ALM Case Study: A Government Project Success Story

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1186
A Government Project Success Storywith Borland
ALM
Andrew AlsupSenior Systems EngineerLog.Sec
Corporation
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Introduction

• The US Army Environmental Center undertook a
  medium-sized J2EE software development project
• Borland Enterprise Studio was chosen because it
  embodied the principles of ALM
• The project as developed using the Borland tools
  illustrates the value of ALM

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Topics

• Technical Architecture of the Software
  Application
• Defining the Process
• Motivation to use Borland Enterprise Suite
• Applying Borland Enterprise Suite for ALM
• Customer Perspective
• Conclusions
• Web References
• Demo

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Technical Architecture of the Software Application
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Technical Architecture of the Software Application

• Web-based transaction-oriented J2EE application
• Server Platforms
• Oracle OC4J 9.0.3 J2EE App Server
• Oracle 9i DBMS
• APIs/Frameworks
• J2EE 1.3 (Servlet 2.3, JSP 1.2)
• Struts 1.1, Tiles, JSTL
• In-house object/relational persistence framework
• Misc
• Ant, JUnit
• RoboHelp

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Defining the Process
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Defining the Process
Important Factors

• Loosely defined (evolving) requirements
• Aggressive schedule
• Limited funding

Agile Process
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Defining the Process

• Choosing an agile process
• XP (eXtreme Programming)
• Test oriented implementation
• Simplicity
• Scrum
• Development iterations (30 day sprints)
• FDD (Feature Driven Development)
• Feature-by-feature implementation

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Defining the Process

• JAD sessions
• Users Government PM Developers
• Held at regular monthly intervals
• Narrow scope and focus
• Demonstration, discussion, prioritization

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Defining the Process

• Requirements
• Software requirements should be changeable
• Capturing requirements above the project-level
  scope
• Reusing requirements from a previous project
• Adaptive (agile) approach validating reuse
  through demos
• Requirement granularity objective testability

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Defining the Process

• Agile Modeling (Design)
• Simplicity More isnt always better
• Flexibility Dealing with changing requirements
• Use what works
• UML
• CRC (Class Responsibility Collaborator) cards
• Whiteboard and sticky notes

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Defining the Process

• Agile Development
• Communication!
• Standardize frameworks and code implementation
• If it doesnt compile (or breaks existing code)
  dont check it into StarTeam

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Defining the Process

• Testing
• If its not tested, its broken (Bruce Eckel,
  Thinking in Java)
• Unit tests and database-centric objects
• Lazy optimization
• Functional testing plan

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Motivation to use Borland Enterprise Suite
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Motivation to use Borland Enterprise Suite

• Extensive ALM capabilities
• Flexibility
• Productivity
• Collaboration
• Integration

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Motivation to use Borland Enterprise Suite

• Extensive ALM capabilities
• Define CaliberRM
• Design Together
• Develop JBuilder
• Test OptimizeIt
• Manage StarTeam

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Motivation to use Borland Enterprise Suite

• Flexibility
• Not tied to a particular process (i.e. RUP, XP,
  etc.)
• Accommodate varying design approaches on
  different projects
• User-defined requirement fields, categories, and
  hierarchies
• Extensive, customizable pattern support

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Motivation to use Borland Enterprise Suite

• Productivity
• Real-time team collaboration
• LiveSource (real-time model and code
  synchronization)
• Two-way visual designer and wizards for Struts
• Templates, synch edit
• Code folding, filters in structure pane
• Refactoring
• CodeInsight, ErrorInsight, JavadocInsight,
  ScopeInsight, TagInsight

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Motivation to use Borland Enterprise Suite

• Collaboration
• Centralized repository
• Requirements, defects, change-requests, tasks,
  discussions
• Source code, diagrams
• Documentation
• Interactive discussion threads
• Requirement/defect/change-request tracking and
  developer assignment and notification

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Motivation to use Borland Enterprise Suite

• Integration
• JBuilder IDE is the ALM cockpit
• LiveSource Forward/reverse engineering between
  model/code
• Link requirements and change-requests to
  design/code artifacts
• 3rd party integration local/remote deployment,
  debugging, and optimization

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Applying Borland Enterprise Suite for ALM
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Applying Borland Enterprise Suite for ALM

• ALM Define (CaliberRM)
• Management
• Improved assignment, prioritization,and tracking
  of defects and change-requests
• Real-time progress mitigates schedule surprises
• Team
• Significant reduction in email traffic, inbox
  clutter, and supporting hard-copy documents
• Requirements are stored in StarTeam versioned
  with the other artifacts

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Applying Borland Enterprise Suite for ALM

• ALM Design (Together)
• Management
• Enhanced developer productivity due to
  model/source integration
• PM insight into status and progress via linked
  requirements
• Team
• Easier to assess impact scope of a
  change/enhancement via linked requirements
• Better understanding Better quality
• LiveSource Seeing the forest and the trees
• Sequence Diagrams Peeling away the layers of
  complex operations is easy

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Applying Borland Enterprise Suite for ALM

• ALM Develop (JBuilder)
• Management
• Developer productivity IDE is integration focal
  point
• Be conscious of licensing model impacts on
  developers
• Team
• IDE much more than a syntax highlighter
• Integration Together, OptimizeIt, StarTeam,
  CaliberRM, OC4J
• Linking code artifacts to requirements and
  change-requests
• Stable, responsive interface

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Applying Borland Enterprise Suite for ALM

• ALM Test (OptimizeIt)
• Management
• More robust, scalable product
• Team
• Memory and CPU profilers can help track down
  tough problems
• Long-running methods, bottlenecks
• Memory leaks, frequent garbage collection

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Applying Borland Enterprise Suite for ALM

• ALM Manage (StarTeam)
• Management
• Enhanced project tracking
• Real-time status on requirements, code, and
  testing results.
• Team
• Centralized everything related to the project
• The StarTeam pane in JBuilder developers daily
  planner

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Customer Perspective
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Customer Perspective

• We were able to develop a quality complex
  financial reporting system for the U.S. Army
  Environmental Center that was 20 under budget,
  delivered 3-weeks ahead of schedule, and with
  less resource intensity. (USAEC, 2004)

The product has undergone extensive testing by an
Independent Validation and Verification (IVV)
company
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Conclusions 

• As a 1st project with Borland Enterprise Suite
• We are committed to expanding on and replicating
  our success with the tools.
• We anticipate even greater success on future
  projects.

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Web References

• Borland ALM
• http//www.borland.com/alm
• Agile Modeling
• http//www.agilemodeling.com
• Agile Development
• http//agilealliance.org
• http//www.martinfowler.com
• http//controlchaos.com (Scrum)
• http//www.extremeprogramming.org (XP)
• http//www.featuredrivendevelopment.com (FDD)

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Demo
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Thank You

• 1186
• A Government Project Success Storywith Borland
  ALM
• Please fill out the speaker evaluation
• You can contact me further at aalsup_at_logsec.com