ValueEdge: Value Stream Management
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Govern quality and implement auditable processes
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Automate and orchestrate processes end to end
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ValueEdge: Value Stream Management
Align corporate investments with business strategy
Continuous quality from requirements to delivery
Scale enterprise SCCM with security and compliance
Resilient AI-powered functional test automation
Enterprise-level requirements management
Deliver continuous application performance testing
Plan, track, orchestrate, and release applications
Govern quality and implement auditable processes
Automate deployments for continuous delivery
Access all products in application delivery management
Modernize Core Business Systems to Drive Business Transformation
Build business applications using new tools & platforms
The leading solution for COBOL application modernization
Modernize mainframe applications for the Cloud
Modernize host application access
Discover the future of CORBA
Modern mainframe application delivery for IBM Z
Secure, zero-footprint access to host applications
Access host data and automate processes with RPA
Multi-factor Authentication for IBM z/OS endpoints
Access all products in Application Modernization & Connectivity
Security at the core to everything you do; Operations, Applications, Identity and Data
Build secure software fast
Augment human intelligence
Discover, analyze, and protect sensitive data
Drive IT ecosystem with identity-centric expertise
Deliver simplified, secure access to users
Scale to billions of identities with IGA platform
Gain control of privileged user activities
Track changes and activities in managed services
Get fast, accurate detection of threats
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Analytics for text, audio, video, and image data
Reduce risk, cost, and maintenance, and T2M
AI and machine learning for data analysis
Enterprise backup/disaster recovery
Unified traditional and mobile device management
Meet regulatory & privacy retention requirements
Email, IM, and chat-based collaboration
Mobile workforce communication & collaboration
Secure critical file storage and print services
Access all products in Information Management and Governance
Simplify Your IT Transformation
Manage IT & non-IT services with automation and AI
Discover, monitor, and remediate with AIOps
Monitor and optimize complex networks
Discover, manage, and map configurations & assets
Accelerate provisioning with governance in place
Automate and orchestrate processes end to end
Manage IT & software assets for better compliance
Automate server provisioning, patching, and compliance
Automate screen-based human actions with robots
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Give your team the power to make your business perform to its fullest
Teleflora develops and maintains custom COBOL code that augments an off the shelf ERP solution. Every upgrade cycle requires time-intensive rewrites or changes. Teleflora needs to streamline its development processes and be more responsive to business requirements. It can’t afford to lose decades of business logic in its custom COBOL code.
In the late 1990s, Teleflora purchased a backend ERP system to help streamline flower orders from various channels, such as teleflora. com, directly from shops, or through partnerships with major companies. Orders are routed to the nearest member florist for processing and delivery. During a holiday period, such as Mother’s Day, Teleflora will process millions of flower orders.
To make the ERP system work for Teleflora, substantial customization was required, as Todd Boyd, Senior Software Architect at Teleflora, explains: “We operate quite a custom business model, so an off-the-shelf solution needed to be flexible enough to work for us. Thankfully this ERP system allowed us source code control and we were able to develop our own custom modules in COBOL. The development capability was limited, but it worked for us at the time.”
However, as time went on, Boyd noted some clear challenges emerging: “ERP system upgrades were problematic for us. Our custom code would be impacted by an upgrade and we might need to change or even rewrite modules. With limited development capability we couldn’t accommodate all business requirements which came to us, even when we could see they would improve our business model. And, finally, when the ERP vendor talked about moving their application to Java from COBOL, we realized our custom modules would not be supported. With 20+ years of business logic and thousands COBOL programs invested in a business-critical system, we could not risk losing this, and had to find another solution.”
Todd Boyd – SENIOR SOFTWARE ARCHITECT
Teleflora
Headquartered in Los Angeles, California, Teleflora has over 13,000 member florists throughout the U.S. and Canada, with an additional 20,000 affiliated florists outside North America. This extensive network, coupled with the Teleflora commitment to exceptional customer service, means that when you send flowers from Teleflora, you can be confident that you’re sending the best.
Teleflora looked at rewriting the solution but the timeframe to do this just wasn’t realistic. A proof-of-concept with Micro Focus Visual COBOL was undertaken to determine if this might offer a solution. Teleflora’s most complex data entry screen was converted as a working model to show the users the possibilities. Its enthusiastic reception sealed the deal and Visual COBOL was introduced over the next year. Boyd discusses the implementation process: “The code conversion was really quite straightforward with Visual COBOL and we had a really helpful training session from Micro Focus. Overall, we had great support. If we needed assistance, Micro Focus was there.”
Teleflora developers used a terminal emulator on a character-mode screen as screen editor. The difference between developing with that and Visual COBOL’s modern IDE was just like night and day, as Boyd explains: “We have COBOL developers used to the green screen environment. For some of them this transition took some adjusting, but others really love the new IDE. It’s opened up our talent acquisition as we can now hire programmers with .NET experience since COBOL is taught easily within Visual COBOL.”
Innovations within Visual COBOL not only deliver a more efficient development environment, but they enable integration with other business systems and allow business user their choice of modern user interface.
End users are starting to realize the possibilities and are changing their mind set around development. Boyd: “In the past we’ve often had to say ‘no’ to our users’ requests, because it went beyond the limits of our development capabilities within the ERP system. Now, we can really make substantial interface improvements to the system to create competitive advantage. Recently we had a request to integrate into Google maps for ease of use in finding the nearest Teleflora partner. Why not? It’s all possible now.”
Todd Boyd – SENIOR SOFTWARE ARCHITECT
Teleflora
The move to Visual COBOL has delivered a more efficient and user friendly development environment. Business users are actively involved in determining process and system improvements so that clear competitive advantage can be created with a best-in-class solution.
Boyd concludes: “Visual COBOL has enabled us to retain decades of valuable business intelligence, streamline our development practices, and respond faster to business requirements. We can also investigate moving to a more agile development model, fully supported by Visual COBOL. Although at the core this was a technology-led decision, the impact has reached far beyond. It changed the mind set of our users to view IT as an enabler and a business partner which sets us up perfectly for future success.”
