SIRSI Workflows via Telnet / other?

Hi,

The public computer sign-up software (created in-house) that we use in our library used to be able to connect "live" with our DRA server. The DRA server could be accessed with any telnet client, provided you knew the correct address, and had a valid username/password.

We have since switched to using SIRSI WorkFlows, and as such we have lost the ability to check account statuses "live." We would like to be able to prevent patrons from using our computers if their fines are above a certain limit. Does anyone know of a way to accomplish this with Workflows? I know that the commercial software, such as Pharos, has this functionality, but our resource library has no intention of telling us how to go about connecting to the server (other than using the basic WorkFlows client software).

While it's not vital to our library to be able to do this, it would help us clear up a number of delinquent patrons who frequently use our computers, even though they may owe $$$ in fines. We have also asked about running a weekly report of delinquent patrons, with barcodes from our libary, with our "Internet qualifier" text in the notes field, but they seem reluctant to allow us to do that as well.

Thanks!