Role-Based Modernization System for Legacy Menu Interfaces
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Solution Overview
Problem
Legacy applications, characterized by their menu-driven and session-based interfaces, are cumbersome and inefficient, leading to user frustration and high maintenance costs due to their complexity and the need for extensive customization, making modernization challenging and costly.
Innovation Solution
The Role-Based Modernization System (RBMS) reorganizes menu-based legacy applications by role, allowing seamless access to both legacy and non-legacy tasks through a unified GUI, eliminating the need for session management and providing dynamic icon integration for enhanced usability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If menu-driven interface is used in legacy applications, then task execution capability is provided, but user operation complexity increases and ease of operation deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a visual copy or representation of the legacy application interface using modern graphical user interface elements. Instead of directly modifying the complex menu structure, the system generates a simplified visual replica that mirrors the functionality but presents it in an easier-to-navigate format, thereby reducing operational complexity while maintaining task execution capability
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary layer between the user and the legacy application's menu system. This intermediary component translates user-friendly graphical interactions into the underlying menu-driven commands, shielding users from the complexity of the original interface while preserving access to all application functions
2Ease of operation
If session-based access is used in legacy applications, then task execution is enabled, but system complexity increases and ease of operation deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the session management functionality from the user-facing interface and relocates it to the backend system layer. This separation removes the burden of session tracking and management from the user's operational workflow, allowing users to interact with the application without being aware of or concerned with session states, thereby simplifying the operational experience
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements self-service session management where the application automatically handles session creation, maintenance, and termination without requiring user intervention. The session infrastructure serves itself by tracking states and managing connections in the background, freeing users from the complexity of manual session management while ensuring proper task execution
3Productivity
If legacy application interface is maintained, then compatibility with host system is preserved, but user productivity decreases due to cumbersome navigation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent adds a new dimensional layer to the interface by implementing a visual workspace that overlays or sits alongside the traditional menu structure. This additional dimension provides direct visual access to frequently used functions and contextual information, allowing users to navigate and execute tasks parallel to the traditional flow, thereby reducing navigation time while maintaining host system compatibility
4Adaptability or versatility
If extensive customization is implemented in legacy applications, then functional requirements are met, but maintenance cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a universal visualization layer that can adapt to and represent multiple customized application configurations without requiring separate maintenance for each customization scenario. The graphical interface framework is designed to be multi-functional, handling various customized layouts, data presentations, and interaction patterns through a single unified system, thereby reducing maintenance complexity and cost while preserving extensive customization capabilities
Data Source
AI summary
Methods, systems, and techniques for automatically allocating and dynamically determining icons for placement on legacy task output as part of modernizing such tasks are provided. These enhanced modernization techniques may be used for many different applications to automatically provide graphical enhancement to legacy applications in ways heretofore not pragmatically possible because of the sheer volume of menus in typical enterprise scenarios running legacy applications. Example embodiments provide a Role-Based Modernization System (“RBMS”), which uses these enhanced modernization techniques to provide role-based modernization of menu-based legacy applications.