debis IT Services Southern Africa recently completed a complex project for LIW, a division of Denel specialising in the design and manufacture of artillery systems. Worth in excess of R500 000, ArtSEL called for a document management and workflow solution to support programme management of company and technical interfaces in artillery systems engineering. The project was launched by Willie Theron of LIW.
The scope of work included a comprehensive web solution to enable LIW to interface with companies throughout South Africa, and to manage the implied abundance of documents pertinent to interfaces between different suppliers of artillery system components. The resultant streamlining of documentation processes also simplifies alterations to data, and communication thereof. "With ArtSEL we have instituted improved document management which engineers effective change processes of a formal, disciplined nature," states Fritz Venter, divisional manager for debis E-Commerce.
For active interfacing, ArtSEL supports enhanced levels of communication and collaboration via a shared repository and discussion group facilities. Apart from reducing the amount of paper generated, it provides a formal account of all activities pertaining to the system, facilitating widespread awareness and understanding while allowing for substantial time and cost-savings. The system is completely data-base driven and operating system independent.
Full database system development only took place during the final stage of ArtSEL, including the construction of a fully-automated system based on a server-side JAVA solution. The system was built on an industry standard application server platform specifically designed for Internet systems, which ensures enterprise level scalability and manageability. The dynamic system also offers a web-based discussion group to facilitate on-line interaction regarding system engineering, and implements a manageable and updateable hierarchy with full security.
"Establishing a new technology environment for LIW proved the biggest challenge of ArtSEL," states Venter, since certain aspects of the project were highly technical, such as the implementation of multi-level security. "Tackling this level of sophistication in a web-based environment is difficult, since web-based tools are not as mature yet."
ArtSEL was unique in a number of respects, particularly in terms of the functionality that was supplied. No other project or product was utilised as basis for the system, which was custom-built for LIW. According to Venter, LIW is satisfied with the entire project, and was specifically impressed with strict software engineering processes that were followed. "Each process was accompanied by formal documentation, providing for system analysis and detailed definitions, while facilitating formal acceptance.
Comprising an entire system, implementing LIW`s web project required an exceptionally high level of skills, especially in light of the new technology climate. In accordance with debis` strategy, software engineering principles formed an integral part of the project, based upon a `best practices` ideology which specifies industry standard practices for software engineering.
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