Download DARS on the Web

DARS on the Web
Audits & Exceptions delivered by our
Homegrown Systems
Mr. Angel M. Juan
Programmer Analyst
Southwest Texas State University
2003 User’s Conference
June 15-18, 2003 – Orlando, Florida
DARS on the Web
Audits & Exceptions delivered by our Homegrown Systems
Project Goals
• Create an on-line degree outline accessible to
students and advisors
-- Objectives
1. Provide better advising for students
2. Check prerequisites to stop students from enrolling in courses
for which they are not prepared
3. Allow students to plan their academic career with certainty
4. Allow students to do “What if” audits by evaluating their course
work against a particular degree
DARS on the Web
Audits & Exceptions delivered by our Homegrown Systems
Project Goals
• Enable our advisors to provide student exceptions and
degree audits processing
-- Objectives
1. Better placement of transferred courses on degree audits,
ELNA (elective non-advanced) and ELADV (elective advanced)
2. A mechanism for tracking substitutions that have been
approved by the college deans in a degree program
3. A mechanism for confirming that a student has completed all
requirements for a degree and is eligible to graduate
DARS on the Web
Audits & Exceptions delivered by our Homegrown Systems
Approach
• Programming tasks:
1. Development of SWT Degree Programs for all Colleges (Started with
the undergraduate degrees)
2. Installation of DARwin Client/Server on a PC Windows environment
(Used for development & testing of degree programs)
3. Data Access between DARS tables and Mainframe datasets (Upload
& download modules)
4. Conversion of DARwin Daemon for the Mainframe environment
5.
6.
7.
8.
(Converted to a callable shareable image)
Degree Audit Reports (Web Interactive & Web batch access)
Maintain DARS Exceptions (Web Interactive access)
DARS Degree Programs index web pages (Batch module, used by the
Degree Audit Reports module)
SWT Degree Programs report (Batch module, used to check data
integrity)
DARS on the Web
Audits & Exceptions delivered by our Homegrown Systems
Application
• HTML/Mainframe/Cobol
-- Pros
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Get the job done with limited staff resources
Fit into our current Student & Administrative Services
Security well established for sign in/out
Wide client, database and browser compatibility
Ability to turn audits on/off
-- Cons
1. The DARwin new releases are “more difficult” to implement
2. Longer development time than other solutions
DARS on the Web
Audits & Exceptions delivered by our Homegrown Systems
SWT Environment
• Production
Hardware: HP AlphaServer 4100 5/600 running VMS V7.3-1,
DARSMNSHR Shareable Image (DARwin daemon converted)
Web Server: OSU/3.9alpha2;Multinet (OSU=Ohio State University),
HTML PUBLIC (//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN)
Software: Compaq COBOL V2.8-1286
Database: System 1032 Version V9.81-1 (4GL, Database Mgt. System),
Computer Corporation of America
• Development
Hardware: Dell OptiPlex GTX-150 running
Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.00.1381
Software: DARwin 2.1.0v10 A (Client/Server DARS)
Database: Microsoft SQL Server 7.00.1004 (Standard Edition)
DARS on the Web
Audits & Exceptions delivered by our Homegrown Systems
Architecture
• Encoders Interface
The Darwin Client/Server application is
currently used only for development of
degree outlines
DARwin
SQL Server
Darwin data
upload process
DARwin
Relational
data tables
coding
DARwi
n
testing
DARS
driver
Data Link
Student Information
data
download process
Degree Outline
Audits
Degree Outline
Dumps
Student
Information
data tables
DARS on the Web
Audits & Exceptions delivered by our Homegrown Systems
Architecture
• Upload Interface
DARwin data tables are dumped into a S1032 mainframe
DARS database, excluding the exception tables
DARwin Data
PC
SQL Server
S1032
S1032
DARwin
Relational
data tables
Mainframe
DARS
Exception
datasets
Mainframe
DARS
database
Mainframe
BCP
bulk copy
program
S1032 Input
data files
ADDPBDDAR
build/load
DARS data
Web Indexes &
Re-configure
upload process
DARS on the Web
Audits & Exceptions delivered by our Homegrown Systems
Architecture
• Upload Interface (continue)
Web Indexes & Re-configure
ADDPBDDAR
build static
html pages
ADWBPRDAR
create index
pages
Degree Programs
by Colleges
S1032
ADDPBDDAR
re-configure
web applications
Mainframe
DARS
Database
DARSFOODB
open/close
module
ADWBIQDAR
build online
degree audits
ADWBUPEXC
add/update
exceptions
ADDPCLDAR
build detach
degree audits
yes
Database
new?
