PC WEEKNAPPLICATION DEVELOPMENT. "User/Analyst Teams Make the Best Systems Developers This is the sixth tn a series on rapid appli- cations develop- ment (RAD), a by systems analysts using plastic tem- plates and paper to create a binder of specifications. The specifications are handed over to programmers who do line-by-line coding with a third-genera- development tion language such as COBOL, FOR- methodology de- 'TRAN or PL/I. The code produced re- signed to yield auires extensive testing and debugging. much faster re- sults than tradi- tional methods. RAD is more successful than the traditional life-cycle process . because it deliv- ". ers hih-guality solutions faster. Just as important, the RAD life cycle is de- Methodologies were created because of the difficulties inherent in the tradi: tional process. However, in much of IS development, the methodology is the problem. Usually it consists of a set of paper- work binders that establish a rigid set For decades, development; has been done of tasks to be carried out by developers. | gree of IS involvement over an extended period of time. su End users are involved only in the ini- tial specification phase of the project and in the final integration and cutover phases. During the lengthy process of design, coding, testing and integration, the business environment. may change significantly, invalidating many of the original functional. reguirements. The deficiencies of the traditional life- cycle process can be resolved by the RAD methodology. The RAD life cycle for an application with a complexity of about 1,000 function points is relatively short, as shown in the figure. 'The development period is short delke te ie z ez la ooo NI PA m JANUARY 29, 1990 within a tightly constrained window of time, called a time box. At the end of the time box, the prototype evolves to the point that it supports all of the functions reguired by the end users. Cutover includes development of the final production product, final testing, acceptance testing, final training, instal- lation of the production-system environ- ment, data conversion, moving the sys- tem into production and reviewing sys- tem operation. End users are heavily involved in all aspects of the effort. 'The RAD life cycle has major advan- tages over the traditional life cycle. These include the following: € Speed: RAD produces results very auickly, with high-guality design and signed to meet users' needs as effective- ly as possible at the time the system is implemented. The RAD life cyclejis fugdamentally different from the traditional develop- ment. life cyele. It combines many of the technigues found to be most successful in building systems fast. U These include rapid prototyping, reus- able designs, end-user workshops for planning and design, integrated comput- er-aided software engineering (I-CASE) tools, code generators and industry-stan- dararrepositories. Other technigues found to be success- ful are aulomatic rule-based validation and coordination, data modeling, process modeling, joint applications-design tech- nigues, highly motivated small teams and innovative management processes. "Vhese technigues are individually valiuable if used correctly. In synergistic combinations, they become more power- ful, resulting in a revolutionary change in le development of systems. Moderu development methodologies such as RAD combine all of the above teehnigues into an effective life-cycle . process. Tool sefs have evolved to support lhese conbinations with a maximum amount of aulomation. The RAD meth- odology guides (he practitioners in the best use of (he combined technigues. The traditional life-eycle process has serivus deficiencies, Users cannot. obtain stralegically important applications when they need them. There's often a delay of years. Systems that are deliv- ered oflen fail to meet user reguire- ments. Systems cost much more to de- velop and maintain than anticipated. Users and information-systems (15) professionals do not work well together lu the traditional process. Users have difliculy £ommunicating precise speci(i- ratjons to IS, Specificatlons documented , the true measure of guality Success ' 4 a and |, unlikely to change substantially during — of the system. se Maji by 18, hi ; si H h — ea nm pe eajike, The creators of this methodology as- V. the RAD life cycle. End users are active- / "Next week's column discusses the ne hard, noveli, Pe eo do nat under red ia AI phases ottba ogtelop, | phases of the RAD life-cycle process. a č omissions stand develo; Mo, meni ort. uirements planning ma EEA a le da o a oma nad must be told, step by step, what to V system design are performed ty sali ' The embodied in RAD are de- vas after pecifications A i ,e tenms of end users and IS analysis using | seribed in a new volume in the James TRE pn, Ji me reality, the best development is of- , joint applications-development tech- Martin Report Series. For more infor- pom s a ia pa lei aa ra j | nlaues under the guidance of a work: | matšon on (his vohime, cali (800) 592. el ao o le dev ni | Pogon to, ue ono Va KIT Si enja management [rom co that pre- me when they can a | ly trained team of IS analysts evolves a ada) alo pisejo smi busi K nemi the 1 kupeatalk sm a h pog the application using an I- / 741 10th Ši Santa Monica, Cof competitiv igure, raditional , o lje te eye. Mes ue deve fm ap lo ovalni 7 a oma ea o mi a JO JO. BB, en ses ineffičient, outdated technigues. 1,000 funetion polnts reguires a heh de- eki construction phase a Peron čni TT) toe United Kingdom implementation. : e Ouality: This means meeting the true user needs as effectively as possible at. the time the system is cut over. € Avoidance of programming by hand: Code is generated automatically Cideally on the desktop) for an entire application by the integrated generator of the CASE tool. | Better communication with end us- ers: The knowledge of users is harnessed and reguirements are communicated through joint applications-development workshops: A CASE tool is used within the workshops to capture design specifi- cations and build the prototype. € Enterprisewide planning: RAD incor- porates technigues to define an enterprisewide strategy, planning, data modeling and process modeling. Formal interaction with high-level users encour- ages identification of how new systems can improve the business. — " verification of correctness: All syn- tax and internal errors in semantics are caught automatically by the CASE tool The Promise of Rapid Application Developmett: Faster Production, Less Manpower, Higher Ouality Cornparison of Traditional and RAD Life Cyeles. ncom ase enem dina and testingi oe erated autom Developer: 7 pio ; li ting and. - ša The final tes i u6— integral ni niši! — Numberotl.S: , 8 Consisteney: All design specifications ] | are stored in the repository of a CASE | tool, which enforces the integrity and ' consistency of the specifications. € Reusability: Object-oriented planning and design are incorporated to achieve the maximum degree of reusable data m — - s structures, procedures, components, tem- | SE, sle ; | xmkeka plates and designs that are used to gen- | Ne t : erate code. tomi | MJ -,, Unlike the classic life cycle, the RAD Methodologies were created because of the difficulties | — 549€ Set the intended system us- inherent in traditional development methods. But in much. ers involved in every stage of the life v , cycle. The RAD life cycle is designed to smer oni the methodology is the problem. < : S nei priči ti o ten 1 neglireme" pesign iji ] planning JA 16 ge. 20 k 12 BB JI onih, — AL | users. Invol users | out the aaa z rep ra š (iš m ; ne that their needs will be met when The tasks are often boring, workinten' that the bi S th fra Te aa ia ua ring, work-inten- |, enough Jusiness environment is Bene