Module-5: Technology of Information Systems

CO5: The student will be able to enumerate the factors affecting system
performance and will also be able to comment on the operational feasibility
of IT system under consideration.
Module-5: Technology of Information Systems. Introduction, data
processing, Transaction processing, Application processing, information
system process, OLAP, TQM of Information system. Real time systems. Case
tools and I-CASE.

Contents:
1) Introduction to Information Systems and its components
2) Data Processing and its Stages
3) Transaction Processing System
4) Application Processing System
5) Information System Processing
6) Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) and its Types
7) TQM of Information Systems
8) CASE Tools and I-CASE

Management Information System (Module 5) – Compiled by Prof. Rahul Kapale 1

Introduction to Information System

Information
1) Every aspect of management in the modern age relies heavily on information to thrive.

2) Nothing moves without information and it is generally believed that information is power and that he
who has it has power.

3) It is an important resource needed to develop other resources.

4) Changing circumstances and environments have necessitated the need for the proper dissemination
of information at various levels of management.

5) The concept of information in an organizational sense is more complex and difficult than the frequent
use of this common word would suggest.

6) Every society, no doubt, is an information society and every organization is an information

organization.

7) Therefore, information is a basic resource like materials, money and personnel.

8) Information can be considered either as an abstract concept(ideas) or as a commodity, usually in the

form of letters and reports.

Information System

1) Information system, an integrated set of components for collecting, storing, and processing data and
for providing information, knowledge, and digital products. Business firms and other organizations rely
on information systems to carry out and manage their operations, interact with their customers and
suppliers, and compete in the marketplace.

2) Information systems are used to run inter organizational supply chains and electronic markets. For
instance, corporations use information systems to process financial accounts, to manage their human
resources, and to reach their potential customers with online promotions.

3) Many major companies are built entirely around information systems. These include eBay, a largely
auction marketplace; Amazon, an expanding electronic mall and provider of cloud computing services;
Alibaba, a business- to-business e-marketplace; and Google, a search engine company that derives most
of its revenue from keyword advertising on Internet searches.

4) Governments deploy information systems to provide services cost-effectively to citizens.

5) Digital goods—such as electronic books, video products, and software—and online services, such as
gaming and social networking, are delivered with information systems. Individuals rely on information
systems, generally Internet- based, for conducting much of their personal lives: for socializing, study,
shopping, banking, and entertainment.

Information System

Any organized combination of

1) People
2) Hardware
3) Communication networks
4) Software
5) Data resources
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 6) Policies and procedures that stores retrieves, transforms, and disseminates information in an
organization.

Components of Information System

1. Computer hardware. This is the physical technology that works with information. ...
2. Computer software. The hardware needs to know what to do, and that is the role of software.
3. Telecommunications. ...
4. Databases and data warehouses. ...
5. Human resources and procedures.

THE COMPONENTS OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS

SYSTEM CONCEPTS: A FOUNDATION

Technology
Applications
Development
Management

WHAT IS A SYSTEM?

Input, Processing, Output .

FEEDBACK AND CONTROL

The system concept becomes even more useful by including two additional elements: Feedback Control
Feedback is data about the performance of a system. For example: data about sales performance is
feedback to a sales manager. Data about the speed, attitude, and direction of an aircraft is feedback to
the aircraft’s pilot or autopilot.

Control involves monitoring and evaluating feedback to determine whether a system is moving toward
the achievement of its goal. The control function then makes the necessary adjustments to a system’s
input and processing components to ensure that it produces proper output. For Example: An airline pilot,
makes minute adjustments after evaluating the feedback from the instruments to ensure the plane is
exactly where the pilot wants it to be.

Functional elements of IS

It comprises the following functional elements which relate to the organization and its environments:

1. Perception– initial entry of data whether captured or generated, into the organization;

2. Recording– physical capture of data;

3. Processing– transformation according to the “specific” needs of the organization;

4. Transmission– the flows which occur in an information system;

5. Storage– presupposes some expected future use;

6. Retrieval– search for recorded data;

7. Presentation– reporting, communication; and

8. Decision making– a controversial inclusion, except to the extent that the information system engages
in decision making that concerns itself.

