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C:\Q\KIMSPAG\2009 CITSA - Evaluating Situational Applications Builders\(Gregory & Norbis 2009b)

Situational Applications Builders with updated Excel.docx 28/10/2012 16:45:00

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Evaluating Situational Applications

Builders

Mark GREGORY

Department of Finance and Operations, ESC Rennes School of Business

35065 Rennes Cedex, France

Tel: +33 2 99 33 48 55 Fax: +33 2 99 33 08 24

[email protected]

and

Dr. Mario NORBIS

Department of Management, Quinnipiac University

Hamden, Connecticut 06518, USA

Tel: +1 413 335 2837

[email protected]

Abstract This paper introduces a number of applications builders which can be used by non-technical users to

build and deploy business information systems. The emphasis is on different ways to build applications

which are deployable on the Web. The applications so created are frequently said to be hosted “in the

cloud”, that is, on Web servers which may not be under the direct control or ownership of the

organisation which owns the information.

IBM has suggested a new name for this category of simple applications builders: "situational

applications builders": see for example Cherbakov, L. & A. Bravery & B. D. Goodman & A. Pandya &

J. Baggett (2007).

This paper reviews certain applications builders and puts forward methods to evaluate them.

Keywords: Situational applications, Web application builders, PaaS – Platform as a Service, SaaS – Software as a Service

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]



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1. Why end-users need to build and deploy

small-scale business information systems The ways in which a company can procure the business applications necessary for its operations include

combinations of three basic approaches which are already widely accepted, and a fourth:

1. Bespoke (custom) development; this requires technical skills

2. Purchase and use of packaged applications

3. Systems integration – composing applications from different components found on

the web; this requires technical skills

4. So-called “end user programming”, which can be done by business professionals.

There are many Information Systems requirements which are on a relatively small scale, and where

reasonably-courageous individuals, sometimes referred to as “power users”, set out to build their own

small-scale Information Systems. They do this, rather than wait for a large-scale, no doubt better-

engineered but much later solution produced by Information Systems professionals. Elizabeth Regan

has written extensively on this phenomenon, sometimes known as "end-user programming"; see for

example Regan, E.A., O'Connor, B.N. (2002).

1.1. Recap: Storing small amounts of structured data

The context of this research is end-users within medium and large enterprises. Its findings may

also be applicable in small and very small enterprises.

We normally store data on computers:

Either when we have many occurrences of a specific kind of record each with a well-defined structure, and we want to process specific records, or complete sets of records. This is sometimes referred to as structured data and it is on this that we concentrate in this paper.

Or where we have complex, semi-structured information requirements at the personal or small-group level. This situation is addressed in a separate paper, Gregory M.R. & Norbis M. (2009).

A widely accepted way of storing data, indeed, we may even refer to it as the “natural” way to

store such data, is by means of two-dimensional tables.

Many widely used office productivity programs or suites provide good facilities for storing

two-dimensional tables. For example, when using Microsoft Office

http://office.microsoft.com/, the most widely-used such suite, each program has specific

strengths and weaknesses when it stores data in this way. Figure 1 summarises the approaches,

and their comparative strengths and weaknesses.

Method Advantages Disadvantages

Word Simple, well understood by people

with weak computing skills

No formulae (or only very

rudimentary ones)

Excellent formatting options

Excel Some degree of structure – rows and

columns

Persistent data is not safe

Very powerful data manipulation using

formulae

Size limits – 65535 rows (until

Office 2007)

http://office.microsoft.com/



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Poor support for queries –

searching is slow

No design methodology or

coherence

Can only be updated by one

person at a time

Access Relational data model gives coherence More difficult to use

Very powerful data structuring and

querying

Requires thoughtful use and

advance planning

Safer persistent data (though weaker

than MS SQL Server, ORACLE etc)

Is multi-user: that is, more than one

person at a time can change (update)

the database

Figure 1 Comparative strengths and weaknesses of data storage in two dimensional tables: Microsoft

Office tools

1.2. Web-accessible end user computing A new challenge has arisen in making information readily available within and outside the

organisation. This is the increasing prevalence and expectancy that computerised applications

will be available via the Web: whether internally, on an intranet, or externally on the Internet.

What is novel is that applications built by what some suppliers refer to as "Web-savvy business

users" (and not by information systems professionals) can also be deployed to be Web

accessible. As Cherbakov, L. & A. Bravery & A. Pandya (2007) state:

“

The recent rise of grassroots computing among both professional programmers and

knowledge workers has highlighted a different development approach (our comment:

from SOA, service-oriented architecture, usually applicable to major corporate

systems). In this approach, those who best understand the business problem at hand

develop rapid solutions without the overhead and formality of traditional IT methods.

