For a sub-industry with so much money and attention being paid to it, I am surprised at how no one seems to be very happy with the results to date. We are working with doctors to design a next-generation IT…
Three More Reasons Why Software Projects Fail
Thirteen years ago I wrote a paper entitled “Top 10 Reasons Why Systems Projects Fail”. This has been my most requested paper. It was used at Harvard which eventually led to my company building the budget and finance system for…
Another Anecdote Supporting the Thick Database Approach
This post describes how our thick database approach helped us to easily identify performance issues within a new application. Dulcian’s BRIM-Objects includes an object modeling tool based on UML class diagrams. We built this tool over 10 years ago using…
The BEST IT Project Management Book Ever is: “If Disney Ran Your Hospital”
If Disney Ran Your Hospital: 9 1/2 Things you Would Do Differently (Fred Lee, 2004, Second River Healthcare) is not even an IT book. As the title suggests, it is about hospital administration. But no book has influenced my thinking about project…
Tagged with: customer satisfaction, Oracle, Project Management, Web service
Posted in About Dulcian, BLOG, Consulting, Other
Posted in About Dulcian, BLOG, Consulting, Other
Systems Analyst Techniques for Interviewing Users
About a million years ago, I wrote my doctoral dissertation about how to talk to computer system users. I videotaped 50 systems analysts talking to 50 different real estate brokers discussing the requirements for a system. I did formal protocol…
Tagged with: Business rule, requirements, Software development process, system analyst
Posted in BLOG, Consulting, Development
Posted in BLOG, Consulting, Development
The Challenge of Converting Oracle Forms to ADF (or other J2EE)
“How do I convert my Oracle Forms applications to…?” I have been getting this kind of question ever since JDeveloper 3.0 was released. As soon as BC4J (now ADF BC) was created, we started seeing the handwriting on the wall.…
Tagged with: ADF, Forms converter, Formspider, Java EE, Oracle Forms, PL/SQL
Posted in BLOG, Consulting, Development, Products
Posted in BLOG, Consulting, Development, Products
Case Study: “The Object Interaction Repository”
Dulcian was building the recruiting system for the United States Air Force Reserve. Most of the core user interface screens needed to be images of the paper forms that applicants fill out as part of enlisting in the Air Force.…
Tagged with: case study, code generator, Database design, Extract transform load, XML
Posted in BLOG, Clients, Consulting, Development, Products
Posted in BLOG, Clients, Consulting, Development, Products
What is the role of the database in web architecture?
Many web developers think that the answer to this question is: “As a useless artifact fit for a museum”. Probably the most common perspective among JavaEE developers is: “As a place to store persistent copies of our classes”. Organizations having a…
Even if a Generic Rules Engine does not exist, that doesn’t mean you have to hand code!
If your system includes a big, odd calculation, you should think really hard prior to hand coding it. If there are a hundred rules or more and they fall into some kind of nice pattern, you can probably create a custom…
Tagged with: Business rules engine, code generator, Software repository, User interface
Posted in BLOG, Clients, Consulting, Development, Products
Posted in BLOG, Clients, Consulting, Development, Products
Making a data entry application look like a real website
Dulcian was tasked with creating a very complex data entry application (filling out the entire application for entrance into the military) that a senior in high school could use with no training whatsoever. The application needed to be attractive, easy to…
Tagged with: code generator, design, Web application
Posted in Clients, Consulting, Development, Products
Posted in Clients, Consulting, Development, Products
