Smart Solutions for “Data Source-to-Customer Experience” from Treehouse Software

Treehouse Software provides world-class capabilities to acquire data from relevant structured sources–especially mainframe-based sources–across the enterprise, enabling solutions leveraging Cognistx technology to offer the most advanced interaction with your customers.

Retailers Adopting Cognitive Technology to Drive Business

Meet a new cognitive-powered app that’s changing the customer experience. Using the SmartCognitives Engine™, it harnesses the full power of customer data to create intelligent, individualized offers specifically designed for each customer. It’s how Cognistx is helping Mr. Tire reach their millions of customers as true individuals, drive incremental revenue, convert data into insights and lead the cognitive revolution in the automotive industry. Check out the video below to see it in action.

Turning data into insights, insights into customer actions, and those actions into revenue…

Cognistx applies the latest in machine learning technology (AI) — including Big Data, advanced analytics, artificial intelligence and natural language processing — to solve your business challenge. From app-based retail solutions to help desk chat interfaces, clickstream interceptors to call center systems and more, this technology helps solve your most pressing issues.

Smarter with each interaction

The SmartCognitives Recommendation Engine is always learning and automatically delivering smarter, more relevant offers so your marketing is faster, more accurate and more efficient. It can be integrated into your mobile apps, web sites, databases, POS systems and more — for smarter solutions right away.

Transforming consumers into Individuals

Imagine being able to target consumers as unique individuals and serving up exactly what they want exactly when they need it most. No one wants to be treated like a consumer — but people do want to be treated like individuals. That’s why Cognistx is here– to celebrate the power of the individual and transform the customer experience.

Engaging with the SmartCognitives Engine

The Cognistx engine is technology-agnostic, so it can be easily integrated into apps, chatbots, clickstream interceptors, call center systems, decision support systems, or other custom applications.

The Treehouse Software / Cognistx Connection

The Cognistx platform complements Treehouse Software’s tcVISION, the comprehensive product that can acquire data in bulk or via change data capture methods, including in real time, from virtually any IBM mainframe data source (Software AG Adabas, IBM DB2, IBM VSAM, IBM IMS/DB, CA IDMS, CA Datacom, even sequential files), and transform and deliver to virtually any target. In addition, the same product can extract and replicate data from a variety of non-mainframe sources, including Adabas LUW, Oracle Database, Microsoft SQL Server, IBM DB2 LUW and DB2 BLU, IBM Informix and PostgreSQL.

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Let’s talk…

If this exciting new technology is of interest to you, we would be happy to have a conversation about your company’s needs, so do not hesitate to contact us if you have questions.  Meanwhile, please visit the Treehouse Software Cognistx Web Page for more information.

 

TREETIP: TRIM’s Real-Time Monitor Provides a Window into Your Adabas/Natural World

by Joseph Brady, Manager of Marketing and Technical Documentation at Treehouse Software, Inc.

Adabas/Natural customers need a reliable, effective, and efficient way to analyze and optimize performance. TRIM is a robust performance monitor for Adabas and Natural. The TRIM Real-Time Monitor provides a wealth of key performance statistics, including:

• Adabas activity in various categories across time intervals
• Session statistics
• Adabas queues and tables
• And much more.

TRIM screen shot examples…

TRIM Real-time Monitor Commands Per Minute Screen:

TRIM Real-time Monitor Commands Within File Screen:

This information can help the site quickly find and eliminate performance problems, and online help, PF-Keys, Direct Commands, and other features simplify TRIM usage.

Reminder of the Special Offer For CA APAS/Insight and CA PLEU Customers…

If your company uses CA APAS/Insight and/or CA PLEU, you have been notified that support for the products is longer be provided by CA. As a result, we are pleased to extend a special offer to CA APAS/Insight and CA PLEU customers to adopt comparable Treehouse Software solutions, and enjoy the assurance of our commitment to supporting and updating TRIM, AUDITRE, NatCDCSP, NatQuery, and our other solutions that complement ADABAS and NATURAL.

Treehouse Software representatives are ready to help you implement our solutions to address your key requirements — all at specially-discounted pricing.

Visit the Treehouse Software website, or contact us to discuss your needs.