The new breed of situational applications (SAs), often developed by amateur

programmers in an iterative and collaborative way, shortens the traditional edit-

compile-test-run development life cycle. SAs have the potential to solve immediate

business challenges in a cost-effective way, capturing the part of IT that directly

impacts end users and addressing the areas that were previously unaffordable or of

lower priority.

”

1.3. Research questions addressed in this paper

What Web-accessible applications builders (or situational applications builders) exist, and what are their characteristics?

How can business users (practising professionals and students) evaluate the most appropriate Web-accessible applications builders (or situational applications builders) to employ in a given application context?

1.4. Background to this research: structure of this

paper



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To obtain an answer to these questions, it is first necessary to identify what types of computer

application exist in this area (largely by Web-based secondary research), and to suggest ways

in which they can be evaluated. The paper summarises the tools available. It goes on to

suggest that not only are the applications themselves situational, or specific to the situation; so

is the evaluation of which tool to use. Since this remains research in progress (the questions

have not yet been answered well), it concludes with directions for further research.

Before considering how to make information available outside the organisation, we firstly

recap on spreadsheets and databases before going on to discuss Web application builders, or

situational applications builders, which concentrate on enabling the construction of online

(Web-accessible) spreadsheets and databases.

2. Spreadsheets versus databases Spreadsheets consist of an array of cells, each of which can store a value or a formula. A formula

relates the value of the current cell to other cells which can be considered as exporting their value to be

used in the formula.

Spreadsheets are a very powerful combination of the nearest approach to widely available end-user

computer programming so far invented; and ways of storing (more or less) structured data in which the

relationship between items of data is imposed by the use of formulae.

Databases generally have a more limited remit which they fulfil with greater precision than do

spreadsheets. The most widely accepted, implemented and used type of database is the so-called

“relational” database (Date 2003). He suggests as an informal initial definition that

“

A relational system is one in which the data is perceived by the user as tables (and nothing but

tables); and the operators at the user’s disposal (e.g. for data retrieval) are operators that

generate new tables from old. For example, there will be one operator to extract a subset of the

rows of a table, and another to extract a subset of the columns – and of course a row subset and

a column subset of a table can both be regarded as tables themselves. The reason such systems

are called ‘relational’ is that the term ‘relation’ is essentially just a mathematical term for a

table.

”

It is possible to use spreadsheets and database management systems as the means by which personal

data is stored, in other words, as the means by which a given individual carries out personal information

management. In effect, the computer user who chooses this approach is making her own specialised

lists of data which are important to them. Spreadsheets are also frequently stored on local servers so that

more than one member of a team can use and even update information.

See also http://www.epinions.com/content_972857476 (checked 20/11/2008)

2.1. The role of spreadsheets in business Spreadsheets are very widely used in business at all levels for simple applications like

maintaining lists of staff absences or calculating travel expenses, and also for much more

complex applications such as project planning and management, performance monitoring of

share portfolio and other investments, and general financial and statistical applications.

In part this is because spreadsheet software is present on most business desktops and is

therefore “free” for use by most business staff. However, it is often much better (and less risky)

to use spreadsheets sparingly – for example, while first investigating a need for a computer-

based solution – then to go on to identify and buy a more specialised package which is better

adapted to the business problem.

Ventana Research 2007 op. cit. documents the pervasiveness of spreadsheets, and confirms

their value for processes such as one-off ad hoc reporting and the prototyping of requirements

for what should subsequently be re-engineered into, or acquired ready-made as, formal

applications to support specific management processes.

2.2. Spreadsheet? Database? Or something new? We might advise users that there are many ways of storing data, saying:

http://www.epinions.com/content_972857476



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“Each program has specific strengths and weaknesses. You are advised to consider

very carefully who it is that requires what information, who collects the data, what

kind of transformation is required between the input data and the output

information, and then to choose the right program – or programs. A good workman

knows his or her tools, and chooses the appropriate tool for the job.

When you are manipulating data for yourself alone, or as part of a small team, or in a

very small business, spreadsheets are likely to be more intuitive, initially more

productive and easier to get started with. However, as the volumes of data, or the

number of users, increase, databases become much the preferable option. It is often a

sensible and viable option to prototype the requirements for a small business

information system using a spreadsheet, and then, when the requirements are quite

clear, to transfer the data storage element to a database.

”

We might then go on to suggest that in many contexts it is appropriate to make a spreadsheet or

database Web-accessible.

