informs sis j2k presentation informs proprietary material informs clients sis j2k building the...

Informs SISJ2K Presentation

Informs Proprietary Material

Informs Clients

SISJ2K

BuildingThe Future

MOSIS 2000 ConferenceMOSIS 2000 ConferenceSISSISJ2KJ2K - A Java-based - A Java-based

Student Information SystemStudent Information System

Fayetteville, AR

July 17, 2000


2Informs Proprietary Material

Agenda

• Company Background

• Management Considerations

• SISJ2K Software Considerations

• System Architecture

Informs Clients

SISJ2K

BuildingThe Future



Company Background

• Company History

• SIS Acquisition

• Long-term Goals



Company Background and SIS

• Company History– Montgomery, AL technology consulting firm– Incorporated in 1979– Growing company in an expanding marketplace– Offerings:

• Government Purchasing System• Professional Consulting Services• Web Hosting Services• Student Information System



Company Background and SIS

• SIS Acquisition– Acquired in June 1997 from American

Management Systems, Inc. (AMS)– Given our lower overhead structure, all parties

felt Informs was better positioned to provide maintenance support for the product.

– Informs is in the process of re-engineering the Cobol based SIS into an object-oriented, Java-based software package



Management Considerations

• Java Assessment

• IBM Partnership

• Investment Costs

• Migration Benefits For Existing Clients

• Cost Benefit Analysis For Existing Clients

• The Competition



Java Assessment

• Platform Independent – Clients choose: DB2, Oracle, etc.– Mainframe, Unix, Windows NT, etc.

• Architecture Independent– Fat/thin client; Single tier/multi-tier

• Object-Oriented– Easily extendible to customize code without

changing the baseline software



Java Assessment

• One language– User interface (GUI or web-based)– Application logic– Database access

• More ergonomic– Similar to other PC-based packages our clients

are familiar with



IBM Partnership

• Technical support:– During our training and development phase

• Evaluation support– Architectural assessment (Summer 2000)– IBM’s testing lab facilities in Rockville, MD to:

• performance test the software• evaluate our methodology



Investment Costs

• Informs Java Development Costs

– FY 1998-1999: $ 936,000

– FY 1999-2000: $ 717,000

– FY2000-2001: $ 805,500

Investment To Date: $ 2,458,500



Migration Benefits For Existing Clients

• Less Cost and Lower Risk

• Shorter Implementation Cycle

– Training minimized due to client-participation in system development

– Policy/procedural impact significantly reduced

– Database conversion efforts minimized• Informs provided programs



Cost Benefit AnalysisFor Existing Clients

• Compare SISJ2K against level of effort required to purchase new software

– Functionality requirements

– Conversion requirements

– Customization requirements

– Functional training requirements

– Technical training requirements



Cost/Risk Analysis

Cost Risk

Competition SIS-J2K Informs Clients

SISJ2K

BuildingThe Future



• SCT– Single Vendor Solution– Proprietary Software Implementation Tools– Combined client-base of SCT and IA

• PeopleSoft– Single Vendor Solution– Proprietary Software Tools-People Tools– Over 300 SIS clients

The Competition

Informs Clients

SISJ2K

BuildingThe Future



• Informs– Best of Breed Software– Off the shelf software development tools– Limited number of select, high-quality clients– Personalize Maintenance/Consulting Services– Continuously maintain the the software at:

• best cost• lowest risk

The Competition



SISJ2K-Software Considerations

• Development Goals

• Development Environment

• Informs Framework Features

• Client Evaluation Process

• Projected Delivery Plan

• Implementation Strategy



Development Goals

• Transition of the software - AMS to Informs

• Incorporate:

– Best of the Cobol baseline functionality

– Clients’ custom changes where feasible

• Involve clients in the development of the new system

• Continuously improve the software over time



Development Environment

• Design Tools– Rational Rose product line

• Define the object model

– Visual Age for Java• Develop views/screens

– ERwin• Relational database tool to define logical database• Generates database schemas and definitions for

physical database




• Development Tools

– Rose Bridge

• Import the object model into Component Broker (IBM-WebSphere Enterprise Software)

– Component Broker-Object Builder

• Generate and implement business objects

• Develop interface code for clients and servlets




• Development Tools

– Visual Age for Java

• Develop and test controllers, complete views, and unit test the application

• Testing Tools

– Rational Team Test

• System test the application



Informs Framework Features

• User Interface

– Web-enabled (Internet Users)

– GUI Features (Administrative Users)

• Menu Bar, Button Bar, Hot-Keys

• Navigation Tree

• Tabbed Views

• Drop-down boxes (reference data)




• Security Enhancements

– Unlimited number of security groups

– Masked/protected fields feature to eliminate “screen cloning”

– Edit security reference code data




• Application Messages

– Two message fields:

• 30 character short description

• 250 character detailed description

– Three types of messages:

• Error………..stops processing

• Warning……does not stop processing

• Information...describes other updates performed




• Table/Record Views

– Table View

• Display multiple records from a single screen

– Detail View

• Display all data elements associated with a single record



• Establish an independent data base clients

– Users’ “sandbox”/”playground”

– Evaluate screen layouts and new functionality

• Send feedback to Informs via e-mail:

• [email protected]