Subscribe to Treehouse Software’s Monthly eBulletin…

Stay in the loop with all of the happenings at Treehouse Software by signing up for Treehouse Software’s monthly eBulletin! You’ll receive tips and tricks for Treehouse products, news, and interesting mainframe-related articles from around the web. SUBSCRIBE HERE.

TREEHOUSE CUSTOMER UPDATE:

 

 

by Chris Rudolph, Senior Technical Representative for Treehouse Software and Joseph Brady, Marketing and Documentation Manager for Treehouse Software

This is a follow-up to our recent Treehouse Software Blog entry “Treehouse Software is Setting Sights on Many New Data Replication Projects”, in which we described a typical customer visit to implement data replication.

Treehouse representatives were on-site at a state government agency to configure tcVISION and set up bulk transfer and change data capture, as well as train the State employees on using and managing tcVISION. In a subsequent discussion with our contacts at the site, they reported that their deadline for delivering a reporting database in Microsoft SQL Server replicated from 63 ADABAS files has been met. They also happily noted that by using tcVISION, the bulk transfer of 60 million ADABAS records into SQL Server completed in only 20 minutes.

We are very pleased to have yet another satisfied customer benefitting from one of Treehouse Software’s mature and proven enterprise software solutions.

tcVISION provides real-time data replication through change data capture, and allows easy and fast data migration for mainframe application modernization projects. Enterprises looking for a product that enables bi-directional heterogeneous data replication between mainframe, Linux, Unix, and Windows platforms need look no further than to tcVISION from Treehouse Software.

To learn more about tcVISION, or to request a demonstration, contact Treehouse Software today.

Treehouse Software Products Ensure Minimal Downtime and Risk-Reducing Fallback Capabilities for Data Migration Cutover

by Wayne Lashley, Chief Business Development Officer for Treehouse Software and Joseph Brady, Marketing and Documentation Manager for Treehouse Software

Organizations that are modernizing from legacy applications or implementing new ones cannot afford downtime. Cutover to a new system has to be nearly instantaneous, and all practical measures to ensure continuous operations must be taken.

Fortunately, offerings from Treehouse Software are ideal for just such circumstances. In fact, Treehouse has been assisting customers with low-risk, minimum-downtime data migration cutovers for many years.

The key to success is the use of change data capture (CDC).

While there was a time when a large-scale data migration could be accomplished overnight or over a weekend, this has become much less feasible given today’s exploding data volumes. The logistics of such implementations are much easier to manage when the migration can be undertaken long in advance of the intended cutover date, and staged in “right-sized” chunks that conform to the organization’s capacity to process them.

Treehouse products such as tRelational/DPS, DPSync, tcVISION, ADAMAGIC and NatQuery provide the ability to efficiently migrate (i.e.,ETL, or Extract-Transform-Load) all or selected source data. We refer to this as materialization or bulk load. In many cases, the process can be executed without direct access to the live source data, instead using a backup or image copy. Furthermore, many mainframe data sources can be migrated by processing on a low-TCO (total cost of ownership) LUW (Linux/Unix/Windows) platform.

After a given set of data has been migrated to the new platform (and the requisite validations completed), Treehouse products—tRelational/DPS, DPSync, tcVISION and NatCDC—can keep the target in sync with ongoing changes in the source through CDC techniques. Such techniques may involve batch-style harvesting of changes from database logs, real-time interfacing with the live database to capture changes, or efficient batch compare processing to derive changes. In each case, the changes identified in the source are transformed appropriately and applied to the target, ensuring ongoing synchronization.

In this way, the data migration is conducted as a cumulative process. It can be commenced at any point and continued until completed, and even if the completion is in advance of the intended cutover, CDC will keep the target database ready for such cutover.

At the time of cutover, it is necessary only to quiesce the source database and apply the remaining transactions to the target, and the new database is ready to go, effectively with zero downtime.

But what if something goes wrong? Even the best-tested implementations may encounter a post-migration issue that necessitates reverting to the old system.

Once again, Treehouse CDC solutions are the answer.

At the point of cutover to the new system, the roles of source and target are reversed, and the CDC process can similarly be reversed. New changes generated in the new system database are captured and applied back to the old database. If it becomes necessary to revert, then once again the new database can be quiesced and final changes applied to the old database, which resumes its role as the system of record.

