California Contractors State License Board Leverages Web-enabling Technology From SAGA to Help Put an End to Fradulent Contracting

Business Wire, Jan 13, 1999

RESTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 13, 1999--

With the Support of SAGA's(TM) EntireX and iXpress Solutions-Oriented Middleware(TM) California's New Online Database of Licensed Building

Contractors Can Offer Customers Service

SAGA SOFTWARE Inc. (SAGA) is helping the California Contractors State License Board (CSLB) put an end to illegal contracting through two Solutions-Oriented Middleware products that have been built into its Contractors License Status Inquiry System (CLSIS).

CLSIS is a web-enabled system that provides real-time information to protect consumers from unlicensed building contractors and provide them with vital up-to-the-minute information about the contractor's license. Now consumers and building departments have a quick and easy way to verify the validity of a contractor's license at anytime via the Internet.

The new system was made possible by SAGA's iXpress(R) Web-based development tools, along with EntireX(TM) Broker, SAGA's cross-platform message-oriented middleware solution that links mainframe applications to UNIX(R) and Microsoft(R) desktops among other platforms.

With these Solutions-Oriented Middleware(TM) products, CSLB can still use its NATURAL programs to access data. As a result, CSLB programmers didn't need to learn a new programming language which eliminated training requirements and enabled CSLB the ability to protect its existing investment and get the pilot up and running in a matter of days.

CSLB serves a population base of 13 million and oversees licensing for about 200,000 of California's active building contractors. Since reports on this information can become quickly outdated, CSLB felt the Internet would be a more efficient way for end-users to access the actual records stored on its mainframe.

With the new Contractors License Status Inquiry System, consumers and building departments throughout California have access, in real-time, to CSLB's database of licensed contractors in the state (ranging from landscapers to masons to remodeling contractors). The program has proven very successful, especially following the severe flooding that took place in California in December of 1996.

In a recent 11-month period, the Web site received well over a million queries which otherwise would have inundated the agency's call center.

"With its new Contractors License Status Inquiry System, CSLB has extended its service reach and augmented its customer accessibility to real-time information," said Timothy L. Hill, SAGA's Vice President, Marketing and International Operations. "We at SAGA are delighted and proud that our Solutions-Oriented Middleware products are providing the people of the State of California with these tangible solutions."

Future plans

In addition to providing contractor licensing information via the Internet, CSLB is planning additional offerings. "We recently made it possible to check contractors by individual name in addition to license name and business name. In the future, we hope to provide order forms through the system," said Debbe Phelps, Staff Programmer Analyst for CSLB.

"We also want to offer an online home improvement certification exam next year. Once the validity of the applicant is determined, the exam will be given over the Internet and the information will recorded into our database."

CSLB forsees significiant savings by offering certification exams over the Internet. "With over 200,000 licensees, most of whom could take the test at one time or another, operating costs will significantly be reduced. We won't have to mail out the booklet and the form, wait to receive it, hand-grade it and send back the results in the mail," Phelps said.

About SAGA SOFTWARE Inc.

SAGA SOFTWARE Inc. based in Reston, provides enterprise system software and Solutions-Oriented Middleware products that support billions of mainframe transactions daily for some of the world's largest organizations.

SAGA's suite of mission critical products and associated professional services take customers from the heart of the enterprise to the desktop, freeing their information and leveraging their IT investment. SAGA's parent company is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol AGS.

For further information, please visit the company's Web site at http://www.sagasoftware.com.

All product or company names mentioned are used for identification purposes only, and may be trademarks of their respective owners.