3. Microsoft Access and some of its limitations Relational databases remain the main way in which enterprises store their data. Although other

mechanisms exist for storing business data (notably, content management systems linked with company

websites and intranets), relational databases are critical to the integrity of corporate data and also permit

very general questions to be asked and answered in a focussed and accurate way.

Microsoft Office Access remains probably the most widely-used way to design, create and maintain a

small-scale relational database. Thus, because of their importance in business and the value associated

with being able to use them well, one of our Schools has chosen for several years past to teach relational

database (using Microsoft Access) to first and second-year business students.

Microsoft recognises the importance of Access to many of their customers but they do not recommend

its deployment on the Web, even on an intranet. They would prefer people to use Access as a “front

end” to their more powerful Microsoft SQL Server product, which is in fact free in the Express edition.

However, SQL Server itself is not an end-user product and the whole approach is quite unnecessarily

complicated for business professionals.

3.1. Problems that can arise when using Access 1. A database exists to meet the needs of a community of users. A Microsoft Access

database normally exists on a single client computer. If the computer is on a local

area network (LAN), it is easily accessible to concurrent users -- but only those on the

local network, not across the Web.

2. In order to deploy a simple electronic business application, it is necessary to integrate

a database server with a Web server. This is technically complex and inappropriate

for business professionals to learn.

3. It is possible to deploy Microsoft Access databases so that they can be shared but it is

not straightforward since it necessitates using Microsoft SharePoint Services, on a

Windows Server system.

4. There therefore exists a business and research need to create and deploy small

database applications which are accessible by multiple users via the Web.

4. Databases suitable for end-users We have compiled this list using as a cut-off criterion that it should be possible and straightforward for

business students to learn the software mentioned. In some cases we have proof that this is the case

from our own evaluation; in others, we are accepting the assertion of publishers.

Product Website

Described further below ?

Caspio http://www.caspio.com/ Section Error!

http://www.caspio.com/

http://www.caspio.com/



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eference source not found.

cebase http://www.cebase.com/

Coghead http://www.coghead.com/

No – this company ceased trading early in 2009

DabbleDB http://dabbledb.com/

eUnify http://www.eunify.net/

FileMaker Pro http://www.filemaker.com/

Section Error! eference source not found.

Firebird http://www.firebirdsql.org/


Force http://www.salesforce.com/uk/platform/


Iron Speed Designer http://www.ironspeed.com/ Section 0

Kexi http://www.kexi-project.org/


Longjump http://longjump.com/


Microsoft Office Access http://office.microsoft.com/en-gb/access/default.aspx

Section 5

Microsoft SQL Server Express http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-gb/express/aa718378.aspx


MyOwnDB http://www.myowndb.com/

MySQL http://www.mysql.com/


OpenOffice.org Base http://www.openoffice.org/product/base.html


PerfectForms http://www.perfectforms.com/

Section Error! eference source not

http://www.cebase.com/

http://www.coghead.com/

http://dabbledb.com/

http://www.eunify.net/

http://www.salesforce.com/uk/platform/

http://www.ironspeed.com/

http://longjump.com/

http://www.myowndb.com/

http://www.perfectforms.com/



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found.

Qrimp http://www.qrimp.com/index.html


QuickBase http://quickbase.intuit.com/


Rollbase http://www.rollbase.com/home/index.shtml

TeamDesk http://www.teamdesk.net/ Section 0

TrackVia http://www.trackvia.com/

Webfuser (Inuvia Technologies) http://www.webfuser.com/PortalSite.aspx Section 6.2

WebOffice http://www.weboffice.com/web-database/index.html

Wolf Frameworks http://www.wolfframeworks.com/

Zoho Creator http://db.zoho.com/

Section Error!

eference

source not

found.

5. PC-based databases suitable for end-users

Database Main Characteristics Needs for improvement

Microsoft Office Access Mature technology easy to learn Poor in multi-user applications,

Not web-accessible

Firebird Open source relational database

MySQL Powerful database Need separation from front end

tools

Microsoft SQL Server Express Target for smaller-scale

applications

Kexi Recent open source

development Not web-accessible

OpenOffice.org Base New development based on

HSQLDB Not web-accessible

FileMaker Pro Multi-platform, web-capable Proprietary and expensive

6. Tools which make an existing database

web-accessible Tools that take data from a Microsoft Access database and make it available on the web.

6.1. Iron Speed Designer A software development tool for rapidly developing web-accessible database, forms, and

reporting applications on the basis of an existing database.

http://www.qrimp.com/index.html

http://quickbase.intuit.com/

http://www.rollbase.com/home/index.shtml

http://www.teamdesk.net/

http://www.trackvia.com/

http://www.webfuser.com/PortalSite.aspx

http://www.weboffice.com/web-database/index.html

http://www.weboffice.com/web-database/index.html

http://www.wolfframeworks.com/

http://db.zoho.com/



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6.2. Webfuser Shares MS Access and similar data sources among users, permits the building of complex

transactional database applications.