This might sound too good to be true, but in fact it is a process that has been proven in the field. Recently, Treehouse had a large customer, a multinational manufacturing company based in Latin America, that was moving from a mainframe ADABAS platform to ADABAS on Unix. This customer needed a bulletproof process to migrate hundreds of ADABAS source files from mainframe to Unix at sites located in multiple different countries. The customer could tolerate only the most minimal downtime, and required the ability to immediately revert to the mainframe if it was deemed necessary.

The systems integrator (SI) that the company had engaged for the project contacted Treehouse for a solution. After a successful POC (proof of concept), the company licensed products including ADAMAGIC, NatQuery and NatCDCSP to facilitate the migration. Locations were migrated one by one over a period of several months, in each case with a tested “fallback” methodology.

Yet this case involved a similar source and target—ADABAS (though readers familiar with ADABAS will know that there are significant and sometimes-problematic differences between the mainframe and LUW implementations). What if a customer needs to migrate from a legacy database like IMS/DB to a standard relational database like DB2?

At the risk of being repetitive: Treehouse has the answer.

tcVISION provides CDC facilities across a variety of legacy and modern data sources, including ADABAS, VSAM, IMS/DB, CA IDMS, CA Datacom, DB2 (mainframe and LUW), Oracle and SQL Server. CDC can even be accomplished for flat files and ODBC data sources using tcVISION’s batch compare technique.

So it’s entirely feasible to use tcVISION to stage a migration of IMS/DB to DB2 across an extended period of time, and keep DB2 in sync with new changes in IMS/DB until the point of cutover. Post-cutover changes in DB2 can be captured by tcVISION and applied back to IMS/DB in case fallback is needed.

Is the big-bang data migration dead? Perhaps not, even if it’s becoming more and more difficult. But with Treehouse Software, organizations need no longer endure the risk and stress of big-bang migrations.

If you are contemplating a data migration in your future, contact Treehouse Software today.

Treehouse Software is Setting Sights on Many New Data Replication Projects

by Chris Rudolph, Senior Technical Representative for Treehouse Software and Joseph Brady, Marketing and Documentation Manager for Treehouse Software

Setting up a New Customer with tcVISION…

Treehouse Software representatives are busy these days, visiting customers and getting them started with our tcVISION product for complex data replication between mainframe, Linux, Unix, and Windows platforms.

As an example of a typical customer visit to implement data replication, we recently were on-site at a state government agency to configure tcVISION and set up bulk transfer and change data capture as well as train the State employees on using and managing tcVISION. Prior to our arrival, the customer had installed tcVISION and verified that its components were working correctly. After our three days on-site, the users were able to import their own ADABAS files, run scripts to perform bulk loads, and replicate transactions on the PLOG from ADABAS to SQL Server.

On the first day, we held a project kickoff meeting to discuss tcVISION’s architecture, the State’s ADABAS/NATURAL environment, and identified which ADABAS files should be replicated in the initial phase. We also presented a walkthrough of the product that covered metadata import, bulk transfer, and batch and real-time replication.

The group agreed that, for the purposes of the project at hand, real-time replication was not necessary immediately. It is possible that real-time replication and bi-directional replication may be needed in the future. Currently, monthly NATURAL extracts are used to transfer ADABAS data to SQL Server. The data is loaded into VARCHAR columns in the RDBMS, and then the data is copied to another set of tables. This process includes formatting dates, times, and numbers, but mostly ignores MUs and PEs (repeating fields in ADABAS). We showed how tcVISION can bulk transfer and replicate to a brand-new RDBMS schema created by tcVISION, as well as to an existing schema.

The setup process continued on the second day, and included creating two SQL Server databases for tcVISION, defining the connection to SQL Server, creating the tcVISION repository tables in one of the SQL Server databases, importing metadata from an ADABAS file into tcVISION, and creating the tables in SQL Server corresponding to that ADABAS file.

Next, we focused on populating these first tables. To do this, we ran the tcVISION bulk transfer script and then a control script to automatically execute the SQL Server bcp utility once the tcVISION Bulk Transfer completed.

