Methodology

Scene 1, Act 1

Imagine for a moment being the head honcho of a large motion picture company. Imagine what goes into making what you hope will be a blockbuster film: the script, the director, the crew, the cast, the equipment, the money, the time - did we mention the money? Motion picture companies spend years and millions of dollars developing each of their films. Some they throw away, and some they take to market. In large part, the reason so much time, money, and effort goes into the production of each frame, in each reel, in each movie is because the motion picture companies know they only have one chance to get it right. Once released, if the picture flops, most often, it is prohibitively expensive and logistically burdensome to turn back the clock. Honing the film simply is not an option.

Interestingly, the traditional approach to custom software development bears striking similarities.

Imagine, for one more brief moment, being that motion picture executive we described above. Imagine, after releasing your movie, having the ability to tailor your film to any audience's desires, likes, or dislikes. Imagine being able to retrieve and translate audience reactions into improvements for your movie real-time. For motion picture executives, the prospect of seeing this vision realized anytime soon seems unlikely. For business executives interested in software which facilitates long-term success, this vision is now a reality.

Enter Arrayworks

After having spent years working with and building both custom and off-the-shelf business software, Arrayworks' founders set out to design an engine for the rapid production of adaptive software systems.

The Old Way

While both database software and the application languages used to access them have evolved considerably over the years, the approach to building applications has not. Most software in existence today attempts to support one or more business processes by reducing these processes to very specific computer instructions. These instructions are, for the most part, etched in stone and cannot be changed without rewriting the application. By definition, the application developers require both these processes and their supporting data structures to be predefined. However, changing the data model after programming has begun is equivalent to redesigning the foundation of a house after framing is well underway. We are all familiar with the builder's motto "measure twice - cut once." Traditionally, this has also been the approach to building computer applications. The only problem is, of course, businesses are dynamic. Businesses grow and business processes change all the time. Unfortunately, getting it all right upfront is unrealistic and impractical.

Our Way

Adaptability being the cornerstone of our work, our patent-pending methodology provides a simple yet elegant way to accommodate almost any business process. It augments the traditional FIELD-BASED approach to software development with a LIST-BASED architecture. LISTS can be added at any time before or after the system is in use, eliminating the need to define all requirements upfront. Short of boring you with a technical treatise on fields, records, relationships, suffice it to say, this approach takes tremendous pressure off the system creation process and significantly reduces both development time and cost.

The Difference: Technically Speaking

WARNING: For those technically disinclined, feel free to skip ahead to the section "In Laymen's Terms: The Advantages."

In the traditional model, metrics and business rules are more difficult and complex to program, integrate, validate, track and administer. Different companies within the same vertical markets may employ different process steps representing a variety of actions and reactions. These steps (or stages) in the process are typically stored as fields (e.g. suspect, prospect, lead, client etc.). Changes in the status of these steps are recorded and reflected as changes in field values. If tracking of time in each stage is desired, additional event logging must be hard-coded into static phase fields. The number of possible permutations makes it prohibitive to track all possible metrics (e.g. time between steps 1 and 2, 1 and 3, 1 and 4, 2 and 3, 2 and 4 etc.). This is partly because each data element would need to be designed into the database schema and directly referenced at various points in the process or applicable business rule. Because changes in field values are not self-administering objects, as they are with our LIST-based approach, any additions or changes to field elements often require reprogramming of the data table, workflow, user interfaces, and/or business rules. With our LIST-based workflow model, selected data elements are represented as Smart List Objects which can be independently added or modified without the need for reprogramming. Additionally LISTS can serve as individual containers, each with its own set of business rules and each capable of producing a variety of metrics for reporting, analysis, and automated workflow. When used in combination with other lists, the permutations become endless.

• LISTS can easily be added, deleted or modified without any reprogramming, thus extending the useful life of an application and reducing dependence on software engineers typically required to make costly and time-consuming changes to the business logic layer.
  
  
• LISTS are a virtual clipboard upon which individual entities can be added or removed. As an independently manageable segment of the information system, a LIST is akin to being its own "world" where business rules can easily be applied, changes automatically tracked, and actions triggered.
  
  
• LISTS can reflect any particular state, condition, or attribute. They can be used to identify where a person, organization, or transaction is within any particular step of any given sequence or process.
  
  
• LISTS function as logical, artificially intelligent business objects that act upon whatever "resides" in them. Because each LIST is time-aware, users can be automatically prompted to take appropriate actions at the appropriately prescribed times.
  
  
• LISTS are ideal conduits for insuring best practice implementation of both time and action-based business rules. Rules can thus support any number of management-by-objective initiatives, quality assurance, or productivity enhancing standard operating procedures.
  
  
• Key business metrics can be gleaned from a LIST model that are unobtainable from a traditional field-based model. Because LISTS self-log and time-stamp their contents, movement between critical steps in a process is inherently monitored thus enabling complex analysis and the production of linear regression statistics.
  
  
• Because LISTS are dynamically updated, real-time decision support at every level in the organization takes on a whole new dimension.
  
  
• LISTS are forward compatible. They can be configured to serve as convenient portals for 3rd party tool integration and collaboration.

In Laymen's Terms: The Advantages

Arrayworks' platform requires no custom programming to be tailored precisely to your business' processes and needs. It is all in the configuration.

That is, using the same platform, we are able to incorporate business-specific entities, processes, business rules, analytics, standard operating procedures, best practices, and role-specific individualized interfaces for each and every one of our clients. AND, each of the aforementioned parameters is flexible over time.

In the end, we put you in the driver's seat.

In Summary

The impact of extending the useful life and adaptability of software has enormous implications on the cost to produce, time to produce, upfront requirements, flexibility, level of customization, maintenance, total cost of ownership, return on investment, and in general, risks associated with not getting it right the first time.

The Bottom Line: Through our innovations, we have eliminated the traditional risks inherent in building or buying business software, expanded the scope of what is possible, improved functional capabilities, and made an overall better product available to more businesses at a better price.