7. Approaches which create new web-

accessible databases This approach is distinguished from the previous by the fact that a new database structure is created.

IBM has suggested a new name for this category of simple applications builders: "situational

applications builders". Cherbakov, L. & A. Bravery & A. Pandya (2007) describe situational

applications (SAs) in these terms:

“The recent rise of grassroots computing among both professional programmers and knowledge workers has highlighted a

development approach in which those who best understand the business problem at hand develop rapid solutions without the overhead and formality of traditional IT methods. The new breed of situational applications (SAs), often developed by amateur

programmers in an iterative and collaborative way, shortens the traditional edit-compile-test-run development life cycle. SAs have

the potential to solve immediate business challenges in a cost-effective way, capturing the part of IT that directly impacts end users and addressing the areas that were previously unaffordable or of lower priority.”

They go on to suggest that SAs have as characteristics that they are:

Developed to address the situation at hand

Often built by non-traditional, casual programmers with little up-front emphasis on reliability,

scalability, maintainability, and availability

Habitually use pre-existing software, often created and sourced from a third party via a public

interface

Are developed in short, iterative cycles measured in days or weeks rather than months or years,

focusing on time-to-value

Are usually information-centric

Example products we have identified include:

Product Claims by proprietary

TeamDesk Software as a service

Zoho Tools in the web that can be used to build small applications

Intuit QuickBase Powerful and expensive

Caspio Bridge True relational database

Force Fastest platform for building applications

Longjump Robust platform as a Service

PerfectForms Enables anyone to create web forms. Easily integrated

Qrimp Easy and affordable

8. Evaluation and choice Faced with such a richness of choice, how can business professionals or those who train and educate

such professionals and/or students, choose the right software?

No one tool of the many we have identified (and the many more that we have no doubt failed to

identify) has achieved ubiquity, whether measured in terms of the extent of its use or the generality of

its application.

Further, there is little consensus about the evaluation of information technology or information systems

(Beynon-Davies, P. & Owens, I. (2004)) and comparatively few efforts have been made in this

direction. Models have been developed for Information Systems evaluation (see for example Teevan,

Jaime & William Jones & Benjamin B. Bederson (2006)) in an attempt to specify necessary



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organizational process that reinforce the importance of evaluation and minimize Information Systems

failure; but so far Information Systems evaluation remains underdeveloped and under managed: Love,

P. & Ghoneim, A. (2004).

8.1. Two suggested dimensions of evaluation One is to make a point-by-point comparison of the functionality offered by potentially-

appropriate solutions, weighting the significance of the various functionalities in accordance

with their importance to the proposed application. We identify this dimension as the

"Weighted Functionality Matrix". This gives at least an air of greater objectivity, subject to

the obvious provisos that the weightings are themselves inevitably somewhat subjective, and

the immense practical difficulty of determining whether in fact a particular package offers a

given functionality and to what extent. In practice, such evaluation will often require extensive

trialling, which may be ruled out on the grounds of software availability, time and cost.

A second dimension consists in attempting to identify broader and perhaps also subjective

characteristics of potential solutions. Some at least of these characteristics may in fact have a

significance which endures over time and which transfers between evaluation domains. We

identify this dimension as the "Overall Characteristics".

The table which follows suggests such potential characteristics. Clearly, the choice of these

characteristics is subjective and interpretational.



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Table 1: Overall characteristics of software solutions (a partial list)

Characteristic Meaning Suggested significance for

evaluation

References

Separation of

concerns

The cardinal necessity of

separating different dimensions of

a problem and its solution.

Examples include:

Separating why from what

from how

Dijkstra's view that you

should never do more than

one thing at a time

Separation of concerns is achieved

by delaying commitment as long

as is reasonable during the

analysis, design and

implementation of a software

artefact.

Appropriate separation of concerns

during the design and conception

of a software product remains

visible in the completed artefact

and perhaps even more so in the

documentation of that artefact. The

necessity for complex and

confused documentation will

suggest that the principle has not

been observed.

Furthermore, given that what we

are evaluating here is mechanisms

for end-users to build their own

systems, the separation of concerns

will remain visible in the

completed application’s usability

and usefulness.

Rzevski, George

(1981)

Dijkstra, Edsger

(1982)

Orthogonality Originally, orthogonality is a

system design property facilitating

feasibility and compactness of

complex designs. Orthogonality

guarantees that modifying the

technical effect produced by a

component of a system neither

creates nor propagates side effects

to other components of the system.

