Project    : CAPELLA JWALK Project

CAPELLA was re-developed in 1993 to AS/400 native mode from S/36. Several installations have been made since then but the users have been asking for a GUI interface that they are familiar with. In 1998, Call Henry Inc. (CHI) asked Radix Systems Services for possible solutions to make CAPELLA have a Windows “look and feel” and be web-enabled. An alternative then was to re-program the whole application in Java or Visual Basic to address the problem.  In early 1999, Radix suggested to CHI the use of Seagull tools. WD Makynen contacted the Seagull people for a presentation of their product as to its applicability to CAPELLA. After several product meetings, CHI decided on Seagull’s JWalk for CAPELLA.

The project was supposed to start in mid-May. Four RADIX technical personnel attended a JWalk training program for one week in the Philippines conducted by a JWalk expert from Australia. But then, the project was delayed due to some problems in CHI and the project was pushed to mid-September. When the final decision was made, CHI acquired four development copies of JWalk to be used in the project. 

Project Brief:

Project Preparation

WD Makynen came to Manila to launch the project that was officially started on September 13, 1999. The objective was to implement the JWalk version of CAPELLA by the second week of December in NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. The first three weeks was used for project start-up that includes:

	Mobilizing the project team
	Setting up the development environment
	Preparing templates

In addition, a training program was conducted for an additional ten programmers to augment the original four JWalk developers.

The actual development started on October 1, 1999. The JWalk Collector was done for a series of runs on CAPELLA screens to generate the AWHOST file. There were a total of 2,532 panels identified that was divided into three groups. Since there were only four developer copies of JWalk, the panel development work was done on a three-shift schedule. The panels were all completed within six weeks by twelve programmers.

During this time, two technical personnel were assigned to study the deployment side of JWalk in preparation for testing. After the completion of the panels, six CAPELLA programmers were utilized to do the screen by screen testing over three weeks. Several problems were encountered but these were easily reworked because the testing team is quite familiar with CAPELLA functionalities.

Project Deployment:

Before the actual deployment in Cleveland, Call Henry Inc. requested for a screen layout and color scheme presentation in Cocoa, Florida. Minor changes were made and immediately relayed to the project team in Manila. The panels were then compiled and uploaded to the AS/400 in Cleveland.

A consultant from Seagull, Allan Sutton, assisted the Radix technical specialist in Cleveland in the actual deployment of JWalk. The new CAPELLA version was finally introduced to the users on December 13, 1999.

Until now, additional enhancements and modifications are being requested by Call Henry on CAPELLA. Thus, there is a continuing maintenance on JWalk panels as new screens or changed screens are made.

Project Statistics

Project Preparation

Number of Panels            : 2,532

Panel Development Hours: 528 Man-hours

Productivity Per Panel     : 0.21 Hours Per Panel

Panel Development

Number of Panels            :  2,532

Panel Development Hours:  3,168 Man-hours

Productivity Per Panel     :  1.25 Hours Per Panel

Testing and Rework*

Number of Panels          :  2,532

Panel Development Hours: 792 Manhours

Productivity Per Panel    :    0.31 Hours Per Panel

Total Project

Number of Panels           :   2,532

Panel Development Hours:  4,488 Manhours

Productivity Per Panel    :  1.77 Hours Per Panel

Contact Person:

          306 Brevard Avenue, Cocoa, Florida 32922