dv/d systempartner
GmbH
(Banking/Finance)
Contact:
www.aonix.com
www.dvd-systempartner.de
Application:
Share Tracking System
Technology:
Component-based distributed system, implemented in EJB, J2EE, Java
Server Pages and HTML with an application server.
Integrations to existing bespoke and package mainframe
applications are part of the application.
Tools
used:
Aonix Software through Pictures (StP) for UML®, Aonix
Architecture Component Development (ACD)Borland JBuilder, BEA Weblogic,
CVS, Oracle
dv/d
is a well-established subsidiary of one of the largest banks in Germany,
Landesbank Baden-Württemberg, and provides systems integration and
application development solutions for the financial services and banking
industries. Another key part of their business is the provision of
outsourcing services in support of large companies’ HR and payroll
administration needs.
Problem:
Traditionally
with dv/d, applications have been based on mainframe technology such as
Cobol and IMS, but for a new share tracking system the requirements
dictated a different approach. New
technology, new tools and a fresh development approach were needed to
meet the customer's demanding requirements. Integrating the new share
administration system with existing mainframe and SAS business
applications was crucial, alongside a move towards state of the art
technologies such as Java, Enterprise Java Beans (EJB), UML and BEA
System's Application Server.
The application architecture was based upon EJB distributed component
paradigms. v/d needed
tools capable of supporting a repository based approach in managing
requirements, UML modeling, architecture, and sophisticated
multi-language generation capabilities that could keep the design and
code in step and exploit the defined application architecture. Achieving re-use was important, since it was recognised that
architectural re-use was likely to yield greater benefits than code
level re-use.
Solution:
Tools
were expected to form the backbone of the new application architecture
and strategy. dv/d’s
selection of tool technology was based upon its ability to: make
application maintenance easier, reduce the time to market, and yield a
flexible, scaleable and re-usable architecture to support an expanding
base of new customers’ application solutions.
dv/d
selected Software through Pictures (StP) for UML for its rich
functionality, and the Architecture Component Development (ACD)
technology. StP/UML and ACD would provide dv/d with the mechanisms to
separate business and technology, architecture and achieve high levels
of application generation.
One of the concerns with the adoption of the new technologies and tools
was training, and ensuring that the team would be productive. It was determined that business analysts were more effective with
the approach, since the UML models were at the domain rather than the
technology level. Learning
UML was the only hurdle, and understanding and conveying the business
requirements was more effective in models that were not cluttered with
technology and implementation detail. Adding additional staff as
required was thus made much easier, since business analysts could focus
on the domain aspects.
Benefits:
With
the new approach, dv/d found that the ability to make changes quicker
did not compromise the quality and maintainability of the application.The abstraction of the UML models placed them in a much better
position to adapt the application to new technologies and to react
faster to making these changes. In
the early stages it was necessary to modify the architecture and
implementation from using CORBA to EJB for architectural reasons.
Further, at a very late stage in the project a change in the
requirements meant an additional class that affected the database
interface and some of the EJBs. This
change took about one hour to implement. Using their traditional
development approaches it would have taken at least 1-2 days. Once the
change was made in the design, the code was regenerated, and the system
delivered. The separation of the application business requirements from
the technology coupled with the ACD technology made these changes
feasible. The code generation model of Software through Pictures and ACD
provided the necessary consistency, and assured the adherence to the
quality system and standards.
Conclusion:
The
goal of reducing the burden of maintenance has been realized, even with
the first application of the new tools and technology. Compared with the
"traditional" approach the quality is higher, fewer bugs are
being reported, the system is better documented and change management
both from requirements, design and implementation standpoints is more
easily managed.
dv/d
firmly believes in the technologies and tools and are now in a position
to provide a more responsive service to their clients. The architecture, ACD templates and experience gained will
provide a re-usable base for future projects.
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