We then imported another ADABAS file’s metadata into tcVISION. This second file contained several MUs, some of which we normalized, and others of which we denormalized on the parent table. After discussing the target structure, a bulk transfer on the ADABAS file was run. The ADABAS file contained over 100 fields and some 800,000 records. The bulk transfer ran in about 22 minutes, and the bcp into SQL Server ran for approximately two minutes. The customer’s existing NATURAL extract process takes a little under an hour for the same file, so tcVISION was able to perform the bulk transfer in about a quarter of the time.

As a last activity for the day, we demonstrated to the customer how to import an existing SQL Server table into tcVISION, and then map the table to an ADABAS file.

The tcVISION “Control Board” is the user’s MS Windows GUI Interface, providing a single and central point of administration, featuring the ability to view and manage transaction logs from other systems; built-in Wizards for mapping and modeling metadata; script generation for bulk transfer and data replication; and monitoring of replication status, script output, and DBMS extensions.

For our final activities on the third day, we ran a few more bulk transfers, and the users focused on importing ADABAS metadata and creating tables in SQL Server. During this time, we set up a new control script that allowed bulk transfer of multiple ADABAS files, instead of having to process each ADABAS file with a different script. The control script reads a list of ADABAS files, and then runs a bulk transfer script for each ADABAS file. The tcVISION manager uses a class setting to limit the number of bulk transfers running in parallel.

We then verified that the control script had submitted the processing script for each ADABAS file, and we demonstrated how to use tcVISION’s scheduler to automatically submit the control script. Once scheduling was working, we then turned our attention to processing the PLOG for change data capture.

A processing script was set up to read the PLOG on the mainframe, and then update the newly-populated SQL Server tables. We explained how some JCL could be added to the to the PLOG archive copy job to automatically process the PLOG whenever it flips.

The users were very pleased with the progress made during the three-day visit, and are well on their way to having tcVISION automatically handle and simplify their ADABAS replication efforts.

To learn more, or to request a tcVISION demonstration, contact Treehouse Software today.

A Helping Hand and a Partner: Treehouse Software Consulting and DBA Services

by Wayne Lashley, Chief Business Development Officer for Treehouse Software and Joseph Brady, Marketing and Documentation Manager for Treehouse Software

Many organizations using ADABAS/NATURAL and other technologies on mainframes and open systems are feeling the pressure to be more efficient, and to contribute to overall enterprise cost savings. However, with retirements, hiring freezes, budget constraints, and scarcity of qualified expertise, it is becoming more and more challenging to find cost effective ways to maintain current levels of service and reliability.

Fortunately, these organizations can take advantage of Treehouse Software‘s decades of experience in database administration, systems programming and mainframe optimization.

Feel Like You Are Being Pulled Under?

Give us a call today to tell us about your current situation, and a Treehouse representative will conduct simple and short interviews with key employees of your organization to understand what issues you would like to address. We will then follow up with a brief report on how Treehouse Consulting and DBA Services can help you meet your IT goals with an affordable and reliable solution.

Grab a Treehouse Lifeline

Treehouse Software consultants are experts in z/OS and z/VSE environments, and especially in ADABAS/NATURAL deployments on both mainframe and open systems. Treehouse Consulting and DBA Services can deliver benefits in:

• Focused IT strategy
• Savings in time, resources and operating costs
• Empowerment of current IT staff

Examples of Treehouse Services:

• On-site and remote ADABAS/NATURAL DBA Services on mainframes and open systems, including monitoring, preventive maintenance and administration

• ADABAS/NATURAL performance analysis, environment tuning, and optimization

• Development, training and implementation services involving any Software AG technology

• Special routines or user exits for ADABAS/NATURAL

• Software product installation, upgrades, and training

• Data replication, migration and integration

• 24-hour telephone support

• Software upgrades

• Ongoing NATURAL SECURITY administration services

• Analysis, consultation, and recommendations on Software AG product performance and tuning, NATURAL coding approaches, ADABAS file design and feature usage, and related matters

• Participation in disaster recovery tests

• Participation in actual disaster recovery in the event of a declared disaster

• Mainframe support (z/OS support, MVS support, OS/390 support, z/VSE support)

• Mainframe upgrade assistance (z/OS upgrade, MVS upgrade, OS/390 upgrade, z/VSE upgrade)

• Mainframe outsourcing

• Mainframe specialist assistance (z/OS specialist, MVS specialist, OS/390 specialist, z/VSE specialist)

• z/OS systems programming

• Assembler programming

• SMP/E assistance

• Mainframe security assistance (RACF assistance, Top Secret assistance, ACF2 assistance)

• z/PDT support, ADCD support

• Mainframe software maintenance

Let’s Talk!

