Compuware Delivers Advanced, Network-Wide Database Management; DBA-XPERT for Oracle raises the standard for distributed database management support

Business Wire, April 24, 1995

FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 24, 1995-- Compuware Corp. (NASDAQ: CPWR) today announced DBA-XPERT for Oracle, a suite of database management tools that provides centralized control of database development, maintenance and security in a distributed environment. DBA-XPERT's integrated product set includes:

-- SECURITY-XPERT, a comprehensive database security management tool that provides a single point of control for administering security across distributed servers

-- CHANGE-XPERT, a powerful tool for automating change management and change migration in a multiple database environment

-- QUERY-XPERT, an advanced navigation and analysis tool for accessing Oracle dictionary information

-- REORG-XPERT, a high-speed table unload and reload utility that also includes capabilities for simplifying data migration between databases.

DBA-XPERT brings a new level of support for network-wide database management by eliminating much of the manual, time-consuming work of database administration and, in the process, reducing the probability of errors. DBA-XPERT's products together provide the widest range of DBA functionality available for the Oracle environment, and individually provide a greater depth of functionality than was previously available. At the same time, the capabilities of each product within the toolset have been planned so that they are complementary without overlapping. In line with Compuware's focus on delivering enterprise-wide software solutions, DBA-XPERT includes the first distributed security administration product for Oracle and a change management product that equals the quality of mainframe change management tools.

"DBAs are finding it increasingly difficult to manage the enterprise of the '90s," said Christine Galloway, Compuware File and Data Management products general manager. "As organizations step up deployment of distributed systems, DBAs are faced with managing a growing number of users and database applications. They require solutions which automate the ever-increasing workload of network-wide database administration and security tasks."

The DBA-XPERT Product Suite

SECURITY-XPERT

SECURITY-XPERT enables network-wide Oracle security administration to be performed from a central point of control. SECURITY-XPERT automates the tasks required to create and maintain users, passwords, roles and user role assignments. Without SECURITY-XPERT, the standard procedure for defining a new employee with permission to access information on multiple databases requires the DBA to individually connect to each database and manually establish an ID and password for that employee. With SECURITY-XPERT, DBAs can create a new user on any number of databases with a single request, which substantially reduces the time it takes to administer security on distributed databases.

CHANGE-XPERT

CHANGE-XPERT is a powerful tool for managing change in the distributed Oracle database environment. CHANGE-XPERT simplifies change management by employing a standardized process that consists of: specifying changes, automatically analyzing the impact of the changes, and generating the procedure required to implement the changes. Associations between database objects are analyzed and all dependent objects are identified and restored. It is no longer necessary to manually determine which views, indexes, constraints or other dependencies refer to the objects being changed, eliminating a tedious error-prone manual task. By giving DBAs a way to respond to change requests quickly and accurately, CHANGE-XPERT helps companies maintain reliable systems.

QUERY-XPERT

QUERY-XPERT is an advanced navigation and analysis tool for distributed database environments. It provides fast, intuitive navigation through the Oracle dictionary. A graphical, hierarchical display of Oracle objects lets DBAs and programmers drill down to object detail and analyze object dependencies without writing SQL commands. QUERY-XPERT supports simultaneous access to multiple databases, automatic database comparisons and a SQL EXPLAIN facility. QUERY-XPERT helps DBAs cut through the complexity of the Oracle dictionary to quickly analyze problems and respond to user requests.

REORG-XPERT

REORG-XPERT is a high-speed table unload and reload utility that also includes capabilities for simplifying data migration between databases. REORG-XPERT reduces the time that databases are inaccessible due to reorganization. It can extract a subset of production data to refresh test environments, migrate data between tables with different structures and replicate data from one database to synchronize databases on multiple servers.

Pricing and Availability

The first shipment of DBA-XPERT on the Microsoft Windows 3.1 platform will be May 1995 and will support ORACLE. Pricing information is expected to occur at FCS.

Compuware Corporation

Founded in 1973, Compuware Corporation (NASDAQ:CPWR) develops, markets and supports an integrated set of software products designed to improve the productivity of data processing professionals in application development, implementation and maintenance. The Company's products are used by 8,000 customers worldwide. Working across a broad spectrum of technologies, including mainframe, mid-range and client/server platforms, 1,900 Compuware professionals offer business system analysis, design, programming and implementation as well as software conversion and systems planning and consulting. -0-