Case Studies

U.S. Department of Education (DoEd) - InMagic Migration

The Challenge

Our client, the DoED's National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR), under the DoED had a legacy application for hosting the National Rehabilitation Information Center (NARIC) project databases. All of these databases were organized by Inmagic's DB/TextWorks, a database management/text retrieval system. It was cumbersome for the public to search the databases effectively because it used Boolean logic and HeiTech Services wanted to get out from under the recurring and continuing licensing fees for ongoing maintenance and support of their DB/TextWorks software. The principle challenges facing the HeiTech Services design team were 1) replacing a rich-featured customizable report engine that incorporated a text processor, 2) matching the speed and power of text retrieval that is the hallmark of the DB/TextWorks product, 3) and handling the concerns of the project's library and information professionals who would be switching from a product with a high comfort level to one with an unknown track record without deteriorating their ability to continue to provide high-level services.

The Strategy

Inmagic's DB/TextWorks integrates a report engine with a text processor, allowing the user to include such text formatting features during report design. HeiTech Services' strategy was to take advantage of automation between products in the Microsoft Office suite to emulate that functionality. In order to match the speed and power of DB/TextWorks' text retrieval system, HeiTech Services would need an equally powerful tool that was able to search across multiple fields simultaneously, returning records at client-server speeds. Finally, to overcome user anxiety with replacing such a rich-featured tool as DB/TextWorks HeiTech Services knew it was important to perform a complete systems analysis and design of the legacy system's design so none of the functionality became a casualty of the conversion.

The Technology

HeiTech Services integrated the powerful client server capabilities of Microsoft's SQL Server with the rich interface design capabilities of Microsoft Access in an Access Data Project (ADP). Our developers were then able to prototype the interface design using Access' native desktop database and upsize the application to a SQL Server database once prototyping was completed. This enabled the team to use Rapid Application Development (RAD) to stay on schedule.

HeiTech Services also tackled the unique challenge of emulating DB/TextWorks integrated report engine/text processor by automating Microsoft Word from within Access. As a result, fully formatted text reports became a reality. Finally, HeiTech Services incorporated SQL Server's built-in full-text indexing in all of its web and desktop application searches to return results across all text fields from thousands of records in real time.

The Result

As a result of migrating the NARIC application from the Inmagic DB/TextWorks platform to Microsoft's Access ADP front end/SQL Server back end, HeiTech has also migrated ownership from a third party vendor to its development staff. NIDRR Management no longer faces the dilemma of whether to renew the maintenance contract for the DB/TextWorks product and they've seen an increase in their return on investment for Microsoft SQL Server.

The most important benefit, however, is to our users, both the in-house staff and our NARIC customers. The in-house staff can now iterate new requirements directly to the in-house development team and see them translated before their eyes into new functionality. Our customers meanwhile benefit from their data being stored in a state-of-the art client server database providing unmatched retrieval speed and reliability.