Farewell to waterfalls? - rapid application development - includes product directory

Software Magazine, May, 1995 by Mary Hanna

Sapiens International Corp., Durham, N.C., also offers a RAD methodology -- The Sapiens Way -- along with development tools for both mainframe and client/server platforms. "Tools without a methodology are useless," said Peter Barber, senior vice president. "RAD requires a rigorous methodology that focuses on the mechanisms and metrics of the application development process, helping users understand what is needed from them. Users often need help both stating the application's requirements and then critiquing the system during its development."

Sapiens, said Barber, has shifted away from an end-to-end solution; they are open to use of other vendors' tools, especially user interface builders. "We view Powersoft and Gupta as client-side tools that can rapidly create user interfaces," he said. "If the scale of the application is more mission-critical, then the system needs to be more than just a front end. RAD goes beyond the front end in order to manage the business process." The vendor offers Sapiens for mainframe development, and Sapiens ObjectPool for client/server development.

Texas Instruments' methodology for rapid development seeks to align IT views with the business view, said John Reilly, principal methodologist, Software Business Division of the Plano, Texas-based firm. Reilly said the rapid development of complex applications requires both perspectives throughout the development process.

"The business perspective is introduced at the beginning of the development cycle as the users conduct event analyses, scenario walk-throughs, and user task analyses to determine the requirements. Once the conceptual layer has been modeled, the system is stable enough to lay out the functionality. The techniques used to manage the information technology perspective include parallel decomposition of the functions, partitioning the application, and analyzing the user interactions with the system workflow. Coding and testing comprise the final stages of development," said Reilly.

The iterative techniques enhanced by visual tools are an important part of TI's new approach to RAD, which is manifested in its new Composer by IEF tool. Key to customers, said Reilly, is that development can be done by multiple teams and does not have to be done sequentially; it is not necessary to complete analysis before moving into screen design. Reilly's rule of thumb: "If the whole application can be kept in your head, it's alright to start with design and screen building. However, as you move into more industrial-strength applications, you need to do analysis and you need a framework on which to hang all the required interfaces."

There's no question that RAD tools have had a significant impact on application development over the last few years. Witness movement in the vendor ranks: Cognos Inc., Burlington, Mass.; Progress Software Corp., Bedford, Mass.; Oracle Corp., Redwood Shores, Calif.; Open Environment Corp., Boston; Digitalk Inc., Santa Ana, Calif.; and IntelliCorp Inc., Mountain View, Calif., are all coupling visual tools with database management systems. This growth trend will likely continue as tools gain the strength needed to handle complex, enterprisewide applications.