Florida State Technology Office Puts Unemployment System on the Web With iWay Intelligent Adapters

Snapshot

The Organization Florida State Technology Office.

The Challenge Leverage proprietary, mainframe-based information systems to create a Web-based application for unemployment reporting.

The Strategy Use iWay intelligent adapters to link modern Web server applications with existing CICS/VSAM data structures.

The Results An easy-to-use, Web-based system that automates routine reporting while creating a more efficient infrastructure for the State Technology Office.

iWay Software Solution iWay Software, Consulting.

Remember the quaint days of postcards? Although you probably still receive them from vacationing friends and relatives, little by little this personalized piece of cardstock is going the way of the telegram – eclipsed first by the telephone and later by the Internet and e-mail. Yet as recently as 1998, claimants for unemployment in Florida received postcards in the mail every two weeks from the state government. These postcards didn't contain friendly vacation messages,but lists of questions regarding employment status. The recipients answered the questions and returned the postcards to maintain their eligibility for unemployment compensation.

Eventually, the postcard method was replaced by an interactive voice response (IVR) system that allowed claimants to use their telephones to file for unemployment certification. The proprietary system mapped callers' responses to VSAM data structures on a mainframe computer. But maintaining the system was an ongoing chore.

More recently, the Florida State Technology Office used application-integration technology from iWay Software, an Information Builders company, to connect these mainframe data structures with Web-based forms that claimants could fill out over the Internet. "State governments are continually challenged to integrate legacy information systems with modern Web-based presentation technologies," says Jeff Jennings, systems project administrator with the Florida State Technology Office. "We work with a lot of applications wrapped up in CICS/COBOL programs. iWay is opening new inroads to this valuable mainframe information."

Based in Tallahassee, the Florida State Technology Office was created in 2000 by Governor Jeb Bush and the Florida Legislature. It was created and empowered with the primary responsibility for the planning, budgeting, acquisition, development, implementation, use, and management of information technology within the State. Jennings and his team are using iWay to connect their information resources with both client/server and Web presentations, simplifying data entry and retrieval operations. "iWay allows us to connect emerging technologies with older COBOL programs so we can preserve our investments in legacy technology," says Jennings. "It delivers a very strong return on our technology investments."

Rising to the Challenge

Among the many processes supported by the Florida State Technology Office is the ongoing certification of claimants for unemployment compensation. Every two weeks, claimants must prove that they are actively seeking employment in order to be certified for compensation payments. "A long time ago, people had to walk into an office to maintain their certification," says Mary White, a contractor with Advanced Systems Design who works at the Florida State Technology Office. "The bimonthly postcard system replaced the need for in-person visits, and the IVR system made the paper trail created by the postcard system unnecessary. But the advent of Web technology eclipsed them both."

To improve customer service and maximize back-office efficiency, the Florida State government wanted to Web-enable the certification system. The challenge came with figuring out how to connect the old mainframe systems to the Web without writing new code. "People have been able to use the Web to register for unemployment for years," says Jennings. "Since more than half of the initial claims for unemployment come to us over the Web, we wanted to give people the option to file their bimonthly certification over the Web as well. Achieving this goal in a cost-effective fashion meant leveraging the existing logic and data structures."

According to Jennings, the IVR system worked well, but because of its origin as a proprietary system it was difficult to modify and expensive to maintain. "Even small changes to the IVR code were difficult to make," he admits. "The code was written by the original vendor, but was not well documented and nobody here ever learned it."

The Obvious Choice

The State Technology Office is not alone. Many organizations have substantial investments in mainframe applications and databases. They wish to preserve these important assets, yet use them in conjunction with modern Internet-based systems. For more and more of these organizations, technology from iWay Software is the answer.

The Florida State Technology Office has been using iWay for years to put a friendly face on a variety of client/server applications. When it came time to Web-enable the IVR system, the answer was already at their fingertips. "We depend onseveral real-time applications to access DB2 data on the mainframe," White says. "iWay does the translation from DB2, which enables users to interact with the mainframe via point-and-click interfaces. Whether they know it or not, many state employees use the iWay infrastructure for their daily data entry and retrieval."

The State Technology Office recognized the importance of Information Builders' technologies back in September 2000 by granting the company an enterprise license agreement (ELA) with the state. Information Builders was the first software vendor to receive this distinction. Since that date, only a handful of vendors have received a contract of this magnitude. This is partly due to the tremendous flexibility of iWay's software.

iWay enables the State Technology Office to present data in modern, graphical formats – rather than through the old "green screens" associated with most CICS applications. It includes data adapters built on Information Builders' mature middleware technology formerly known as EDA, enabling integration with dozens of legacy, ERP, and relational data sources. "I realized that by using iWay intelligent adapters, we could use the Information Builders technology that underlies our client/server applications to build the Continued Claims Web Application system," says Jennings. "What would have taken us months to do before only took weeks using the flexibility and power of the iWay connectors and adapters."

In addition to providing connectivity with disparate information resources, iWay intelligent adapters contain logic for manipulating information resources without customized code. "Information Builders Consulting helped us create a solution that involved installing iWay on our Web server instead of on each desktop, as we do in our client/server environment," explains Jennings. "We didn't have to write new code. We are using the same code from the IVR system for our Web application, so all the business logic is consistent. This creates a uniform environment, and it spares us the considerable time and effort of creating new software programs from scratch."

The new Web server environment combines HTML with a Visual Basic scripting language. Microsoft Active Server Pages translate the information to HTTP so a standard browser can display it. "iWay still handles a lot of the same processes on the back-end, but it interfaces with a different front-end system," Jennings explains. "It is a very flexible middleware environment that we have been able to adapt to a variety of applications. The iWay consultants showed us how to seamlessly integrate the iWay connectors into our existing applications."

"By using iWay intelligent adapters, we could use the Information Builders technology that underlies our client/server applications to build the Continued Claims Web Application system." Pages translate the information to HTTP so a standard browser can display it.

A More Fluid Business Process

Today, Web users simply need a unique user ID and PIN number to log on to the Continued Claims System at www.fluidnow.com (FLUID stands for Florida Unemployment Insurance Direct). Once they have been authorized by the system, they answer a few questions to maintain their eligibility for unemployment. "The information goes over the wires and is added to our VSAM database," says Jennings. "iWay handles the translation and makes the necessary updates."

The system can also summarize the status of each unemployment claim, the date of the user's last check, how much they have claimed so far, and the total amount that can be claimed. "Our Web system is surpassing our IVR system," says Jennings. "It does the same things the IVR system did, but it is much easier to use, update, and maintain."

It may not be as colorful as a postcard from Tahiti, but it gets the job done – quickly and efficiently. "The project has been a success," Jennings concludes. "The new system gives claimants more options, and it makes things easier for the IT staff. We were able to roll out the application much more quickly by reusing the existing code. iWay is a perfect fit for what we wanted to accomplish."