REQUIREMENTS
Delphi Engineers Use Single Repository

Requirements management discipline isn't just for managing code. At auto component maker Delphi, the strategy that developers use to get software right is the same one used to manage all the requirements an automaker gives the company to build a particular piece of a vehicle.

Delphi has created a single repository for all requirements of a given component, helping Delphi's 1,500 software, electrical, and other engineers discuss and comply with requirements, even when those people are spread around the world, including its 22 software development sites. The repository, based on IBM's Doors software, also is used for search--for example, to trace details about where within the software architecture and code a particular required function shows up.

"It's a fairly complex scheme to track requirements, where they were implemented, tested," says Cory Wentz, Delphi's lead engineer on the project, and this system "provides the backbone for this." For a typical vehicle, Delphi can get about 300 different electronic documents, each with 20 to 30 pages, and the requirements Delphi needs to work may be spread throughout many places in the documents. Besides having search, a central repository lets Delphi engineers compare original specs against changes the customer made along the way.

It's critical work because if engineers misinterpret or overlook a requirement, or fail to incorporate new requirements that customers frequently add, Delphi must rework the design--which can burn a month or two, says Wentz, and add anywhere from tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars in new design costs, depending on the importance of the requirements. In an industry hit as hard as automotive, he says, "reducing engineering costs is critical for survival."

Marianne Kolbasuk McGee

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CODE REUSE
Defense Department Tries Opening Up--A Bit

For the Department of Defense, time has been a bottleneck in software development. Following government rules for procurement and testing, just getting the development environment in place for a project can stretch into months.

The DOD's IT group, the Defense Information Systems Agency, is trying to change that in part with its Forge.mil approach, modeled on open source code-sharing sites such as SourceForge. Forge.mil, though, will only hold approved open source code or code OK'd for sharing within the department. Forge.mil, based on CollabNet software, allows Net-centric collaborative development, and provides a destination for cross-program sharing and reuse of code. That should let developers get large projects developed, fielded, and tested faster. Launched last fall, it's now generally available for unclassified use, with 70 projects under way, for combat, business, and intelligence.

It's about more than delivering code "faster, better, cheaper," says Rob Vietmeyer, Forge.mil's project director. It's also about new ideas. The ability to tap into collaborative tools without a long acquisition process lets developers try "risky things" in development, he says. And if people don't like the capability, they can turn it off without a big loss of time or money.

Marianne Kolbasuk McGee

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AGILE DEVELOPMENT
XDx Crafts A Platform To Track Clinical Tests
XDx is a molecular diagnostics company on the cutting edge of genomics, focusing on discovery and development of noninvasive gene testing in the areas of transplant medicine and autoimmunity. We're one of the first to develop products from the Human Genome Project.

The IS team routinely had to build business applications to track and analyze tests for clinical studies that draw data from disparate sources. We needed a standard application. After evaluating the usual development platforms to build it on--.Net, PHP, and open source Java--we settled on OutSystems Agile Platform, our first big move to agile development.

We delivered our new Analysis Request Management System in six weeks--a company record. ARMS automates tracking of clinical trial samples and pathology requests for diverse studies, while managing all our studies' clinical data and sample workflows. We had three code sprints of a week or two each, plus a week of fine-tuning.

One of agile development's biggest advantages is the communication it demands between IT and business users. With agile, the most important features are developed first, followed by refinements. We built mock-ups, some with bare functionality, to get feedback and add value quickly. It engages business users in the development process--and ensures adoption of the applications.

Jochen Scheel,
XDx's director of software development
and
Stefan Meier,
IS associate director

Application Development That Delivers Software development isn't what it used to be. We take a look at organizations -- including UPS and Nikon -- that are shaking up the process.   Mobile Development Plug-In Cuts AP's Time To Market Productivity Société Générale Cuts Costs Amid Complexity Application Life Cycle UPS Works To Get Better, One Step At A Time Open Source Why Reinvent? InfoPrint Integrates Free Code Configuration Development Nikon Teaches SCM New Tricks     Agile Development Idaho Makes Progress Despite Legacy Apps Custom Development Cancer Center Builds E-Records From Scratch Requirements Delphi Engineers Use Single Repository Code Reuse Defense Department Tries Opening Up--A Bit Agile Development XDx Crafts A Platform To Track Clinical Tests