Improving application development productivity by using ITS

Abstract

Perhaps the key problem in application development today is the need to increase the productivity of development organizations. This paper identifies the main factors affecting application development productivity, and then describes a new application development environment (called ITS, which stands for Interactive Transaction System) that is aimed at, among other things, addressing these factors. A unique feature of ITS is the support of multiple, rule-based user interface styles, which has the implication of allowing multiple applications to run in the same style and the same application to run in multiple styles. The results of four case studies of developers using ITS to implement serious applications are summarized, with emphasis upon the effects of ITS on development productivity. These results demonstrate that ITS (a) greatly enhances application development productivity, and (b) provides a mechanism for creating applications that can lead to improved end-user productivity and that of their work organizations. These studies can also serve as a model for how to do human factors work within very advanced technological projects-ones where the preoccupation of necessity first centers on establishing technical feasibility. © 1993 Academic Press. All rights reserved.