Barr Helps the State of Colorado Aid Families

Industry: Government

Situation:

The State of Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment is dedicated to protecting and preserving the health and environment of the people of Colorado. One of the department's key programs involves keeping food on the table for low-income women with infant children. The database of eligible families runs on mainframe systems and generates reports that must be printed in a remote location. The department is also responsible for routinely uploading air and water quality data to the Environmental Protection Agency's data center in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. The department used Barr Systems' DOS-based RJE product for decades, and needed to upgrade to a Windows-based solution while adhering to the strict budgetary limitations one expects from a state agency.

Solution:

The department brought their former IT gurus, Joan Bryant and colleague Joe Ruhl, out of retirement to search for the best product at the best value—from any vendor who fit the bill. One of the solutions Bryant was immediately pleased to discover was the Barr Enterprise Print Server and the BARR / RJE module. "When I called around, I was thrilled that Barr had the new product," Bryant says. With the Barr solution, the upgrade could be accomplished without requiring any changes on the host. BARR / RJE communicates with the mainframe by emulating an IBM 3770, a device that uses the standard communications protocol for batch transmission in an IBM SNA environment. BARR / RJE prints to an unlimited number of network-attached printers without any additional host software. "We use Barr to upload data from PCs in our headquarters to mainframes by a T1 connection. The mainframe is actually located in another part of town. Groups request reports that are then printed by BEPS on greenbar printers," Bryant explains. All told, the Barr solution handles hundreds of reports every month for the department's accounting systems.

Response:

"Being a state agency, money is tight. We were able to obtain the complete Barr solution for much less than I initially expected. To implement a solution based on mainframe technology would have been far too expensive for us to consider. Barr personnel were such a pleasure to work with. And the new system was so easy to install."