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I was recently invited by the EDGE
Users Group to give the Keynote Address on June 12 at the 20th
Anniversary Conference of AllFusion Gen. This conference was hosted
by CA in Plano, TX. You may know the product by its original name,
IEF (Information Engineering Facility): developed in the 1980s by
Texas Instruments. IEF was later purchased by Sterling Software, who
changed the name to COOL:Gen. The product was then purchased by CA
in the 90s and renamed AllFusion Gen. I was aware of the development
of IEF in the 1980s, but had lost track of its current status. What
I saw at the EDGE Users Group Conference was very impressive. This
issue of TEN discusses the capabilities and directions of the
current product.
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Model Driven Development
In its original form, IEF was based
on the premise that systems development could be automated from
models. The definition of a data model initially was used to
generate the Database Definition Language (DDL) for database
installation using a variety of DBMS products. Most modeling tools
today offer this same capability to automatically generate DDL for
various DBMS products from data models.
However what set IEF apart from other
modeling tools of the day was its focus also on the use of Action
Diagrams to define process logic for the automatic generation of
program code in various languages. While Action Diagramming of
program logic requires almost as effort and rigor as writing program
code and defining window and screen design (see Figure 1)
and dialog flow, once this has been defined and tested, action
diagram logic can be used automatically to generate program source
code in a number of languages. CA has enhanced the product as
AllFusion Gen so that today it is unsurpassed in the technology and
deployment flexibility that it offers its users.
Figure 1: Screen Design within AllFusion Gen - used to
generate GUI and web-based applications. © 2005 Computer
Associates, Inc. Reprinted with Permission.
Based on Action Diagram logic,
AllFusion Gen provides 100% code-generation of COBOL, C, C# and Java
with deployment for execution on multiple platforms, which include:
z/OS (for mainframes); Linux; Unix; Windows; J2EE; and .NET. It
provides wizards for automatic generation of Web Services and
supports Service Oriented Architecture. It supports the automatic
generation of Client/Server applications, Web-based applications and
batch applications (for MVS legacy environments).
The significant benefit of AllFusion
Gen is that it insulates its users from the impact of business and
technology changes. Changes in the business are made to the data
models and action diagrams, which are then automatically regenerated
for the target deployment environment. Technology migration between
J2EE to/or from Microsoft .NET is now only a regeneration decision.
Once regenerated, all application systems run exactly as designed on
the new target platform.
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Migration of Legacy
Applications
Figure
2: Automated conversion of legacy COBOL/
or Software AG Natural to
new technology environments. © 2005 Computer Associates, Inc.
Reprinted with Permission.
AllFusion Gen also offers a solution
for the majority of the world’s application systems that are still
in COBOL. CA uses a knowledge engine to interpret existing COBOL
(and
Software AG
Natural) logic and extract business rules, data and workflows
automatically from legacy COBOL or
Software AG
Natural code (see
Figure 2).
This captures 85% of the logic automatically, with the remaining 15%
being manually migrated to AllFusion Gen using detailed reports
produced by the knowledge engine. Once the data and logic have been
moved to the AllFusion Gen environment, all of the language code
generation and platform flexibility discussed above become available
for deployment.
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AllFusion Gen Partners
and ISVs
The strength of a product can be
quickly assessed at a Users Group meeting. At the EDGE Conference on
June 12-14 there were no product complaints voiced publicly to CA.
The users were all enthusiastic about the capabilities of the
product and the support from the vendor.
A robust after-market also exists for
AllFusion Gen add-on products and support. This is serviced by a
number of CA Partners and Independent Software Vendors (ISVs), many
who presented sessions on their products and support for various
AllFusion Gen capabilities. Partners and ISVs are listed on the CA
web site, some of which include:
Towards the end of
Chapter 5 of my book I discussed three strategies for Enterprise
Architecture implementation. The first strategy discusses the
success achieved by Doug Erickson of Entarco, Inc at the Bureau of
Workers Compensation for the State of Ohio. In this project, Entarco
built systems for their client using Enterprise Architecture and
AllFusion Gen in 20% of the time and 10% of the cost of Traditional
Systems Development methods that also used AllFusion Gen. The
success of this project is also referenced by John Zachman in the
seminars that he presents world-wide.
Further details of AllFusion Gen and
Customer Success Stories are available from the CA web site Product
Solutions section at
http://www3.ca.com/solutions/Product.aspx?ID=256. Taking the
power and capabilities of AllFusion Gen into consideration, its cost
is quite modest
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