5. Technology

The FRS system is a multi-user, client/server reporting application. This application uses a Windows based user interface to communicate with SAS on the server. The user interface is developed using Delphi. The user interface uses a communication module created by OCS Consulting which allows the user interface to interact with the SAS system using SAS Integration Technologies as middleware. The communication module was developed in such a way that it can be switched to communicate with SAS on the server or SAS on the local machine, allowing off-site development. The user interface itself consists of an executable and a .ini file which can reside on an application server. This means that only Integration Technologies needs to be installed on the client PC. The image below presents a schematic overview of the FRS system.