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Information Processing Management has five basic Systems:

1. Information retrieval system (IR);

2. Question-answering system;

3. Database system (DBS);

4. Management information system (MIS);

5. Decision support system (DSS).

What is Data Processing?

Data processing occurs when data is collected and translated into usable information. Usually performed
by a data scientist or team of data scientists, it is important for data processing to be done correctly as
not to negatively affect the end product, or data output.
Data processing starts with data in its raw form and converts it into a more readable format (graphs,
documents, etc.), giving it the form and context necessary to be interpreted by computers and utilized
by employees throughout an organization.

Six stages of data processing

1. Data collection: Collecting data is the first step in data processing. Data is pulled from available
sources, including data lakes and data warehouses. It is important that the data sources available are
trustworthy and well-built so the data collected (and later used as information) is of the highest possible
quality.
2. Data preparation: Once the data is collected, it then enters the data preparation stage. Data
preparation, often referred to as “pre-processing” is the stage at which raw data is cleaned up and
organized for the following stage of data processing. During preparation, raw data is diligently checked
for any errors. The purpose of this step is to eliminate bad data (redundant, incomplete, or incorrect data)
and begin to create high-quality data for the best business intelligence.

3. Data Input:
The clean data is then entered into its destination (perhaps a CRM like Salesforce or a data warehouse
like Redshift), and translated into a language that it can understand. Data input is the first stage in which
raw data begins to take the form of usable information.

4. Processing: During this stage, the data inputted to the computer in the previous stage is actually
processed for interpretation. Processing is done using machine learning algorithms, though the process
itself may vary slightly depending on the source of data being processed (data lakes, social networks,
connected devices etc.) and its intended use (examining advertising patterns, medical diagnosis from
connected devices, determining customer needs, etc.).
5. Data output/interpretation: The output/interpretation stage is the stage at which data is finally
usable to non-data scientists. It is translated, readable, and often in the form of graphs, videos, images,
plain text, etc.). Members of the company or institution can now begin to self-serve the data for their
own data analytics projects.

6. Data storage: The final stage of data processing is storage. After all of the data is processed, it is
then stored for future use. While some information may be put to use immediately, much of it will serve
a purpose later on. Plus, properly stored data is a necessity for compliance with data protection
legislation like GDPR. When data is properly stored, it can be quickly and easily accessed by members
of the organization when needed.

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Transaction Processing System (TPS)
Transaction processing systems are used to record day to day business transactions of the organization.
They are used by users at the operational management level. The main objective of a transaction
processing system is to answer routine questions such as;

 How printers were sold today?

 How much inventory do we have at hand?
 What is the outstanding due for John Doe?

By recording the day-to-day business transactions, TPS system provides answers to the above questions
in a timely manner.

 The decisions made by operational managers are routine and highly structured.
 The information produced from the transaction processing system is very detailed.

For example, banks that give out loans require that the company that a person works for should have a
memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the bank. If a person whose employer has a MoU with the
bank applies for a loan, all that the operational staff has to do is verify the submitted documents. If they
meet the requirements, then the loan application documents are processed. If they do not meet the
requirements, then the client is advised to see tactical management staff to see the possibility of signing
a MoU.

Examples of transaction processing systems include;

 Point of Sale Systems – records daily sales

 Payroll systems – processing employees’ salary, loans management, etc.
 Stock Control systems – keeping track of inventory levels
 Airline booking systems – flights booking management

Application Processing
After data and transaction processing, the data finalized in these two stages gets posted on the affected
files. Application processing is designed to process more than one type of transactions to bring out the
specific business results in one or more business functions. This processing is carried out once the
transaction is processed for its validity.
Let us take an inventory application which requires the receipt and issue transactions duly validated for
inventory processing. When these two transactions are processed, the inventory is updated for receipts
and issues giving the net balance at the end of the processing for each item in the inventory is updated
for receipts and issues giving the net balance at the end of the processing for each item in the inventory.
The application processing means the use of transaction data for bringing out a particular status. The
application could be designed to change the number of different files holding a variety of information.
The application can be designed for status updating and the status triggered actions in the related field
of the application. For example, if the number of work orders are on `hold' for no material to process.
The scope of application processing can be made diverse by incorporating different transactions from
the same application area or associated areas. For example, the inventory and purchase application can
be processed together for vendor evaluation, item valuation and payable accounting. The scope of the
application can be made diverse, if it is foreseen from the design stage. At this stage necessary inputs
are provided in the transaction which can be used at a later data in the other application.

