Yours, mine and ours - Technology Transfer

Last month we observed some of the struggles facing Acme Services as the company began its first forays into client/server technology.

Lou, the director of application development, had asked Paula and Frank to work as a team to develop a client/server financial services application. Paula, head of the PC programming group, was willing to begin work. But Frank, a mainframe programming manager, did not want Paula or her people involved. Frank was adamant that his group retain complete control of all financial systems, regardless of the platform on which they would run.

Instead of asking her boss Lou to intervene, Paula felt it would be better to talk to Frank directly.

"Frank," she began, "I undferstand you have some reservations about my group working with you on that new client/server application," said Paula.

"Yes, I do, Paula. It's easy to sit around and talk about how things can be done and how easy it can be to share the work, but it just isn't feasible. In the long run, I'll have to be responsible for the application in production. My user, Felicia, knows my group and we know what she expects."

"Frank, are you saying that you don't believe that my group can develop our part correctly?" Paula queried.

"No, of course not. Your people should be able to develop a working system. But that won't be the end of it. Felicia's people will be asking for changes before we even get the system implemented. I don't want my hands tied. When the system needs to be changed, I don't want to have to schedule people in other groups to get the work done."

Paula could see that this was a touchy subject. "Frank," Paula said, "my group is designed to support other groups. Whenever changes will be needed, I'm sure that we will be able to handle them for you."

"But that's not the whole issue," Frank countered. "When Felicia calls and says she needs something done, what will I have to do? Will I be able to just send one of my analysts, or will I have to get someone from your group to go along? There may even be changes where my people don't become involved."

"It should not be that bad," Paula replied. "We have worked successfully with other groups."

"But that was different. You built a piece and they built a piece. Other than sending data up to the host once a day, you both worked almost independently. When their piece changed, they changed it; when yours changed, you changed it. It was not the same."

Paula could see that Frank would not bend.

"Frank, what do you want me to do?" she asked. "Lou asked me to become involved, and you don't seem to want to let me. Do you have any ideas?"

"Not really."

"Frank, I'm caught in the middle. Would you mind if we got together with Lou to try to work this out?"

"If that's what you want, Paula."

When Paula returned to her office, she found Lou's phone was busy. By the time she got through to Lou, she learned that Frank had already called him and shared his concerns. Lou agreed that a meeting would be necessary and suggested that Edna, manager of the technology research group, be invited to share her perspective on client/server technology. Paula suggested that Sam, the manager of systems programming, be involved as well.

Lou began the meeting. "A few weeks ago my boss Don, the director, talked to me about opportunities we had as a department," said Lou. "He said his bos Betty, the vice president of corporate administration, has a friend who had started moving applications off the mainframe two years ago and was having good success. Her friend claimed that they were running some client/server applications and even thinking of downsizing their mainframe."

He continued, "Two months ago, when Don talked to Betty about the plans to upgrade the mainframe, Betty was quite concerned about the large cost and asked why we weren't thinking of downsizing.

"Don said he suggested that our application systems were probably different than the one sued by her friend. But Betty was convinced that some applications could be moved off the mainframe, possibly deferring the upgrade."

Lou hesitated for a moment. "Frank, Paula, this is the first opportunity to put client/server technology to use. I know it won't be easy and that we will be breaking new ground. I have since talked to Don, and the bottom line is that he expects this system to be developed as a client/server application."

Everyone in the room seemed surprised by the project's origin. "What does Felicia think of this?" Edna asked.

Lou responded, "Betty, Don and I talked to her about it. She liked the idea of systems that were more user-friendly, faster and also saved money. She realized that there would be some risk but since she is responsible for finance, the idea of deferring the expenditure for a larger processor appealed to her."

Now Lou made his position clear. "We are not here to discuss why we should not do this project, or who shouldn't do what. We are here to find a way to make client/server technology a reality at Acme Services."

LOOKING AT THE OPTIONS

Frank could see that his group was going to become involved whether he like it or not. "Lou, I think that the new technology looks good and has potential, but Felicia will not be happy with the system if it is not done right, regardless of how much money it may save," he said.

"Frank, I know that. That is why I would like to see all of us work together as a team," said Lou.

After discussing the pros and cons of joint or shared application development, Lou was becoming frustrated. Edna finally interjected with an idea.

"I'm not sure that we all understand there are several flavors of client/server systems," she said. "The most basic type of client/server includes a presentation layer executing on the PC, with most of the processing still resident on the mainframe. The presentation layer provides the user with an improved interface. Little if any data is actually retained on the PC and the mainframe performs most of the application processing."

Edna continued, "An intermediate level of client/server does a lot of processing on the PC. Some files are on the PC or in a file server, but most of the important data resides on the mainframe. The application will commonly make heavy use of transaction shipping to obtain data from the host. This system is a bit trickier to coordinate than the simple presentation layer.

"Finally, there is the full cooperative processing approach. Here, applications run on both the PC and the mainframe. Typically, the PC or workstation performs some processing and then passes a token to the mainframe, which also performs some processing in a real-time environment. Each platform does what is most appropriate. Application data lives on multiple platforms, and processing is closely meshed between the host and other platforms. At this level, there are numerous coordination, integrity and control issues."

Edna asked, "Lou, which of these do you envision will be used for this system? It can make a difference in how the project is staffed."

"I guess that we have a few related but conflicting goals," he said. "It seems that the long-term goal is to provide better service to our users while reducing mainframe processing. Our short-term goal is to get something working using client/server technology so that we can gain experience and determine its applicability here.

"Our immediate goal is to start working on some kind of pilot project fairly quickly. Both Betty and Felicia think client/server technology can save the company money, and they want to see results." Lou sensed that most of them would need time to think things through.

"I do not feel that we are ready to make a decision," he said. "I would like a few days to gather information.

"Frank and Paula, I would like you to research the project requirements and together recommend how deeply we should become involved with client/server technology on this project. I would like both of you to look into training opportunities and costs. See you all Monday."

Keller is manager of systems programming at Yellow Freight Systems, Inc., Overland Park, Kan., and a long-time DP professional. Allen is senior vice president for information technology at Sears Mortgage Corp., Riverwoods, Ill.

COPYRIGHT 1992 Wiesner Publications, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group