This scenario is a "pure" remote data access. But you can reduce access to the host by bringing some of your test data to the workstation, downloading host data or creating it on the workstation. This way you can have frequently accessed data on the workstation and less frequently accessed data or larger databases accessed remotely and have the best of both worlds. IMS databases cannot reside on the workstation.
Even execute on the workstation with the full-function debugger, accessing host data (remotely) and workstation data (locally) from the same application.
After you have completed development of your application, you can upload your source to the host and switch to a remote edit/compile/debug scenario to create the application on the host for production.