Information-
systems manag:-
ers committed to
refining the ap-
plications-devel-
Oopimmentit procesS
should be active:
ly evaluating in:

tegrated comput:
er-aided software
engineering, (l-
CASE) tools as
the first step to-

ET

PO WEEK APPLICATION DEVELOP

APPLIED INTELLIGENCE
Start with [CASE To Reshape the Development Process

ing concepts, while others deliver older,
manually oriented technigues based on
structured-engineering ideas.

Analysts enter the appropriate dia-
grams into the I'CASE system using the
planning, analysis and design compo-
nents of the tool set. Bach frontrend —

structure of the organizatlon and ils
goals and priorities, ua well as represenl
its business informuvlon, business netivi-
ties and interactioi19.

While creating (he organizational
model is the domain of (ho pluumiug Lo0l

SEE le ANAlySIS TOOI BU IH LypIčaTllY

used to define fully normulized dala

tem Deslg

—— MN Design

ME SI

prototyping methodology. The design
tool set also handles the specification of
sercens, reports, structure charts, dia-
logue flow and action diagrams used to
specify the customized procedura] logic.
-- Once the design information is co deci.
Sean organized, IL Is sent to the F
CASE tvol's central repository. Informa-
tion relating to the design of the appli-
cation is accumulated at a high level
initially, (hen at progressively more de-
lniled levels.
As (he analyst progresses through the
planning, analysis and design stages ol
he applications-development lile cycle,

NM ARTIN ward building pi- |
mem lot projects. additional levels of detail are added to
dino la kak (he system specificalion. This process

As shown in

(he figure, I-CASE tool sets support all
phases of the applications-development
life cycle, from strategic planning and
design through code generation and ver-
siun control. The front-end planning,
unalysis and design components of this
Henre of tools are tightly integrated with
(he back-end code, database and docu-
mentation-generation facilities.

| GASE tools are distinguished by
their ability to generate 100 percent of
the code for an application based on a
set of design specifications in a central
repository. Recently, these tools have
evolved even further, allowing code gen-
eration for complete systems to take

'Fronj-end modules
-are Used lo gener- |
| ale specificafions.

|. Design analyzer
checks specifica:
tions for consis-

| fency and com-

| pleteness.

preje
lprritem | | Šola
perform various | za
| (unetions. — prez

J

- Design Analyzer |

| Data models o
lam siruetures

sli € Code |
-1,/ generatlon. |

|/ | Sptmizatlon

ška Project zda

, Rules
Managemeni

, Data structure?

place on the desktop.

Simply put, the process of using an l-
CASE tool is as follows: Through a
graphical user interface, a systems ana-

€ — | other operational support
7 -—hi.. modules

/ V'Beneraljon of database, Job
"A Control Language (JCL), or |

ra
vi p

". Verslon
control

continues until sufficient detail has been
collected, ensuring that code can be gen-
erated automatically.

The reposilory should maintain the
design specification database in abstract
form. Inereasingly, the abstract design
information in the repository will be
stored using an industry-standard meta-
data model, such as IBM's AD/Cyele re-
pository. Currently, more than 40 CASE
vendors have committed themselves to
providing products that are compliant
with this de facto standard.

Next week, I will discuss the
AD/Cycle environment, which provides
a comunon set of standards for user in-

| teraction, programming interfaces, com-
— munications interface and repository "

services.

The concepts embodied, in this article

sa —ča, ga PN

are described in the CASE volume in
The James Martin Report Series. For
more information on this volume, cal
(617) 639-1958. For information on
seminars, contact (in the United States
atul Canada) Technology Transfer In-
stitute, 741 10th St., Santa Montca,
Calif. 90402 (213) 394-8305. Im Eu-
rope, contact Savant, 2 New St,
Carnforth, Lancs., LA5 9BX United
Kingdom (0524) 734 505.

lyst interacts with the CASE tool, creat-
ing, verifying and revising an assort-
ment of diagrams on the screen. The l-
GASE tool then analyzes the diagrams
for logical consistency and completeness,
and converts them into source code to
create a finished application.

Most CASE tools furnish sets of dia-
grums that are associated with a variety
of development methodologies. Some di-
uyrams follow modern technigues based
on state-of-the-art information-engineer-

Juhu Avaklati

models, entity relatlonshipa, process de-
composition and data (low dlagranis.
This component is ulso used to creale
matrices (hat indicate whleh data eniE
tie are ured, updalocd und created by
specific processes,

Mo dodlgu tool gat. (un prlinarily usec
to etonlo uti evolvu KyHl0in protolypon
that can ho built wiih u rakci

Me. rij, — Moment.

types that is specialized to a particular
methodology and to a specific phase of
the life cycle.

For example, in a CASE product that
follows the information-engineering
methodology, the planning tool set
would be used to produce a high-level
model of the corporate enterprise and
its data. This model would depict the

ui Ni HE kn ' HE a ma m rn NE osi | ma pa NE Ti! € RD DA

Mainframe technology, but PC productivity, Now

Use Micro Fovun COBOL/2 Workbench as the cornerstone of
your applicatlou developinent strategy. 'Fhe PC development

|
| environment based on COBOL/2 Workbench outperforms the

| host and provides programming, testing and debugging tools |
| unavallable elsewhere. For the most efficient development of |

your mainframe applications using any of these technologies,
call us now.

| 1-800-872-6265

Micro Focus, Inc. Micro Focus Europe, Ltd.
2465 Ižast Bayshorc Road, Suite 400 26 West Sircet de
| Palo Alto, Californla 94303 Newbury, Berkshire RG13 IJT
| United States United Kingdom
| Tel:(415)856-4161 Tel:(0635)32646
| a 4" - m)
MICRO FOCUS
| A Better May of Programming""

mače Sal Že ea lj SE ad zi — oi je ENE za za oboo JA,