We’re ready to discuss your needs. If you have any questions or need more information on Treehouse Consulting and Remote DBA Services, contact us today!

Modern Approach to Migration of Disparate Enterprise Data

by Joseph Brady, Marketing and Documentation Manager for Treehouse Software

I came across an article recently in the Data Migration Pro Journal, “Is it R.I.P for the Big-Bang Data Migration?” Given this site’s deep dive into data migration matters, I was intrigued with not only the title, but its resounding message being so closely connected to what Treehouse Software has been preaching for years: The traditional strategy of parallel migration between the host and the target may be failsafe (you can always go back to the original system) but with the vast amounts of data that are usually involved and myriad complications that can potentially delay or completely disrupt the operation, the endeavor usually risks a failed migration project.

Since the mid-1990s, Treehouse has dominated the ADABAS-to-RDBMS data migration and integration market, with its proven and powerful ETL, CDC, and real-time replication solutions. More recently, the addition of expanded capabilities enables migration and integration of virtually any mainframe database or data source. In short, we can connect your enterprise—from anything to anything.

The combined power of our technology resources and know-how reduces cost and mitigates risk in mainframe IT project initiatives, where data migration and integration complexity is often underestimated, yet critical to success.

Efficient, standards-based, and automated approaches such as those provided by Treehouse’s products can be implemented in a fraction of the time of, and much more cost-effectively and reliably than, manual efforts. Treehouse Software’s data migration, replication and integration solutions are intended for customers needing to access, integrate, replicate, and migrate data from Software AG’s ADABAS and other mainframe data sources. Such data sources often require migration or replication to relational database systems such as Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, IBM’s DB2, Teradata, and Sybase.

To extend its reach to mainframe data sources such as VSAM, IMS, CA-IDMS, CA-Datacom, DL/I, DB2, and even sequential files, Treehouse teams with B.O.S. Software Service und Vertrieb GmbH of Haar, Germany, to distribute and support B.O.S.’s tcVISION and tcACCESS, mainframe data replication and data access products. These offerings provide the ability to deliver anywhere-to-anywhere data replication and integration, as well as direct SQL-based access to non-relational mainframe data structures.

tcACCESS is a comprehensive software solution that enables two-way integration between IBM mainframe systems and client/server, Web and SOA technologies–without the need for mainframe knowledge or programming effort. tcACCESS is a proven platform that facilitates SQL-based integration of mainframe data sources and programs into open-systems and Windows applications using industry standards such as SQL, ODBC, JDBC, and .NET. SQL queries that access mainframe data can be easily created using drag and drop techniques—no programming required. The results of queries can be immediately presented and viewed (i.e., in Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Access, etc.). Direct ODBC or JDBC access to mainframe data from any client/server or Web application can be easily implemented; it is necessary only to assign the tcACCESS driver to the application.

The tcVISION solution focuses on CDC when transferring information between mainframe data sources and Windows or open-systems databases and applications. Through an innovative technology, changes occurring in any mainframe application data are tracked and captured, and then published to a variety of RDBMSs and other targets. tcVISION’s capture facilities detect changes in mainframe data sources without programming effort, and reduce the amount of data that must be transferred between systems to an absolute minimum. tcVISION guarantees transparent, efficient and auditable data transfer between sources and targets, and provides powerful routines to perform efficient, reliable bulk transfers of data with great success.

Treehouse can help your organization with tools and expertise for the riskiest and most-often overlooked parts of mainframe modernization and integration projects—the data migration and integration. Leveraging our products and services will eliminate reliance on your programming staff to write and maintain data extracts and middleware and enable deployment of powerful, robust and secure data migration and replication implementations.

Read our case studies and let us know how we can help you make your next migration project a sure-fire success.