|
To receive
this newsletter in text format., click
here. | |
|
|
With the strong
growth of the outsourcing phenomenon, information service providing is undergoing
radical change. Offer is moving toward the East, with companies that wish to be
taken seriously investing massively in quality procedures.
Although these offshore
companies boast many different types of certification, they cannot always provide
the same level of service as local teams. Nevertheless, this economic model is
entirely viable and coherent, and must increasingly be taken into account.
Successful
outsourcing, whether it takes place close to home (near shore) or far away, requires
exceptional organization and project coordination. This is where ARCAD’s
products show proof of their true value. Tools for software configuration management,
application mining and help desk services will be essential to any information
technology organization, as they are the first line of defense for any well-protected
company.
This is even more important for outsourcing. |
|
A key factor
in successful information technology outsourcing is transparency of functioning
between client and service provider. This transparency goes far beyond the simple
exchange of standard documents (specifications, test information, etc.). The client
must be sure that the provider’s development teams are working under optimal
productivity conditions and that they are respecting established norms and standards.
In an ideal situation the client can perform his own load analyses in order to
have total control of costs and maintain his technical skills. What could be more
natural or welcome than a set of tools to fulfill these missions? A provider's
high level of tool availability is a sign of the maturity of their services. Unfortunately,
to date only a few suppliers can be put into this category. However, the situation
is changing very quickly under the effects of livelier competition, stronger client
pressure, and an unfavorable economic climate. These changes will push ARCAD's
offer to a position of central importance for operators, both provider and client.
Cheers!
|
|
P.
MAGNE, CEO |
|
|
| |
|
| |
 
|
| |
| |
|
|
| iSeries,
SCM, and the Web
Our trusty AS/400 has long
proven its abilities as an application server offering a secured and reliable
environment, even with heavy workloads. So it’s no great stretch to consider
using this platform for web development.
Since
IBM offers a range of products that cover site operation support (WAS, MQSeries),
development environments (the | | | 
Arcad
North America Arcad
Software is happy to announce the opening of the Arcad North American Division
effective May 1, 2003.
The offices are located in Nashua, NH. Marty Kilgallen
has been hired as the Director of North American Sales Operation.
He will
be responsible for introducing Arcad products to the United States and Canada,
and for building a Technical Support and Sales organization to support the growing
interest in Arcad products in that area.
Marty has over ten years of experience
in selling software management solutions such as Change Management, Help Desk,
Conversion and Automated Testing specifically to the iSeries market. He has personally
assisted close to 400 companies address the productivity issues that surround
these IT areas.
Please don't hesitate if you are in need of assistance
or if you have any questions about Arcad products. Arcad
Software
20 Trafalgar Square
Nashua, NH 03063
800-676-4709
mkilgallen@arcadsoftware.com
|
Websphere Studio suites) and specific tools (Java Toolbox), the path seems clear.However,
developing for the Internet is not managed like a ‘classical’ AS/400
development. There are numerous differences between them:- Component
heterogeneity. There are a large number of different types of components to manipulate
(servlets, JSPs, EJB’s, HTML pages, etc.), and additional layers may be added
to manage communication between components (XML, PCML, etc.).
- Volumetry
and disparity. Component diversity leads to the development of applications that
contain tens of thousands of objects with strong interrelationships and which
can be located in different environments. A component can itself be made up of
several other components.
- Mixed
team makeup. Development is no longer the exclusive province of technicians in
white lab coats. Computer graphics specialists, marketing professionals and users
may all participate in the development and lifecycle of a web application.
- Reduced
lifespancycle. Solutions must be able to evolve quickly to include new trends
or technological limitations, while remaining stable and accessible.
All
of these points reinforce the importance of using Software Configuration Management
(SCM) tools and methods, which allow control of application maintenance and development: - Referencing
of components, their specific characteristics, and their interrelationships ensures
thoroughness of analyses and of source and object processing.
- Environment
separation offers security for the different phases (development, testing, production)
through by managing access for different users depending on the steps needed.
- Version management
provides traceability for modifications that have been made and allows parallel
maintenance of the same component in several versions.
- Using
automated processes to manage transports and release status changes guarantees
adherence to norms and the reliability of transfers to production.
|
| | | |
| | |  |
|
|
|
|
|
Use
the ARCAD Solutions to Migrate to Third-Party Application Maintenance with Confidence
By Jacques Besnard, ARCAD Software Sales Manager
|
|
|
Whether
to keep up with a trend or through economic necessity, more and more businesses
are making the choice to outsource all or part of their information systems. This
Third-Party Application Maintenance (TPAM), which is growing steadily, is an increasingly
important part of the services offered by large providers such as IBM Global Services,
EDS, SOPRA, etc.
When we take a closer look at why business managers
make this decision, it becomes clear that the two primary motivations for migrating
to TPAM are: | |
| |
| |
Financial
reasons For
many companies, the Information System is the largest cost center. Further, constant
price fluctuations (both up and down) in for market solutions, service providers,
and technician salaries make information service technology management budgets
extremely difficult to bring under control. Technical
reasons The
combination of software with internal developments (and even "full software"
systems) complicates IS control.
Personnel turnover and system age combined
with new technologies are also elements that can cause a loss of IS knowledge.
Starting
from this observation, it is easy to understand why management would choose TPAM.
Managers believe they will then be able to control costs while also freeing themselves
of technical constraints and further mobilizing personnel toward their real day-to-day
work. Nevertheless,
this decision is not quite so easy: the president will have another choice to
make. What will be the functional perimeter for TPAM? Will the entire IS be outsourced,
or just selected applications? A trend begins to take shape. Following implementation
of a major professional software package (such as ERP), management of the package
is outsourced, sometimes even including the business' specific satellite programs
in the contract. ARCAD
Software has a major role to play in this process. Looking at financials first,
maintenance costs are generally directly proportional to the quantity and complexity
of software components that will be included in the scope of the TPAM.
Given
even partial "skill loss" for the IS, just defining this scope can be
a major problem.
ARCAD audit solutions, in combination with our consultant's
expertise, allow quick and effective performance of this type of mission. For
example, by offering a precise and detailed view of the information system at
the beginning of the process, ARCAD provides discovery of multiple occurrences
of the same component while also indicating their level of use.
As another
example, ARCAD highlights objects without sources, sources without objects, and
discrepancies between sources and objects.
Using a complete set of analyses
produced by ARCAD, it becomes much easier to clean up and reorganize the information
system in order to reduce and simplify the TPAM perimeter. Next
-- thanks to the depth and breadth of the Repository, the ARCAD cross-references
base, and the many differentwide range of functions offered by the ARCAD-Observer
solution -- it becomes quite simple to understand the relationships between IS
components and precisely define which functional group to include in the TPAM
contract. Once
TPAM has been implemented, the ARCAD-Customer solution will let you establish
a high-quality communication procedure with the supplier, which allowsing for
entirely transparent follow up on requests.
To sum up, given our experience
in information system management and our powerful tools, ARCAD can offer substantial
help to companies that wish to undertake Third Party Application Management, thereby
significantly reductingreducing associated management costs.
Further, a precise
audit followed by an efficient reorganization can sometimes even lead to a decision
to retain management of a company's information technology.
Send
your comments and questions to: jbesnard@arcadsoftware.com
|
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
