Logistics Systems International

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Logistics Systems International reaps the rewards of integrated .NET and COBOL development with Fujitsu NetCOBOL

It may not be the height of fashion in this Internet-enabled e-commerce world, but specialist logistics software developer Logistics Systems International (LSI) foresees a vibrant future at the heart of e-business for COBOL.

The venerable programming language remains a quiet achiever in booming enterprises worldwide, and its rock-solid robustness is still highly prized for genuinely mission-critical applications.

And mission-critical applications are what Australian-developer LSI does best. Its Consignor, MasterStore and FreightMaster products provide finely tuned software management for logistics companies whose success totally depends upon timely product delivery and tight management of warehousing, carrier movements and costs.

Typical Consignor customers include technology vendor Canon, the motorbikes and outboard motors division of Yamaha, and Tridon Australia, a major supplier to the local automotive industry. These companies use LSI logistics applications to exert granular control over the nationwide distribution and delivery of parts and products.

The original version of Consignor was written in RM/COBOL back in 1990. In the late 1990s, LSI upgraded the package with a graphical user interface developed in Visual Basic. To connect the customer-facing Visual Basic front-end with the back-end ISAM database and COBOL business logic, LSI was using a highly specialised product called Van Gui Interface Builder.

However, LSI Director of Technical Services Robin Mitchell says this three-tiered solution was not sufficiently reliable, flexible or easy to upgrade. As a result, LSI was finding it difficult to embrace the latest technologies required by its customers, such as XML, Web-based e-commerce, open databases and client/server ERP systems.

"It was a natural progression for LSI to want to move to the latest technologies, but we really couldn't find any suitable tools," he says. "At the time, RM/COBOL involved a third-party solution and there were few other options. Then we discovered Fujitsu NetCOBOL for .NET and it seemed like the perfect fit for our needs."

Mitchell says Fujitsu NetCOBOL for .NET allowed LSI to move quickly towards its goal of integrating .NET business software capabilities and achieving greater flexibility, while also eliminating the need for the former piecemeal approach.

Using NetCOBOL, LSI quickly ported Consignor to run off Microsoft SQL Server databases at the back-end. The application's core business logic remains in COBOL, but the GUI is developed entirely in Visual Basic. The interface between the two elements is now seamless, thanks to NetCOBOL.

"We were really attracted to the fact that NetCOBOL lets us write COBOL and Visual Basic code in the same Visual Studio integrated development environment (IDE). Not only does this enhance developer productivity and save time for LSI, it means we only have to compile code once and it produces a single executable. Under the old approach, the VB executable and each COBOL program were compiled separately."

With NetCOBOL, all .NET classes are available for both Visual Basic and COBOL elements of the application. This means LSI can continue to maintain all its business logic in COBOL while moving to a .NET framework.

"LSI is quite comfortable sticking with COBOL as its development language for the foreseeable future," Mitchell says. "NetCOBOL allows us to maintain our investment in COBOL and make it easier for non-COBOL programmers because we are using a single IDE for all development."

Mitchell says the 12-month conversion process was a positive experience that has already reaped rewards in terms of new business and additional prospects. The Visual Basic code was converted using standard Visual Studio wizards, while the COBOL conversion was "reasonably straight-forward".

"We had about a dozen code peculiarities that required support from the Fujitsu help desk [in the United States], but that is about what we expected for a project of this magnitude. It has been a year's hard work but we are delighted with the result. NetCOBOL has really opened up LSI's logistics applications to a whole new world of e-commerce, XML and Web-based queries. At the same time, it has assured the future of our customers who use EDI and ASCII files to transfer data."

The Fujitsu NetCOBOL for .NET project has already earned its stripes by helping LSI win the Tridon Australia account, and other prospects are well advanced.

Customers such as Tridon use Consignor as a total product delivery system that enables them to meet rising customer expectations, exacting delivery schedules and tight margins. Consignor is a comprehensive delivery system that works best when bi-directionally interfaced with customers' ERP or warehouse management platforms - a facet that was greatly enhanced through the flexibility of NetCOBOL.

Mitchell says modernising the code base has made it easier for LSI products to pass the scrutiny of customer IT departments. Not only does this facilitate the sales process, it increases the range of opportunities where customers deeply integrate Consignor into the heart of their business applications. This ensures LSI becomes a key strategic partner for its logistics industry customers.

"NetCOBOL was a really positive move for LSI," Mitchell says. "It has enabled us to leapfrog competitors and stay abreast of current technology requirements in the competitive logistics industry. And with initial testing indicating that NetCOBOL for .NET 2.0 compiles twice as fast, we see a bright future for COBOL with Fujitsu."