Magazine subscription management

This project was done for a customer with a long history of providing subscription management software to the publishing industry. All software had been strictly character/console based. Over the years a large body of custom scripts (defining data entry screens) had been written for publishers, and these publishers also had considerable investment in the training and experience in using the existing software. The customer decided that the time had come for a Windows-based front end but lacked in-house expertise in Windows programming. Because of the history, there were a number of challenging constraints on the project:

• existing scripts (including data entry screen definitions) had to continue to be supported without modification, despite the fact that the scripts were console-oriented.
• Not only should the Windows entry screens be generated from the same unmodified scripts, but the look and operation (in terms of keystrokes) should be familiar to experienced operators.
• While satisfying the first two requirements, the application was to be as 'Windows-like' as possible and take as much advantage of Windows common controls as possible.

Additionally, new capabilities were expected in the transition to the Windows environment -- a stand-alone form printer application, a scripting facility allowing client applications to interface with Microsoft Word to generate high-quality form-letters and other documents, and a library enabling the product e-mail documents to subscribers. In addition, during the project, Corvus helped train in-house developers in Windows programming so that they would be able to maintain and extend the product in house going forward. All these objectives were successfully achieved.