Green Screen Replacement Beats The Clock

November 3, 2014 Dan Burger

Even the prettiest green-screen application is not going to win many, if any, admirers these days. The truth is that a green-screen app is going to cost money by not being used. This is particularly true if you are creating commercial software. Put a green screen on one monitor next to a GUI on another monitor and ask people to vote on their favorite. And the winner is . . . not the green screen.

Paragon Consulting Services saw software sales dry up on its 5250 application for the metals industry. Guess where the blame rested? Yep, the interface. The competition was killing them with their good looks and easy navigation. Realizing that a software company that can no longer get users to use its software was not going to be long for this world, Paragon had to make a change.

I found this story in the looksoftware email newsletter that arrived in my inbox today.

The problem described is a common complaint. In some situations it goes without attention for longer than it should and is eventually abandoned and replaced by something more useful and obviously more modern. Paragon may have waited too long, but it was able to modernize its application before it was too late. It set the priorities as improving navigation and integrating with desktop apps and Web services. Being able to adapt to technologies, mobile being the most significant, was also taken into account before the redesign of the 10,000-screen app began.

There was 30 years of RPG development in the green screen application–a tremendous amount of functionality. The modernization effort paid off with a dashboard presentation that includes charting for accounts receivable and accounts payable, integration with Microsoft Office, and automated common tasks such as creation of email messages, Word documents and Excel spreadsheets.

This story is short on details, but doesn’t skimp on benefits. You can read more about it by following this link.

Also on the recommended reading list is the IBM Redbook titled Modernize IBM i Applications from the Database up to the User Interface and Everything in Between. You can find that in-depth resource here.