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 The advent of communication technology and its embedded use in application processing extended its
scope beyond the boundaries of the organization. The application can be designed for processing the
results, updating of the business status, for triggering predefined actions and also communicating with
the affected agencies located within the outside the organization.

Information System Processing

The system processing is at a higher level, over the application for processing. The system is
defined as a product made up of several applications set in orderly manner to produce a higher-
level information output different than the output of the application processing.

For example, the financial system is a product of finance, sales and purchase accounting
application. Normally the system processing addresses the management issues of the business.
In the financial system, processing is done for cash management, asset and liability
management, working capital management, etc. Applications which are used for system
processing are the finance transaction accounting the fixed asset processing, the receivables
and payables processing, the sales and purchase accounting, etc. On the platform of these
applications the system is processed for the analysis of a number of aspects of the finance
management. It provides an insight into the funds flow, the sources and the uses of funds,
profitability and productivity of the business.

The basic management functions are same, i.e., finance, materials, production or service,
personnel and sales, etc. In all the business.
However, these functions are executed in different manners on account of the following
factors:

 Nature of business (trading or manufacturing);

 The type of business (product or service);
 The complexity of business (multiple locations, divisions, products, etc.);
 Management style (autocratic, participative);
 Decision making (centralized, decentralized and empowered); and
 Quality of the organization and the people (learning and positive proactive work
culture).

In the information system processing, the underlying design and architecture would vary
giving due regard to the specifics and specialties of that business. Though all the businesses
need a trial balance, a balance sheet, an income statement, the payables and receivables
statement and the expense analysis, etc., the chart of account in each case would be different
and typical to that particular business only.

This entire work of ascertaining the information needs to determination of the system design
and architecture is called System Engineering.

System Engineering not only deals with applications and transactions but also with the various
technologies which are used in the system implementation. The data acquisition technologies
such as the bar code readers, the hand-held terminals, the process embedded data loggers, the
image processors, the digitizers, etc., are used for capturing the data inputs.

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OLAP: (Online Analytical Processing)
OLAP is a category of software that allows users to analyse information from multiple database systems
at the same time. It is a technology that enables analysts to extract and view business data from different
points of view.
OLAP stands for Online Analytical Processing. Analysts frequently need to group, aggregate and join
data. These operations in relational databases are resource intensive. With OLAP data can be pre-
calculated and pre-aggregated, making analysis faster.
OLAP databases are divided into one or more cubes. The cubes are designed in such a way that creating
and viewing reports become easy. OLAP (Online Analytical Processing) is the technology behind many
Businesses Intelligence (BI) applications.
OLAP is a powerful technology for data discovery, including capabilities for limitless report viewing,
complex analytical calculations, and predictive “what if” scenario (budget, forecast) planning.
How is OLAP Technology Used? OLAP is an acronym for Online Analytical Processing. OLAP
performs multidimensional analysis of business data and provides the capability for complex
calculations, trend analysis, and sophisticated data modelling. It is the foundation for many kinds of
business applications for Business Performance Management, Planning, Budgeting, Forecasting,
Financial Reporting, Analysis, Simulation Models, Knowledge Discovery, and Data Warehouse
Reporting. OLAP enables end-users to perform ad hoc analysis of data in multiple dimensions, thereby
providing the insight and understanding they need for better decision making.