• Identify the screen when giving feedback

Client Evaluation Process



Client Evaluation Process

• Common System

– Beta Release - May 1, 2000

– Download software from our web site

• Separate and secure web page for each client and their designated users

• E-Mail notification as new releases/modifications become available



Projected Delivery Schedule

• Common System…...….May 2000

• Admissions……………..Nov 2000

• Student Records……….July 2001

• Student Accounts……...May 2002

• Housing System……….Sep 2002

• Financial Aid……………Nov 2002



Projected Delivery Schedule

• Schedule is contingent upon:

– IBM’s delivery of mainframe version of WebSphere Enterprise Software in December 2000

– Relatively bug-free IBM software development process

– This is “bleeding-edge” technology



Implementation Strategy

• Equipment Upgrades

• Software Purchases

• Training Programs

– Technical Staff

– User Community




• Conversion Preparation

– Informs provides the conversion programs

– Clients must clean-up their existing data

• Customizations

– Print formats (bills, receipts, transcripts)

– Custom code by extensibility

• Develop an Implementation Plan




• Informs provides baseline

– Conversion Plan

– Implementation Plan

– Training Plans

• Technical Training

• Functional Training

• Clients modify the baseline plan



System Architecture

• Informs Frameworks

– Development Tools

– Development Methodology

– Framework Components

• GUI Components

• Utilities

• Controllers



System Architecture

• Code Generation Process– Rational Rose Development Model– Rose Bridge– Object Expansion– Code Generation– Nmake Process– CB Tools



Development Tools

• Visual Age for Java

– Version 3.0

– JDK 1.1.7.A

– Swing 1.0.3

– KL Group Field and Live Tables

– IBM Component Broker client 3.0ptf2 (somojor.zip)



Development Methodology

• Roles and Responsibilities

– Application Designer

• Business Analysts

– Database Administrator

– Application Developer

• Application Programmers




• Application Designer

– Define the object model (Rational Rose)

– Export the model from Rose to Object Builder (Rose Bridge)

– Develop the visual GUI views (Visual Age)

• Painting the picture

• Does not include the coding




Application Designer

Rational Rose

(Define Object Model)

CBObject Builder

(Imported Model)

Rose Bridge

( Export Model)




Application Designer

Visual Age for Java

Paint a Picture of the GUI View




• Database Administrator

– Define the logical database

– Generate:

• database schemas; and

• definitions for the physical data base




• Application Developer

– Add the implementation to the imported business objects

– Complete the interface code

• client application

• servlets for the web interface through browser

– Develop the application controllers and complete the views




Application Developer

Import Interface Code

To Generate:•Business Objects for Component Broker•Interface Code for Clients and Servlets

Object Builder

Used to:•Develop and test controllers•Complete the views•Unit test the application

Visual Age for Java



Framework Components

• GUI Components– TextField, ComboBox, etc.

• Utility Classes– Date, String Utility, GUI Display

• Controllers– Application, Table View, Detail View

• Error Handling– Pop up, logging, catching multiple errors



GUI Component Features

• Ease of Use– Designers can “drop and click”– Modify a few properties for the desired effect

• Less Coding – Developers enter code once– Utilize “trickle down” effect

• Less Errors--Cleaner Code– from “human intervention”



Utility Class Features

• Extended Utility Classes– List (Vector)– Date– String Utility

• Less Replication– Provides a centralized location where necessary

functions can be stored and modified only once.



Controller Features

• Rapid Development

– Limited knowledge of Java required to successfully implement views and controllers

• Less Replication

– Application Controller is the parent class

– Table, Detail, Tab and Storage Controllers all extend from the parent class



Controller Features

• Extensibility – Clients can override some or all of the baseline

behavior – If the behavior doesn’t suit your needs, you can

create your own by extension

• Use of OOSQL – Table collections– Inquiring records



Error Handling Features

• Exceptions are written out to a log file

– Display on console

– Display in log file only

– Display nothing

• Pop-up error messages

• Catch multiple errors and display more than one at a time



Code Generation ProcessCode Generation Process

• Rational Rose Model Development

• Rose Bridge

• Object Expansion

• Code Generation

• Nmake process

• CB Tools




Visual Age for Java Resulting Views



Rational Rose Model Development

• Define the classes

– Define attributes (string, Boolean, etc., key, length)

– Define methods (return type, parameters)

– Define relationships (cardinality, navigability, etc)



Rational Rose Model Development

• Define Component Broker specific controls

– queryable

– key and copy helpers

– bridge to Object Builder



Rose Bridge

• Developed by IBM; included with CB tools

• Converts Rose model to Object Builder model

• Creates business objects based upon settings in Rational Rose

• Information captured at the time of model definition is then forward engineered to Component Broker



Object Expansion

• Create CB required components

• Add business functionality to the business objects

• Map business objects to database




• Fully automated process

• Generates all C++ and Java code from CB model

– Within Object Builder

– Outside Object Builder



Nmake Process

• Compile and link C++ code

• Pre-compile Java code

• Fully automated process

• End result --

– client and server deployable business objects



CB Tools

• ObjectBuilder

– Primary CB modeling tool

• CheckModel

– Validate coding and structure within the model

• QuickTest

– Test the business logic without writing a complete client application

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