Overcoming Hardware Obsolescence with Rocket^® Visual COBOL^®

Company

Industry: Agriculture

This US-based agricultural company manages large-scale operations that rely on precise asset management and streamlined processes. They value operational efficiency and continuous improvement to support their core business activities.

Challenge

The company faced a critical hardware crisis that threatened its core operational tracking. They urgently needed to connect a heritage application to modern scanning technology.

For decades, the organization’s business operations depended on a foundational tracking application developed many years ago. Employees used specialized data capture hardware to input data into character-based green screens. When the manufacturer stopped producing these devices, the company found itself on the verge of a breakdown. The business urgently needed a fast and reliable way to interface its existing core application with modern, browser-based scanning technology to avoid major operational delays.

Solution

To resolve the hardware crisis, the organization leveraged Rocket Visual COBOL to upgrade its time-tested programs. They built RESTful web services that connected heritage logic to modern devices.

Using the advanced refactoring technology within Rocket Visual COBOL, the team upgraded to the current software release and adapted the company’s existing programs. Instead of routing application logic to an outdated green screen interface, they engineered RESTful web services. Critical details like identification numbers and operational records now serve as direct inputs to a modern web service, bypassing the need for heritage hardware completely.

Results

The company successfully resolved its immediate hardware crisis while establishing a flexible framework for the future. They gained a modern user interface and real-time data access.

By transforming closed programs into open web services, the organization enabled employees to interact with an intuitive user interface, significantly reducing the learning curve for new hires. Standardized APIs now allow the internal web team to securely access essential business data and update the corporate website in real time. Looking ahead, the use of RESTful services means the company can attract talent ready to interact with standard web technologies rather than requiring extensive COBOL experience.

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