Which way to the Web?

Software Magazine, Sept, 1998 by Mathew Schwartz

Let's play devil's advocate: Isn't Opal mere screen-scraping technology? To an extent, yes-- it reads and writes to terminal screens by tricking the database into thinking Opal is just another CICS session. But, notes Kastner, "what they possess is more than screen scraping, because you can make the applications more graphical, use the look and feel of the browser," and trim menu hierarchies down to size by importing only needed information.

Opal creates object representations of the internal workings or a database in effect, a component environment filled with encapsulated objects and processes. "So in a drag-and-drop way, you can link a table to a corresponding object on a host screen," says Lincoln, creating a codeless, easy-to-use development environment, to the point where users don't have to be hardcore programmers. One university uses student interns, for instance, to do much of the work. "A lot of customers for Opal don't have their own development staffs anymore," says Lincoln. Besides screen scraping, or providing host-to-Web style emulation -- from 3270, 5250, VTxxx, HP 700 -- Opal can monitor the connection and state of the session, which HTML can't do, because it's stateless, as well as provide desktop deployment. But more impressive is Opal's ability to integrate information from different databases Ingres, Sybase, DB2, Informix, Oracle, SQL Server (see sidebar, "Building a New Interface," pg. 76).

At UHS, Reino is clear about her goal for the Opal implementation, currently in progress. "Opal is going to simplify our existing workflow, reduce the training and maintenance burden on our help desk, and increase the functionality that's available to our users -- and that's what it's all about."

Begun a year ago, results are already apparent. "We've already dramatically enhanced the clinical capabilities," says Reino. Many hospitals now have online access to the POET (patient order entry tracking) system. Information pathways currently available to physicians in 3270 format are being recoded into Opal. All in all, about 75% of the target functionality is in place, with a full-fledged pilot to begin soon at Manatee Memorial Hospital near Tampa, Fla. After a more extensive pilot in 5 to 6 hospitals on the UHS technology taskforce, "we think by next year we'll have this up and running in our physician offices," says Reino, and then speed the rollout to the rest of the hospitals. "I want to get the same pathways into the hospitals, and to do that there might be some wiring and infrastructure changes that I have to do in the facility to give access," she says.

With an organization of UHS' size, using Opal is as strategic as it is functional -- with an overall price tag to match. When she talks to other senior managers, "I don't sugarcoat it," says Reino. Although investing over a current infrastructure always provokes questions, "the message was I want to make this investment and keep this in place vs. what I think is a more significant investment." Cost was definitely an issue, as were security concerns and leveraging previous mainframe investments.