TECHNOLOGY IMPLEMENTATION

Implementing New Technology in a Company

Implementing New Technology in a Company

User Interface Prototyping

A user interface prototype is a functioning mock-up of an information system. It is a relatively new concept in software development, although it is common in almost every field of engineering design. It gives systems designers and users a better, more kinetic feel for how a system will work than a narrative, architectural, or documentary description of system features normally can. The prototype is being planned in great part by identifying key beginner problems and prospects, and trying to propose the interface to enhance these expectations. Product prototypes are produced as an integral part of usability design process, ranging from quick appearance models to high-fidelity prototypes which look and feel like the finished product and automatically log user actions for analysis (Purba, 1995, 60).

The main purpose is to test the user-interface. One of the reasons for this is the rather tight time constraint in the industry. Rapid prototyping is increasingly recognized as a valuable approach, particularly with tools such as the User Interface Management System, which allows one to build a framework for the prototype, which then becomes the basis for the final product.

The key stages common to the design cycle are: requirements and functional analysis; preliminary, high level design; specification; design; testing and evaluation; production and maintenance, with some iteration where appropriate. Database development methodologies are a division of full life cycle methodologies that can be used to construct databases from the requirements stage through to implementation.

Database development is one of the basic objectives of the data management role and surely one of the end products of the procedure. In recent years, several trends have impacted the way that databases are built and the role they play in the overall organization. Some of these trends include, data warehousing, object-oriented technology, E-commerce, and the emergence of very large databases (VLDBs). Other changes to the landscape include the popularity of complex data types (e.g., BLOBs, video), universal databases, and object databases. Despite this, the basis of many online transaction processing applications (OLTP) that run the business is still the relational database and the flat files. This fact is not going to change dramatically over the next few years. If anything, the relational database has proven its value as an enterprise enabler and, like the IBM mainframe, is here to stay for the foreseeable future (Willian, 1995, 18).Database Development Methodology

This section defines a high level methodology for database development. The activities discussed in this section are mapped to the standard project development framework, which consists of the following main phases: requirements, architecture, design, development, testing, implementation, and post implementation.

These phases can be conducted in parallel or sequentially depending on the exact nature of the methodology and are restricted to database-specific activities. The sub-processes that are described in this section fit into a larger full life cycle methodology that would address such activities as corporate sponsorship for the project, project plan definition, organization building, team building, user ...