Appligenics White Paper (page 3)

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Appligenics is delivered as a Network product so that you can have multiple Business Analysts working on the same design if you wish. You can also back up to a portable PC for offsite work and presentations.

The Generator generates Java™ for applications operating on any platform and is JDBC-enabled to access any relational database - Oracle, Sybase, Informix, Ingres, SQLServer - and it integrates with most Application Servers, for example ATG's Dynamo, IBM's WebSphere, Oracle 9i, and Sun's iPlanet.

The System Manager contains common routines or objects for the generated system to avoid redundancy in projects. It includes operational functions such as:

• Security
• Version Control
• Language options
• User options for screen presentation

The Linguist allows you to translate a design into any foreign language (including double-byte languages such as Japanese). It can be sent with your design to translation agencies or overseas offices for off-site translation.

The Designer is licensed per developer, and the Generator is licensed by server.

The Design Process

The Appligenics Process has a recommended series of steps and tasks that the Business Analyst can cull for different projects. Many of our customers have tailored our recommended Process for their own specific needs. The Process is there to guide you, not impose.

There are a number of steps to building or enhancing systems, depending on the size of the project. There may be steps where management approval for the project budget is required. There may be steps where the users are asked questions about their needs. There will certainly be steps for the Specification, Generation, Testing, and Training.

The Appligenics approach is to identify the tasks and steps appropriate to the project and to follow them. Nothing is cast in concrete but experience has shown that a disciplined approach works.

In the next few pages, we will take you through a six-step process :

• Estimating Effort
• Defining the Database
• Elements and Rules
• Programs and User Guide
• Generation and Testing
• Training and Cut-Over

Step 1: Estimating Effort

The first step is to get approval for the project.

How much will it cost and when will it be delivered?

The Appligenics Time and Cost Model is used to determine the scope of the project, to calculate the days of effort, and then calculate the actual cost using rates for internal or external resources.

We have published statistics of effort based on the experience of the Designer and the scope of the project. The Time and Cost Model gives a remarkably accurate guide to the number of days that a project will take.

You can also print the Time and Cost Model, together with its appendices, and use it as a means of requesting budget approval.

Our experience is that the model will be 95% accurate, which gives confidence to the Business Analyst in committing to a delivery date and a cost.

To demonstrate our confidence in the Time and Cost Model, when our own Professional Services people build an application we quote FIXED PRICE and FIXED DATE DELIVERY. The client does not have to bear the risk of Time and Materials contracts.

Step 2: Defining the Database

Once the project starts, the first task is to define the Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD) or Class Diagram. You can use any of the many diagramming tools available on the market for this exercise. The ERD will be changed as the project develops.

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