COMPUTER AIDED SOFTWARE ENGINEERING

Why you should know about CASE?

Computer-aided software engineering (CASE) tools ease and speed the analysis, design and programming of new ISs. System analysts can use CASE tools to build data flow diagrams of new IS and flowcharts for the different program modules. They can use CASE tools to plan data dictionaries

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and data schemas for ISs, which, once found to satisfy users needs, become the basis of a DBMS. CASE tools draw their users attention to flaws in some logic processes and to violation of data flow rules. They also automate the documentation of all phases of systems analysis, design and programming. Developers of such tools constantly add sophisticated features to shorten the time between conceptualization of an application and its programming and documentation. The ultimate CASE tool will be one that takes requirements as input and then generates the necessary software and documents it.

Project Management
Project management is a critical part of systems development. When the management decides to develop a system, it places the responsibility for the effort with a senior executive, often a vice president. The executive nominates a project manager, who is responsible for the timely execution of the project within the budgets limits. The project manager must ensure that the necessary resources are available: personnel, funds, and equipment. He selects qualified professionals from the IS department and sequesters computers and software for the development effort.

He then outlines a project plan detailing primary and secondary milestones, the personnel dedicated to the different activities and the amount of person-time each activity will consume, and the calendar time by which each milestone should be completed.

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There are several project management methods: Gantt Chart Lists activities and their start and completion times, but not the relationship among different activities. PERT Chart Project Evaluation and Review Technique shows events, the activities required to reach the events, and the interdependencies among activities. The events are usually completion milestones.
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Figure 1.0 *Gantt Chart*

Figure 2.0 *PERT Chart*

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Project Management Goals

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Complete the project on time. The customer expects to receive the system within a predetermined period of time. If time overruns are expected, the project manager should notify the customer ahead of time and explain the reasons for delay.

Comple the project within the budget. Managing the project budget is as important as managing the technical aspects of systems development. As with time overruns, budget overruns must be communicated and immediately explained to top management.

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Meet requirements. The developers must ensure that the new system complies with the requirements specified at the beginning of the project.

Meet expectations. Beyond the mere compliance with stated requirement and technical specifications, the new system must meet the users expectations, even if those expectations exceed the work agreed on.

Project Management Rules: To achieve success, it is imperative that the following elements exist in project management:
1. Communication Management. The project manager must ensure that

the plans, techniques, resources and objectives are well communicated to all team members. Effective communication is fostered through periodic meetings, e-mail, circulars, and briefings.
2. Schedules

Management.

The

project

manager

ensures

that

milestones are met on time to avoid time overruns. Schedule management is carried out by using Gantt, PERT and other techniques.

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9 3. Quality Management. Tests and retests must be performed to

guarantee quality. For instance, in the systems construction phase, programmers should look for every possible bug in the code, which must be robust and meet client expectations.
4. Resource

Management.

The

project

manager

must

allocate

resources, including personnel, hardware and software tools, in an optimal manner. Qualified personnel are matched with the best hardware and software for their assigned jobs.

System Development Led by End Users

Before the 1980, the users role in systems development ended in the formulation of system requirements. At that point, the end users were practically disconnected from the development effort, which was carried out by IS professionals until the system was complete. In the 1980s, prototyping

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promised more user involvement because users were pulled for their input throughout the project. But they still did not lead IS development projects.

JAD: An Example of User-led Systems Development

In the 1980s, IBM developed joint application development (JAD), a method to be used in SDLU. The method is an alternative to the SLDC, but it doesnt skip through analysis, as prototyping often does. While the traditional SDLC is sequential and lengthy, JAD facilitates analysis and design by involving representatives of the prospective users in all of the phases and by
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using prototyping whenever possible. JAD uses a six-step process to take the team through the projects two phases: plan and design. Each of the two phases consists of three steps: customize, workshop and wrap-up. In the first phase of JAD, management appoints a team to determine what the new system, how big the new system should be, and what the overall time frame for the project is. The customer-led team creates specifications in a workshop setting with a facilitator. The team includes an executive sponsor who is often not an IS professional, a team leader, IS team members, customer team members who are usually cross-functional, experts who are part-time members as needed, a facilitator who is not necessarily an IS person, and a recording secretary, referred to as a scribe. Usually, this phase involves members of senior management who do not participate in subsequent phases.

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In the second phase, JAD design, determines how the system will work. These team sessions produce business flow diagrams, data elements in databases, data dictionaries, screens and reports, edit and validation criteria, interfaces and processing routines. Since many members of the team are people who will actually use the new system, a strong emphasis is given on developing the design that satisfies the specific requirements of the users. Prototyping is heavily used in designing the system, especially screens, forms, files and the like, to provide the customer with an idea of how the system will feel. The following factors have been identified as critical to successful use of JAD: All participants must be committed to the JAD process. The customers and IS people must agree on the projects scope. The sponsor must be supportive and involved. JAD team members must be empowered decision makers. Business objectives must be clearly defined. Business processes must be understood. Team members must be able to meet two or more days per week. Members must be committed to the team.

Systems Integration
An entity-relationship (ER) diagram is a specialized graphic that illustrates the relationships between entities in a database. ER diagrams often use symbols to represent three different types of information. Boxes are commonly used to represent entities. Diamonds are normally used to represent relationships and ovals are used to represent attributes.

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Components of Database Management Systems

Systems Integration takes a look at the information needs of an entire organization, or at least of a major division of it. The analysts consider the existing, but often disparate, ISs and then produce a plan to integrate them so that
1. Data can flow more easily among different units of the organization.

2. Users can access different types of data via single interface.

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Systems integration is far more difficult than systems development. In fact, systems development is regarded as a subspecialty of systems integration because the integrator must develop systems with an understanding of how data maintained in disparate systems can be efficiently retrieved and used for effective business processes.

Definition of Terms

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CASE (Computer Aided Software Engineering) tools used to build data flow diagrams of new IS and flowcharts for the different program modules.

Project Manager - responsible for the timely execution of the project within the budgets limits.

Gantt Chart - Lists activities and their start and completion times, but not the relationship among different activities.

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PERT Chart - Project Evaluation and Review Technique shows events, the activities required to reach the events, and the interdependencies among activities. The events are usually completion milestones.

Disparate Systems - Fundamentally distinct or different in kind.

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References
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/disparate

Fundamentally distinct or different in kind; entirely dissimilar: "This

mixture of apparently disparate materials

scandal and spiritualism,

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current events and eternal recurrences it" (Gary Wills).

is not promising on the face of

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