no
DARS on the Web
Audits & Exceptions delivered by our Homegrown Systems
Architecture
• Download Interface
Student Information Data
S1032
SQL Server
PC
DARwin
Relational
data tables
Mainframe
Relational
datasets
Mainframe
ADDPEXSTU
extract student
information data
SQL Input
data files
BCP
bulk copy
program
DARS on the Web
Audits & Exceptions delivered by our Homegrown Systems
Student Services
• Web Interface
Degree Audits
SWT
Web Server
CatsWe
b
Degree Audit
Report
DARSMNSHR
driver
ADWBIQDAR
online
degree audits
s
a
v
e
S1032
Mainframe
DARS
database
S1032
Stored
degree audits
ADDPCLDAR
detach
degree audits
S1032
Audit
requests
dataset
Student
Information
datasets
S1032
Enrollments
& Transcripts
datasets
DARS on the Web
Audits & Exceptions delivered by our Homegrown Systems
Administrative Services
• Web Interface
Degree Audits & Exceptions
SWT
Web Server
CatsWeb
ADWBIQDAR
online
degree audits
Degree Audit
Report
s
a
v
e
ADWBUPEXC
online
exceptions
S1032
Mainframe
DARS
database
S1032
DARSMNSHR
driver
Student
Information
datasets
Stored
degree audits
S1032
Exception
Report
S1032
Audit
requests
dataset
ADDPCLDAR
detach
degree audits
Enrollments
& Transcripts
datasets
DARS on the Web
Audits & Exceptions delivered by our Homegrown Systems
Administrative Services
• Web Interface
SWT
Web Server
Batch
Degree Audits
S1032
Mainframe
DARS
database
CatsWeb
ADWBADDOR
web module
DARSMNSHR
driver
S1032
Degree Audits
HTML
ADDPBDDOR
batch module
ADDPCLDAR
detach
degree audits
Student
Information
datasets
S1032
Degree Audits
Report
S1032
Audit
requests
dataset
Degree Audits
email process
Enrollments
& Transcripts
datasets
DARS on the Web
Audits & Exceptions delivered by our Homegrown Systems
DARS Driver
• Conversion process:
-- Phase I – DARS CICS version with VSAM structure
1. Major unresolved data structure differences
2. Three months of development lost – Didn’t work for us!!!
-- Phase II – DARwin Client/Server with ODBC SQL structure
1. Adaptation of Micro-Focus Cobol code to mainframe environment
2. Replacement of SQL statements with S1032 commands
3. Data manipulation in the DARS driver to improve layout
readability & performance
4. Manipulation of the DARS driver modules, libraries and objects
by using the mainframe management tools
5. Execution of the DARS driver as a callable shareable image to
save memory
DARS on the Web
Audits & Exceptions delivered by our Homegrown Systems
Demonstration
DARS@swt
DARS on the Web
Audits & Exceptions delivered by our Homegrown Systems
To-Do List
• Unfinished business:
1. Modify the Mainframe DARS Exception module to support the
schedule modification exceptions (Needed by the Graduate College)
2. Add to the Mainframe DARS Exception module our own SWT
exceptions (Needed by the Graduate College)
3. Modify the DARS Degree Program indexes module (Split degree
programs between Undergraduate & Graduate Colleges)
4. SWT Course Inventory report (Batch module, used to check data
integrity)
5. Graduation certification using DARS (Certify SWT students have
completed all of the qualifications for graduation)
• Upgrades:
1. Upgrade DARwin Client/Server to the latest version
2. Conversion of DARwin Daemon to the latest version
DARS on the Web
Audits & Exceptions delivered by our Homegrown Systems
Questions?
DARS on the Web
Audits & Exceptions delivered by our Homegrown Systems
Contacts
• Questions about:
DARS Program
Systems & Programming
Mr. Gary Springer
Mr. Randy Young
DARS Project Coordinator
(512) 245-2792
Systems Analyst III
Information Systems & Services
(512) 245-2271
[email protected]
[email protected]
Mr. Mark Reyes
Mr. Angel M. Juan
Degree Audit Encoder
(512) 245-2430
Programmer Analyst
Information Systems & Services
(512) 245-2271
[email protected]
[email protected]
SWT Address
601 University Drive
San Marcos, Texas 78666