Repository Based Grapnical Modeling

We want to (and have a component available to) participate in the specification and the building of repository based graphical modeling environments that can be extended to support the wide variety of tool requirements of the enterprise for creating, improving, executing and reusing models of technical and business processes and applications.

Since these term mean so many different things to so many people, here repository-based means any data management technology supporting multiple extensible (fine grain) schema. Graphical modeling means rich drawing, viewing and exporting support in addition to the textual support needed to meet the needs of users and managers oriented towards text first. Environment means connectivity and interoperability support for networked and dispersed users for, eventually, most if not all activities and tools in the process.

Mission

We see our mission as building and delivering open affordable technology that can be extended to meet domain specific requirements for modeling enterprise processes and applications.

With an easy to use standard interface these tools must reduce complexity, risk, cost and time to delivery while supporting management needs. With minimum overhead the user must experience increased accuracy and productivity with explicit support for finding and solving exceptions, reusing at all levels and for producing project deliverables. Management must gain visibility into projects and problems with explicit support for planning and managing activities.

Easy to use means evaluators, casual user, power users and managers need tool support for finding and using
tool features and process support for their work activities. Cue cards and wizards need to appear when needed
and disappear when not needed. Help, samples, tutorials and documentation need self-realizing improvement
processes.

Every tool feature and future enhancement must support reuse for all roles at all levels. Users absolutely must be
able to find and reuse legacy and commercial components, patterns, frameworks and whole applications .

New technology, methods, techniques and concepts will be incorporated as early as possible so as to participate
in their validation, and the advancement of our industry. Every customer will have the opportunity to explore
competitive techniques, to extend their method and process and to build or buy the necessary tool support to
meet the demands of their problem domain. This commitment protects the users' investment in process, methods,
and training by allowing him to grow with the industry and technology while freeing himself from the limitations
of rigid tools.

Company Goals

We want to be small, technically strong, with value-added relationships able to support end user requirements;
profitable with profit and appropriate sharing; open experimental environment supporting innovation in the
company and in the marketplace. Every role is important and needs to be successfully executed. On going
educational opportunities; in summary, a fun, exciting, stimulating place, for employees and customers.

To remain a small company, demands that we remain specialists in a reasonably small area of endevour, which is
the Graphical Modeling sort of domain introduced above. This is not meant to be negative but if we were to set a
goal wider scoped (say, to also build the best repository too), we would easily consume all of our current
resources plus bunches of people we havn't hired yet.

Profitable is an interesting goal - we're closely held, and so we have somewhat ignored that aspect. We have to
focus on reuseable product components more than interesting research directions (we were heavily into PCTE for
repository several years ago, which was interesting, need more be said??). Thus the focus on Graphical Modeling
components!

Product Goals

Our product goals:

Open: meta technology, public schema, repository-like extensibility for data integration, support for
control integration, facilities to control tool behavior dynamically,
Affordable: low cost deployment version, shareware starter for easy and wide exposure and for browsing,
reviewing and annotating use by customers for the full tool set,
Extensible:support method extensions and tool integration to fit the customers process and problem
domain,
Usable: Easy to use means minimum overhead for the process of creating, updating and reusing diagrams
and models
Useful: Rewards the user and manager with high leverage benefits such as powerful diagram and model
management support, project support tools for reporting, analysis, consistency checking, security, import
and export facilities, process support

Copyright © 2002 Mark V
Last modified: March 16, 1999