Types of OLAP systems:

OLAP Hierarchical Structure Type of OLAP Explanation Relational OLAP(ROLAP): ROLAP is an
extended RDBMS along with multidimensional data mapping to perform the standard relational
operation.
Multidimensional OLAP (MOLAP) MOLAP Implements operation in multidimensional data.
Hybrid Online Analytical Processing (HOLAP)
In HOLAP approach the aggregated totals are stored in a multidimensional database while the detailed
data is stored in the relational database. This offers both data efficiency of the ROLAP model and the
performance of the MOLAP model.
Desktop OLAP (DOLAP)
In Desktop OLAP, a user downloads a part of the data from the database locally, or on their desktop and
analyse it. DOLAP is relatively cheaper to deploy as it offers very few functionalities compares to other
OLAP systems.
Web OLAP (WOLAP)
Web OLAP which is OLAP system accessible via the web browser. WOLAP is a three-tiered
architecture. It consists of three components: client, middleware, and a database server. Mobile OLAP:
Mobile OLAP helps users to access and analyse OLAP data using their mobile devices Spatial OLAP:
SOLAP is created to facilitate management of both spatial and non-spatial data in a Geographic
Information system (GIS) ROLAP
ROLAP works with data that exist in a relational database. Facts and dimension tables are stored as
relational tables. It also allows multidimensional analysis of data and is the fastest growing OLAP.

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Advantages of ROLAP model:
• High data efficiency. It offers high data efficiency because query performance and access language are
optimized particularly for the multidimensional data analysis.
• Scalability. This type of OLAP system offers scalability for managing large volumes of data, and even
when the data is steadily increasing.
Drawbacks of ROLAP model:
• Demand for higher resources: ROLAP needs high utilization of manpower, software, and hardware
resources.
• Aggregately data limitations. ROLAP tools use SQL for all calculation of aggregate data. However,
there are no set limits to the for-handling computations.
• Slow query performance.
Query performance in this model is slow when compared with MOLAP
MOLAP: MOLAP uses array-based multidimensional storage engines to display multidimensional
views of data. Basically, they use an OLAP cube. Hybrid OLAP Hybrid OLAP is a mixture of both
ROLAP and MOLAP. It offers fast computation of MOLAP and higher scalability of ROLAP.
HOLAP uses two databases.
1. Aggregated or computed data is stored in a multidimensional OLAP cube
2. Detailed information is stored in a relational database.
Benefits of Hybrid OLAP:
• This kind of OLAP helps to economize the disk space, and it also remains compact which helps to
avoid issues related to access speed and convenience.
• Hybrid HOLAP's uses cube technology which allows faster performance for all types of data.
• ROLAP are instantly updated and HOLAP users have access to this real-time instantly updated data.
MOLAP brings cleaning and conversion of data thereby improving data relevance. This brings best of
both worlds.
Drawbacks of Hybrid OLAP:
• Greater complexity level: The major drawback in HOLAP systems is that it supports both ROLAP and
MOLAP tools and applications. Thus, it is very complicated.
• Potential overlaps: There are higher chances of overlapping especially into their functionalities.
Advantages of OLAP
• OLAP is a platform for all type of business includes planning, budgeting, reporting, and analysis.
• Information and calculations are consistent in an OLAP cube. This is a crucial benefit.
• Quickly create and analyse "What if" scenarios • Easily search OLAP database for broad or specific
terms.
• OLAP provides the building blocks for business modelling tools, Data mining tools, performance
reporting tools.
• Allows users to do slice and dice cube data all by various dimensions, measures, and filters.

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• It is good for analysing time series.
• Finding some clusters and outliers is easy with OLAP.
• It is a powerful visualization online analytical process system which provides faster response times
Disadvantages of OLAP
• OLAP requires organizing data into a star or snowflake schema. These schemas are complicated to
implement and administer
• You cannot have large number of dimensions in a single OLAP cube
• Transactional data cannot be accessed with OLAP system.
• Any modification in an OLAP cube needs a full update of the cube. This is a time-consuming process

TQM of Information System

The objective of the Total Quality Management (TQM) in the information system design is to assure
the quality of information. This is done by ensuring, verifying, and maintaining software integrity
through an appropriate methodology choice amongst the technology, design and architecture. It
institutes appropriate procedures with checks and control in all the processes of information systems
development. It ensures that the scope and the objective of the system, choice of the design architecture
and development methodology and further quality ensuring the processes and planned implementation
methodologies are correctly chosen.

