Greetings Ted,

I saw your query posted on the HP3000-L, and I am responding due to my
companies direct experience helping HP IT Groups implement a similar
interface; real-time transaction updates between H3000/Image/Cobol
applications
and PeopleSoft application modules.

You wrote:

> We are in the process of moving our financial system off the
> HP3000 onto an Oracle NT system (Peoplesoft).  However we are planning on
> keeping our main name/address database (for student records, alumni..etc)
on the 3000.
> We would like to be able to do "live" updates to either name/address
database
> from either system.  We have looked at Convoy but it doesn't really appear
> to meet our needs.

The integration you inquire about, synchronizing master's across two
different platforms, can be challenging. Both endpoints must be analyzed to
determine the different Event's which either CREATE, UPDATE, or DELETE
Student Master records. It is also important to match the layer of the
application (database, logic) which detects the event, with the proper
real-time middleware. Will a gateway process work, will some sort of
database intrinsic listener work, how accessible is the PeopleSoft
relational layer - must you use the PeopleSoft Message Agent to gain
READ/UPDATE access. All sorts of questions abound.

  * Is this a Master-Master synchronization or Master-Slave
  * What are the frequency of updates
  * How will we be dealing with collisions (an update occurs on the master
data on the 3K at or around the time it occurs in PeopleSoft.
  * Do we need to resurrect (leverage) the application business logic which
ensures a quality student/alumni record update

I can assure you that despite the above questions, this is a very doable
integration.

<plug>

Premier Software has assisted HP's IT groups (HP Worldwide GLOBAL LOGISTICS)
to interface PeopleSoft with three different MPE applications - and this is
real-time. Our experience has been specific to the Master-Master maintenance
of Parts data.

Premier's OSCAR tool and middleware work very nicely to allow MPE
applications a real-time connection to PeopleSoft databases, as well as to
allow PeopleSoft Application Code (PeopleCode:VB lite) real-time access to
MPE applications.

If you would like to learn more about this approach, or perhaps to email
dialog with folks from HP, then don't hesitate to contact me.

Take a look at some recent press material on Premier's middleware offerings:

      1. http://www.interex.org/hpworldnews/hpw905/02mpe.html
      2. http://www.interex.org/hpworldnews/hpw907/02mpe.html
      3. http://www.hp.com/ibpprogs/csy/advisor/spring99/interop.html
      4. http://www.hppro.com/ "It's OSCAR Night"
         http://www.hppro.com/blastarticle.asp?FILENAME=9219913243pm.html

Cheers,

Jonathan van den Berg
Premier Software Technologies
 fon: 408-257-8757
 fax: 408-253-1184
 www: http://www.premiersoft.com