RAMP Features
An IBM i Modernization Strategy for Immediate Results and Long-Term Strategy
Low Risk. High Reward.
Boost user productivity and minimize disruption utilizing RAMP’s nonintrusive modernization process
User Interface
- Snap existing 5250 screens into a rich GUI framework – RAMP gives your green-screen applications a graphical user
- interface familiar to most users.
- Solve the 5250 application navigation problem – Replace complex 5250 hierarchical menu structures that have many
- hidden paths with a point-and-click graphical user interface.
- Enhance the image of the application – A modernized user interface can vastly improve the image of an application.
Modernize and Extend
- Add new features to the application at your own pace – Extend the application’s functionality with email, video, voice, web browser interfaces, and desktop integration without disruption to your business and customers.
- Extend the modernized application by adding components built with Microsoft development tools – Write components in C# using Microsoft Visual Studio and snap the components into the framework to extend the functionality of the 5250 application.
- No need for source code – RAMP is a nonintrusive method for 5250 modernization. RAMP requires no change to the 5250 applications and therefore does not need the source code. You can modernize packaged applications even when you don’t have the source code.
Performance
- The framework is mindful of performance and operates on a load-on-demand model.
- The initial load requires only the essential components.
- The framework loads other components only when the user invokes functions in the application that use the components.
Developer Tools
- Developers can take advantage of components shipped with the framework – The framework includes ready-to-use components that developers can implement when modernizing 5250 applications.
- RAMP supports prototyping when modernizing 5250 applications – Versions of the prototype can be quickly emailed to users for evaluation and feedback.
- XML schema – The modular design of the framework means that many developers can work on different parts of the application at the same time.
- Simpler to code – Developers work on components rather than the whole application.
- Faster testing – Testers can check individual components. When the components pass their tests, they are added to the framework and then tested in the application.
- Developers do not need the source code – With RAMP, developers do not need to change the existing applications and don’t require the RPG, COBOL, or DDS source code.
Deployment
- Generate Windows desktop applications.
- Generate web browser applications that support ChromeⓇ, FirefoxⓇ, SafariⓇ or Internet Explorer 11Ⓡ or later.
- Run the modernized applications on your choice of platform: IBM i (System i, iSeries, AS/400), Windows, or Linux.
Gradual introduction to object-oriented concepts
- RAMP is based on object-oriented concepts such as inheritance.
- Benefits of OOP methods will become more obvious to developers as they progress through the 5250 modernization.
Multilingual
- Supports multilingual and DBCS applications
Stop Modernizing with Yesterday's Technology-First Approach
This paper explores how taking a business-first approach to modernization enables IT to align new projects with business goals and deliver incremental benefits that can be measured. With these principles in mind, businesses can transform their legacy applications into their dream enterprise.
