Press release

3/19/2009

Re-architecture of a Large Software System by Leveraging a Software Lifecycle Framework

For this public sector client, Noblestar provided consulting support to assist them in their effort to re-architect a Justice Information System, which was previously built on legacy COBOL code. The agencies' objective was to build a next-generation solution that would be accessed by several other agencies and would significantly reduce the risk associated with supporting an outdated system. The system would need to support business intelligence functionality in order to discover trends, evaluate strategies, and create forecasts, as well as increase data sharing among agencies and establish a knowledge base for better decision making. The current system represents over 30 years of data and over 5 million records. It serves over 300 agencies and approximately 18,000 users.

Noblestar took an incremental approach to modernization because: 1) the agency had to maintain its current level of service to customers and 2) because it is the only approach that could tackle the sheer size of the effort. This approach started with rigorous requirements engineering, leveraging the adoption of a Rational Unified Process (RUP) as well as application life cycle tools. Requirements established the baseline for the software architecture as well as software quality and testing. Key roles in the software life cycle were fulfilled by teaming with Noblestar consultants; specifically, a project manager, business analyst, software architect, and quality engineer. This collaborative approach enabled agency employees to not only complete the project deliverables, but enabled agency employees to learn the craft of rigorous, disciplined, software development, so that in later phases agency employees would become more self sufficient. Significant effort was placed on the implementation of a software development framework that encompassed the Rational tools and software life cycle processes and practices.

Business Value:

Completed 4 major subsystems and have proven to the business community that IT organization can deliver. This has lead to approved funding for continued development.
An established software development framework that provides a solid foundation for planned future development and on-going maintenance in the agency environment.
IT staff that is committed to the methods and practices for requirements, design, development, testing, and deployment

Press release

3/19/2009

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