Re: To CASE or not to CASE

nickt_at_ewd.dsto.gov.au (Nick Taransky) writes:

>I am seeking advice on whether to pursue a CASE or non-CASE solution for a
>proposed database design project soon to be undertaken at my place of
>employment.
 

>ORACLE (V7) has been purchased and relevant training is being organised for
>the proposed development team of four staff. These staff will be each
>working on the project part time (10%-40% of work time each until
>completion). All staff in the team have knowledge of basic db design issues
>from University courses etc, but none have taken part in such a project before.
 

>The database will be used to test algorithms/software being developed to
>process the information stored in it. In the future it may be developed into
>an externally available package. ORACLE has been purchased for the sole
>purpose of this single application and while extensions may be made to it in
>the future, it is not expected to be a highly dynamic system. There is not a
>fixed deadline for completion of the project but prospective users and
>management would obviously like to see results sooner rather than later.
 

>The two schools of thought here regarding CASE (excluding financial issues)
>are:
 

>1) Use CASE as it will help the inexperienced team produce a usable DB in a
>shorter amount of time.
 

>2) Don't use CASE as the manual work will give the team a better
>understanding of underlying design/development skills.

>Has anyone out there had experiences that could help us make the correct
>choice. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
 

>Thanks in advance.

>Nick Taransky
>Information and Signal Processing Group
>Electronic Warfare Division
>Defence Science and Technology Organisation
>PO Box 1500 Salisbury SA 5025 Australia
>Ph: 8 61 259 5482
>Fax: 8 61 259 5254
>email: nickt_at_ewd.dsto.gov.au

I am working in a small software company. Our products typically have a development staff of 3-4 people. Dynamically changing products, neverending  development. Oracle tools all over - RDBMS, Forms, ReportWriter, Pro*C.

We have recently evaluated CASE tools. Oracle*CASE versus TopCase, and Oracle*CASE came out on top. On the other hand, the cost of implementing Oracle*CASE has forced us to postpone it. And the main component of the cost is the amount of time our development teams would have to spend on it to get up to speed - not the licence fees Oracle charges. We are in the meantime using a lower-case product to design and maintain database tables, indexes, triggers etc.

IMHO - don't expect to save time using Case on your FIRST project. But if you are going to develop other systems later on, the investment will pay off. And software maintenance will be easier, that is probably where you will get the most back from it. System documentation will be better using Case - unless you are a much more disciplined crowd than we are...

Just my two bits...

Regards,

-- 
* Carsten Kristensen		      E-mail: ckr_at_ocsbrg.no 	*
* Offshore Computer Services AS       Tel   : +47 55 99 88 70	*
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