN THE CLIENT/SERVER ENVIRONMENT Datatel, Inc., Fairfax, Virginia GOALS To give our customers and prospective customers an option to choose the client/server style that is compatible with their technological direction and budget. To protect our customers' investment in computer hardware and infrastructure. To preserve and enhance the functionality of our existing Colleague and Benefactor software by enabling them to perform in a client/server, character-based or hybrid environment. To use "open" and "standard" desktop software wherever possible. To use our CASE tools as the enabling software to move to the client/server environment. CLIENT/SERVER STYLES Datatel is currently supporting the Distributed Presentation, Remote Data Management and Distributed Logic styles of client/server, as defined by the CAUSE/Gartner Group white paper on client/server computing. Distributed Presentation Style Distributed Presentation is the style where the database management and application logic reside on the server and the user presentation processes are divided between the client and the server. Datatel introduced a graphical user interface (GUI) for this style. The client display technology is based on wIntegrate, an MS Windows-compatible desktop product. Envision, Datatel''s CASE tool, was enhanced to generate GUI and character-based displays. All existing application software developed under Envision can be upgraded to GUI through a simple regeneration process. (This includes client-developed applications.) The enhancement to GUI preserves the use, style and training associated with our current products The GUI technology supports DDE and Clipboard for interfacing to third-party Windows applications on the client. The GUI supports multiple terminal emulations using serial ports or TCP/IP; also allows display of report formats (132X66) on a screen. The GUI includes desktop functions, such as full mouse support, window and dynamic font resizing, icon bars, full color support, dialog boxes, push buttons, list boxes, radio buttons and images. Multiple server sessions can be supported. The clients includes extensive script support, executable from the client or the server. The client supports an online, user-prompted query builder with the ability to import the results into Windows applications Remote Data Management Style Remote Data Management is the style where the database management resides on the server and the application logic and user presentation processes are located on the client. At CAUSE in 1993, Datatel introduced the prototype of TopView, our executive information system, formally released on October 10, 1994. Datatel has created the schema to support executive information functions; the resultant tables (files) can support any SQL-based front end or analytical tool. The client application is based on a decision support system, Forest & Trees, a product of the Trinzic Corporation. TopView generates client-based "application views" by generating SQL queries to the Colleague or Benefactor database on the server. TopView can create application views from multiple servers using SQL and clients using DDE. A variety of user presentation tools are available on the client, including; tables, charts and graphs; buttons, list boxes and bitmaps; cross-tabulation matrices; printed and on- screen reports. The applications on the client can incorporate important user alert tools, such as visual and audible alarms and alarm triggers. TopView supports real-time, system-generated and user-demand calculation functions for the application views. The applications can use drill-down functions from the top view to a specific view of the information, providing the option to present the data in both tables and charts at each level. Datatel has created EIS applications for each major system of Colleague: Alumni & Development, Financial, Human Resources, and Student. Customers can use TopView to generate their own EIS reports and application views to support the unique needs of their institution. The system includes a full security system for the client applications. Distributed Logic Style At CAUSE in 1994, Datatel is introducing its comprehensive Distributed Logic client/server system. All Colleague and Benefactor processes can run on the client or the server. The current version supports UNIX on the server and MS Windows on the client. The system can simultaneously support client/server computing and a traditional character-based environment. All Datatel and institution-developed software, created under Envision, can be upgraded to the client/server environment through a simple regeneration process. (Envision, itself, is also generated in client/server mode.) Envision creates user presentation processes using Microsoft design guidelines and is fully compliant with Windows standards. The system includes a full online "help" capability using the Microsoft paradigm. Communications between client and server are handled via ODBC for future compatibility with other systems. The system supports the Cut-and-Paste, Drag-and-Drop and OLE interfaces between the Datatel and PC applications on the client. Full automatic client version control to simplify system administration is a feature of the system. The institution has the option to distribute the application software processes to either client or server to optimize their unique computing environment. SCT APPROACH TO CLIENT/SERVER PARADIGMS SCT, Inc., Malvern, Pennsylvania The SCT BANNER products support all 5 styles of client/server computing as defined by the Gartner group. BANNER can be installed such that the server only provides database services or a portion of database services (distributed), database and cooperative logic, database and all of the logic, or database logic and presentation service. The client may also contain one or more of these services depending on the BANNER installation options. More importantly, BANNER supports a concurrent mix of all 5 styles. One user may have presentation and all logic services on their client machine which communicates to the database server, while another user may be using cooperative logic and/or cooperative presentation services on both their desktop and the server. SCT software also supports the current popular GUIs (MAC, Windows, MOTIF, X) as well as character cell devices with one code set, and therefore, can also be deployed in a mixed environment. This allows for a controlled or staggered expenditure for both clients and servers, since they may be introduced over time while everyone still uses the same application and data. The software may also be deployed in a multi-tier client server approach where presentation servers, application servers, and database servers are all used as desired or required. Additional servers for mail, security, imaging and others can work in concert with BANNER client/server applications. The BANNER client/server architecture is extremely robust and flexible, allowing an endless variety of client/server deployment scenarios ranging from very simple architectures to very sophisticated infrastructures. These decisions can be made while enjoying the benefits of a single code set with portability and deploying the portions of the applications to client and servers as is best for an institution. YOUR PRACTICAL GROWTH PATH TOWARD CLIENT SERVER CARS Information Systems Corporation Cincinnati, Ohio INTRODUCTION One of the most revolutionary advancements in computing today is the emerging of client/server architecture systems. However, the client/server paradigm could also be considered a practical evolution of two other rapidly growing architectures in computing today, namely: a) the widespread use of PC systems on the desktop designed to enhance productivity and b) the rapid growth in capability of minicomputers containing relational database engines and serving as the institution's main data processing system. From this perspective, the development of client/server systems is simply the logical