The quality of information is governed by the quality of the information processing system design. The
perception of good quality is that of a customer or a user of the information system and not that of the
conceiver, the planner or the designer of the information system.

The quality of the information and the systems which generate that information will be rated high
provided it assures:

 A precise and an accurate information

 A high-level response in an interactive processing
 User friendly operations
 Reliability of information
 An ease of maintenance

A single most important measure of quality assurance is the level of user satisfaction it attains. The user
satisfaction is highest if it meets his information needs on a continuing basis in a dynamic business
environment.

In the process of achieving user satisfaction, the information system must be conceived with business
focus and orientation. It must address the total scope of the business with specific attention in the areas
of core competence and mission critical applications. The choice of the Information Technology strategy
should be such that it supports the business strategy implementation to achieve business goals and
mission.

TQM addresses all these requirements of the information systems development. It ensures that the
information system design is flexible, bug free and easy to maintain with the changing needs.

In the TQM application to information systems, the technologies play a vital role. We can make two
parts of these technologies. First, as a current and the second one as the emerging technologies. The
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current technologies are database management, distributed data processing, object orientation, parallel
processing, data warehousing and replication, networks and communication.
The emerging technologies are Internet/Intranet, EDI and E-mail, Groupware for team-based
application, client/server for application processing, multi-media for voice, video, image processing,
imaging systems for image creation, storage mixing knowledge base (KBS) for expert, artificial
intelligence system and Computer Aided Software Engineering (CASE) for a systematic application
development.

James W Cortada measures the quality of information by seven parameters. They are flexibility,
maintainability, reusability, integration, consistency, suability and reliability. Flexibility satisfies the
changing and evolving needs of users offering quick response. Main inability facilities a quick repair
and a replacement of the problem improving the user service. The reusability of the objects or the object
codes reduces the development cycle and controls the cost of the development. Integration improves the
processing time and offers a quick access to the users to the data and information. Consistency in the
usage of standards, tools and technologies reduces the learning time of the users. The usability of the
software component in different manner for different applications reduces the user training time and
finally the reliability of the system assures dependence and supports for all conceivable user and
processes.

Real Time Systems and Design

All real time systems are on-line and are triggered by the response to the external events like the
information systems in batch mode. A real time system must also integrate the hardware, the software,
the user and the database to achieve certain results with an acceptable performance.
The real time systems have the following design components:

 Data acquisition
 Measurement, interpretation and evaluation
 Decision making and action
 Initialization, operation and control.

The real time, systems are developed for diverse applications in the process control, process automation,
medical and scientific research traffic management, aerospace systems and instrumentation. In all these
applications, the real time system responds to the external stimulate in a time which is governed by the
external world. Hence, the performance of the real time system depends on the speed of its performance.

The entire cycle of acquisition, measurement, evaluation, decision making, action, control and bringing
the system back to the initial condition is highly time sensitive. If this cycle is not performed in a time
within which no damage is possible then the system performance is acceptable. Failing this, the real
time system needs re-look and redesign in most of the applications, the real time systems are many and
they are organized to obtain certain output. They are dependent on each other and some of them run in
parallel and some in sequence. Some of these work on priority which is in-built in the total application
design.

In the real time systems are analyzed in an industrial application or in the business commercial
application, it will be found that their functional requirements are same. They are as follows:

 Interface handling with the external world

 Context switching after the measurement
 Prime response time
 Data management
 Resource allocation by priority

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  Task synchronization and communication

The real time systems are designed first with a prototype and then rigorously tested through simulation
processes to confirm the accuracy in handling the following features:

 Triggers and context switching on condition

 Concurrency of the data and processes
 Communication and synchronization
 Timing constraints attached to the tasks
 Coupling of the processes and actions

The real time software system has all the aspects of the conventional system design and in addition it
has to handle a new set of requirements arising out of the real time feature. The real time software is
either time or event driven and hence the hardware and software which deals with these parameters
gather a lot of importance in design of the system.

