The ESupport Web is an online resource providing comprehensive driver and vehicle information and services to the public, law enforcement officials and car dealers.
"Because our mainframe has a closed database, we're not able to access it with any other kinds of tools," said Judith Franklin, manager of DVS enterprise technology support. "We could never get any data entry out to our customers or business agents because the only way to access the data was using green screens where we had to train people how to move the cursor over, what this code means, etc."
Now, car dealers can simply use the Net to update drivers' records and motor vehicle registration records after a car is sold, she said, and residents of the state get vehicle-related documents in a matter of days.
"We used the existing CICS screens -- which reflect existing business logic which has been tested and tested and tested -- and we're able to turn applications around a lot faster," she said. "It's very much middleware. Our first few applications we were just deploying information for querying. Now, in addition to doing online transactions, we're able to build new business logic onto our interface to prevent bad data."
The ESupport Web interface solves several problems, she said, including the potential for faulty data entry into the old mainframe system and hard-to-decipher or incomplete paper forms containing information sent by car dealers.
Franklin said she and the DVS' staff worked with WRQ, Inc., to build a central repository of interchangeable business components. Then, DVS' employees used the company's visual tools to quickly build new applications by dragging and dropping business components.
Since the new composite application relies on proven host code and logic, Franklin said, the DVS' technical staff is able to build, test and deploy a new application or service every four to six weeks, and the team has completed 11 projects in only six months.
Motor vehicle and driver's-license data is stored in a SUPRA database on an IBM S/390 mainframe, she said, adding that, previously, the DVS' staff needed to navigate through old green screens and rely on COBOL programmers to create all reports and any database queries.
"Everything we're doing, we want to keep the mainframe because it's our current legacy system and law enforcement queries against it, from squad cars, for example," she said. "We need to keep it accurate, but we also want to start gathering new data and keep an audit trail of what's being done."
She said the DVS is building its own SQL databases and new applications that will query against both the mainframe system and the new databases being built.
In recognition of their work, Franklin and her team recently received the Digital Government Award at the 20th Annual Minnesota Government Information Technology Symposium.