outgrowth of the institution's desire to merge two existing disparate systems which have already been deployed, leading to major enhancements in the operation of each. I. Technological Advancement Categorized from the application perspective, the Gartner Group distinguishes five styles of client/server computing models. As mentioned, in the Gartner Group Research Notes August 10th "What Lies beyond the "Five Styles of Client/Server Computing", from an implementation perspective many businesses find the five styles too simplistic. Institutions decide to purchase a system from the very practical perspective. They may have a huge current investment to protect and, at the same time, a limited budget for change. However, because of their current system limitations and pressures from their users, they must change. MIS personnel feel frustrated trying to meet the demands of increased capabilities with limited resources. Dire necessity may prove to be the real mother of invention here in moving to a new system. II. The Practical Path to Client/Server In considering the college computing scene, the CARS view is "Your predicament is our challenge". The problems institutions face in moving to C/S represent the primary challenge to CARS as a vendor of C/S systems. Our responsibility is to design and build a client/server administrative system that institutions can not only move toward but also afford. In CARS' view, any movement away from traditional host-based computing toward C/S systems must take cognizance of the resources available to the institution. These resources include the host computer, campus-wide network, existing PC's, software, and, very importantly, the skills of the users. The actual types of systems in place today fall into four distinct categories: 1) Dumb terminals attached to host computers. 2) Dumb terminals attached to terminal servers which in turn are attached to a network backbone. 3) PC's acting as dumb terminals attached via serial lines either to a host or to terminal servers. 4) PC's with full network access to the host computer. Of course the actual systems may well be a combination of several of these categories. Institutions in category one have a long, expensive path ahead of them to migrate to a C/S system. On the other hand, clients in category four are nearly there except for the C/S software itself. When constructing a strategic plan for technology addressing its Information System needs, the institution must consider the current status of the campus in its migration. III. Toward Client/Server When moving the CARS System toward the Client/Server architecture, we have identified three major tasks within product development for utilizing the PC as the client workstation and the UNIX host as the server. We will first provide the Graphical User Interface (GUI) on the PC as the user interface to the application software within the CARS System running on the host. The PC will be used as a workstation for accessing CARS applications versus being used as a dumb terminal. The GUI platform can be either Microsoft Windows or the Apple System 7 environment. With this GUI front-end, users can access the CARS System utilizing the GUI standard GUI features. The user can use the mouse to select from a set of fields the particular field they wish to update. The user is no longer restricted to a series of up and down arrows to move to the desired field on the screen. With the use of multiple windows within the GUI, the user can click the mouse on the window of the desired application program to be reactivated. The user is no longer required to suspend one application and select through a series of keystrokes the next application to be reactivated. The user is able to use the vertical scroll bar to select an entry in a table that is being displayed in a separate window. The user is no longer required to page through the entries of a table with a series of keystrokes. Furthermore, users prefer the visual appearance of information using the GUI display over the character display. A "Windowing" PC user appreciates the standard GUI functionality provided within the host-based application processing of the CARS System. This is achieved within the CARS System through the use of the winsock protocol to communicate over the network to a GUI presentation server. The CARS GUI server running on the PC receives the information necessary to present the GUI display from the host. Gartner Group labels this style of client/server computing as "distributed presentation". This approach makes the first step into client/server supportable by both CARS as vendor and you as the client. First, there is only one set of screen definition files to be maintained for both the character and GUI displays. Second, since the same screen definition file is used for both character and GUI displays, the user of the CARS System within even the same office on a campus can be operating the same application software on a combination of terminals and PC's. If the client happens to have a campus-wide system which is predominately in category four above, then the cost of making this step will be primarily the training costs. The second task is to provide direct access to the database on the server from the productivity software available on the PC. For example, the user of the spreadsheet expects the data elements within the database on the host to be readily accessible from the desktop PC. The user does not want to hear the words "import/export" any more. Since both the productivity software within the office suites and the Informix On-Line Database Engine are supporting the Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) standard, it is finally true that the spreadsheet can issue an SQL (Structured Query Language) statement as a query directly against the database on the host to access data elements for a worksheet. Thus, the data within the CARS System which is maintained by the On-Line Engine is now directly accessible by the third-party software that is ODBC complaint without "import/export". With the direct access to the database by third-party software, there is the need to maintain the integrity of the database. The "foreign" third-party software does not have the knowledge of the implied structure and constraints of the data elements which were incorporated within the "native" application software that accesses the database (nor the corporate business rules). Thus, the database must be expanded to incorporate this additional information along with the actual data in order to enforce the implied logical operations on the data. The third task is to code the software, one module at a time, to deliver distributed processing, true C/S applications where the host computer serves as a database server while much of the processing occurs elsewhere. This processing can be done on the workstation or on additional application servers. With hardware costs dropping as rapidly as they are, one could, in fact, envision multiple servers such as a report server which just runs reports on demand. The distribution of the processing load of the administration applications is a means of addressing the overall cost/performance of the system. When it is both cost effective and feasible, the applications should be running on the client workstations or an application server. It must be recognized that the users are only interested in the perceived performance of the overall system. They do not care about the location of the executing software. The users desire that the functionality is there with a fast response time. CONCLUSION CARS is creating a client/server system that allows our clients to undergo a gradual, cost effective migration using the benefits of their existing systems. During the migration, the users on the client sites will benefit from the inherent attributes of the PC as a workstation. These include the GUI and the productivity software which are familiar tools for the user to use in conjunction with the CARS system.