Case Tools and I-Case

Computer Aided Software Engineering (CASE)
Computer aided software engineering (CASE) is the implementation of computer facilitated tools and
methods in software development. CASE is used to ensure a high-quality and defect-free software.
CASE ensures a check-pointed and disciplined approach and helps designers, developers, testers,
managers and others to see the project milestones during development. CASE can also help as a
warehouse for documents related to projects, like business plans, requirements and design
specifications. One of the major advantages of using CASE is the delivery of the final product, which is
more likely to meet real-world requirements as it ensures that customers remain part of the process.
CASE stands for Computer Aided Software Engineering. It means, development and maintenance
of software projects with help of various automated software tools. CASE illustrates a wide set of labour-
saving tools that are used in software development. It generates a framework for organizing projects and
to be helpful in enhancing productivity. There was more interest in the concept of CASE tools years
ago, but less so today, as the tools have morphed into different functions, often in reaction to software
developer needs. The concept of CASE also received a heavy dose of criticism after its release
WHAT ARE CASE TOOLS

• CASE stands for “Computer Aided Software Engineering”

• It is the domain of tools used to design and implement applications

• As computer technology is being used for automatic business and industrial application, it is being
used for automatic the development of the software

REASON FOR USING CASE TOOLS

1) Quick installation
2) Time saving by reducing coding and testing time
3) Enrich graphical techniques and data flow Optimum use of available information
4) Enhanced analysis and design development
5) Create and manipulate documentation
6) Transfer of information between tools efficiently.
7) The speed during the system development increased

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CASE ENVIRONMENT

The Repository Backup and Recovery Documentation Tools Analysis and Design Coding support
Export and Import Project Management Prototyping Tools Configuration Management Modelling Tools
Query and report generator Information Security

HOW ORGANIZATION USES CASE TOOLS

1) To facilitate single design methodology: Integration becomes easy as common methodology is
adopted

2) Rapid application development: To improve the speed and quality of system development.

3) Testing: Improves process through automated checking and simplified program maintenance.
4) Documentation: Improves the quality and uniformity of documentation.
5) Project Management: Improves by automating various activities involved in project management.
6) Increase Productivity: Software maintenance made easy and hence reducing the associated cost.
7) Reduce Maintenance cost: Automation of various activities of system development and
management processes increases productivity.

CATEGORIES OF CASE TOOLS

1) Upper Case Tools: Supports the analysis and design phase Includes tools for analysis model, reports
and form generation

2) Lower CASE Tools: Supports coding phase, configuration management.

3) Integrated Case Tools: Also known as I-CASE Supports analysis, design and coding phase

CHARACTERISTICS OF CASE TOOLS

1) A standard methodology: Must support a standard software development methodology and standard
modelling techniques.
2) Flexibility Flexible in use of editors and other tools.
3) Strong Integration: Should be integrated to support all stages.
4) Integration with testing Software: Must provide interface for automatic testing tools, to take care
of regression and other kind of testing software under dynamic requirement.

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5) Support for reverse engineering: Must be able to generate complex models from already generated
code.
6) Online Help: CASE tools must provide online tutorial.

APPLICATION OF CASE TOOLS

To improve the software being produced
To increase speed of development and design
To improve the quality and completeness of documentation
Improve Software portability
Ease and improve testing process through automated checking
Simplify program maintenance

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES

Advantages Disadvantages
1) Produce system with longer effective 1) Produce initial system that is more
operational life expensive to build and maintain
2) Produce system that more closely meet 2) Require more extensive and accurate
user needs and requirement definitions of user needs and requirement
3) Produce system with excellent 3) May be difficult to customize
documentation
4) Produces system that needs less systems 4) Require training of maintenance staff
support
5) Produce more flexible system 5) May be difficult to use with existing
system

Components of CASE Tools

CASE tools can be broadly divided into the following parts based on their use at a particular SDLC
stage:
 Central Repository - CASE tools require a central repository, which can serve as a source of
common, integrated and consistent information. Central repository is a central place of storage
where product specifications, requirement documents, related reports and diagrams, other
useful information regarding management is stored. Central repository also serves as data
dictionary.

