The Issue ...

CASE tools have become part of the development landscape for the System i. A large number of applications have been developed with these tools and are still continuously evolving. However, these tools are insufficient to completely automate application development processes.

• They are all oriented toward new application development. The tools do not account for management of existing applications developed with RPG or COBOL
• Even if they contribute greatly to the quality of the applications generated, all they really do is simply reduce test load.
• Versioning process management is often poor or even non-existent, because these tools were designed to address development issues rather than maintenance issues.

Solution

Today, the arrival of software management tools like the ones offered by ARCAD Software are a positive addition to CASE tools. You can now have:

• Test automation, with the ARCAD-Qualifier suite. Since this suite relies strictly on generated code, it is wholly compatible with any CASE tool.
• Application mining and retro-documentation with the ARCAD-Observer suite. It is now possible to automate the procedures for creating and updating technical documentation for your applications. The added value of the ARCAD solution is in that the scope is not limited to components produced by the CASE tool, but covers all of the components in your Information System.
• Versioning and automated deployments with ARCAD-Skipper. A client that uses a CASE tool can set up a change management protocol, completely independently of the tools used to produce the code.
• User support management with the ARCAD-Customer suite. Here again, successful support is in no way tied to the development techniques the company uses.

Conclusion

CASE tools have made very important contributions to application development, first for the System i, then for Client/Server, and now for the Web. They have played a major role and still do in both productivity and quality of code produced. Today, however, productivity gains are to be found outside code production--productivity of code maintenance from different technologies, and test and documentation productivity.
In addition, the ARCAD solutions provide concrete answers to issues in change traceability, a field that has gained considerable strategic importance with increased regulatory pressures (Sarbanes-Oxley, Basel II, etc.).