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  Upper Case Tools - Upper CASE tools are used in planning, analysis and design stages of
SDLC and includes tools such as report generators and analysis tools.
 Lower Case Tools - Lower CASE tools are used in implementation, testing and maintenance
(Debugging) and these tools are like code designers and program editors
 Integrated Case Tools - Integrated CASE tools are helpful in all the stages of SDLC, from
Requirement gathering to Testing and documentation.
CASE tools can be grouped together if they have similar functionality, process activities and capability
of getting integrated with other tools.

Scope of Case Tools

The scope of CASE tools goes throughout the SDLC.

Case Tools Types

Now we briefly go through various CASE tools

Diagram tools
These tools are used to represent system components, data and control flow among various software
components and system structure in a graphical form.
For example, Flow Chart Maker tool for creating state-of-the-art flowcharts.

Process Modelling Tools

Process modelling is method to create software process model, which is used to develop the software.
Process modelling tools help the managers to choose a process model or modify it as per the
requirement of software product.
For example, EPF Composer (Eclipse Process Framework)

Project Management Tools

These tools are used for project planning, cost and effort estimation, project scheduling and resource
planning. Managers have to strictly comply project execution with every mentioned step in software
project management. Project management tools help in storing and sharing project information in real-
time throughout the organization.
For example, Creative Pro Office, Trac Project, Basecamp.

Documentation Tools
Documentation in a software project starts prior to the software process, goes throughout all phases of
SDLC and after the completion of the project.
Documentation tools generate documents for technical users and end users. Technical users are mostly
in-house professionals of the development team who refer to system manual, reference manual, training
manual, installation manuals etc. The end user documents describe the functioning and how-to of the
system such as user manual.
For example, Doxygen, DrExplain, Adobe RoboHelp for documentation.

Analysis Tools
These tools help to gather requirements, automatically check for any inconsistency, inaccuracy in the
diagrams, data redundancies or erroneous omissions.

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For example, Accept 360, Accompa, Case Complete for requirement analysis, Visible Analyst for
total analysis.

Design Tools
These tools help software designers to design the block structure of the software, which may further be
broken down in smaller modules using refinement techniques. These tools provide detailing of each
module and interconnections among modules.
For example, Animated Software Design

Configuration Management Tools

An instance of software is released under one version. Configuration Management tools deal with –

 Version and revision management

 Baseline configuration management
 Change control management
CASE tools help in this by automatic tracking, version management and release management. For
example, Fossil, Git, Accu REV.

Change Control Tools

These tools are considered as a part of configuration management tools. They deal with changes made
to the software after its baseline is fixed or when the software is first released. CASE tools automate
change tracking, file management, code management and more. It also helps in enforcing change policy
of the organization.

Programming Tools
These tools consist of programming environments like IDE (Integrated Development Environment),
in-built modules library and simulation tools. These tools provide comprehensive aid in building
software product and include features for simulation and testing.
For example, Cscope to search code in C, Eclipse.

Prototyping Tools
Software prototype is simulated version of the intended software product. Prototype provides initial
look and feel of the product and simulates few aspects of actual product.
Prototyping CASE tools essentially come with graphical libraries. They can create hardware
independent user interfaces and design. These tools help us to build rapid prototypes based on existing
information. In addition, they provide simulation of software prototype.
For example, Serena prototype composer, Mock-up Builder.

Web Development Tools

These tools assist in designing web pages with all allied elements like forms, text, script, graphic and
so on. Web tools also provide live preview of what is being developed and how will it look after
completion.
For example, Fontello, Adobe Edge Inspect, Foundation 3, Brackets.

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Quality Assurance Tools
Quality assurance in a software organization is monitoring the engineering process and methods
adopted to develop the software product in order to ensure conformance of quality as per organization
standards. QA tools consist of configuration and change control tools and software testing tools.
For example, SoapTest, AppsWatch, JMeter.

Maintenance Tools
Software maintenance includes modifications in the software product after it is delivered. Automatic
logging and error reporting techniques, automatic error ticket generation and root cause Analysis are
few CASE tools, which help software organization in maintenance phase of SDLC.
For example, Bugzilla for defect tracking, HP Quality Centre.

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