The emergent behaviour of a

system consisting of components

should be controlled strictly by

formal definitions of its logic and

not by side effects resulting from

poor integration, i.e. non-

orthogonal design of modules and

interfaces. Orthogonality reduces

testing and development time

because it is easier to verify

designs that neither cause side

effects nor depend on them.

The absence of Orthogonality in

the design and conception of a

software product remains visible in

the completed implementation.

When the designer of the product

has a clear idea of what he is

attempting to achieve, with a clear

and coherent object model, the

eventual software will be easier to

explain to potential users, quicker

for them to learn, and as a result

the software they produce will be

more rapidly and more effectively

applicable.

See for example

Warboys, Brian

(1980)

Methodological

coherence

Identifying a tool does not

guarantee that its use will be

effective. The application of a

hammer to a screw gives poor

results! It is important to choose

appropriate tools, method and

methodology.

The effectiveness of tools cannot

be abstracted from a clear

understanding by their designers of

their context of use. Therefore an

explicit evaluation criterion should

be the methodological clarity and

explicit recognition of the

importance of the process of use

which is demonstrated by the

originators of a software product.

The principles of separation of concerns and of orthogonality may perhaps come together in an

overall architectural or design coherence criterion.



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8.2. Weighted Functionality Matrix and its application The approach we have identified above as the weighted functionality matrix is hardly novel.

Some such approach is frequently employed in the evaluation of supplier offerings by would-

be purchasers.

A practical difficulty which arises is to identify a list of potentially significant functionalities,

and then to obtain the necessary data from the suppliers.

Table 2 shows a deliberately greatly-abridged and slightly-modified extract from a table

published by a consultancy company experienced in offering PaaS services. The full original

was found via http://www.powerinthecloud.com/. The authors offer to make available on

request their developed matrix.

Table 2 Situational Applications functionalities (extract) Caspio Force

Long-jump

Perfect Forms

Quick-Base Qrimp Wolf

Target Users

Business Users/Analysts/Consultants Y Y Y Y Y Y Y

Programmers Y Y Y Y Y Y Y

Database Database Definition

Relationships are handled without having to specify keys Y Y Y Y Y Y Simple validation rules easily specified Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Custom validation rules without coding or scripting Y Y Y Y Local master-detail (i.e. detail table embedded in master) Y Y Y Y Y ? Y Master-detail relationship - 1 level (automatic support) Y Y Y Y ? Y Master-detail relationships - multi-level (automatic support) Y Y Y Y ? Y Automatic master-detail CRUD operations (e.g. cascading deletes) P Y ? Y Roll-up fields (automatic totalling of data from related detail records) P P Y Y Y P Y Default values can be specified conditionally Y Y Y Forms and sub-forms automatically follow entity-relationship model Relationships are inferred automatically from imported data Y Many-to-many relationships automatically resolved with link table Y Supports hierarchy within a single table Y

http://www.powerinthecloud.com/



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8.2.1. Example application: an evaluation of the suitability of database software for Information Systems teaching

The authors have applied the suggested Weighted Functionality Matrix to some of the

products mentioned earlier. We emphasise that the weightings are our own and are

entirely specific to a particular evaluation. In no way do they reflect any overall

evaluation of the power or usefulness of the products mentioned.

We carried out a quasi-quantitative evaluation of the various possible software

offerings, the findings of which appear in the subsequent tables. The evaluation was

based on a qualitative assessment of the strength of a given package against the

criterion, which was converted into a numerical form by using the first table. The

second table gives the result of the evaluation, which is certainly subjective, but

perhaps slightly less so than a purely textual description.

The table which follows is stored in the Excel file C:\R\Gen\Replacing Microsoft

Access.xls

Competing database management software

Notes Consider further?

Free for student use

Ease of learning

Multi-platform: Windows, Linux, Mac

Ease of creating web-accessible data pages

Well-known - adds to a CV

Programmability

Stable and mature

TOTAL

Weighting of this criterion 100%

200%

120%

100%

50%

50%

50%

Alpha Five Proprietary

Well-regarded development environment. Expensive.

No G G G G G G G 0

dBase Proprietary

Corel. Still being developed but a declining user base.

No G G G G G G G 0

Foxpro (later acquired by Microsoft)

Proprietary

Well-regarded development environment. No longer in active development by Microsoft.

No G G G G G G G 0

Omnis Studio RAD tool - not a DBMS. No G G G G G G G 0

Paradox Proprietary

Corel. Still being developed but a declining user base.

No G G G G G G G 0

SQLite Proprietary

Database engine. Runs in-process - is serverless. Very limited end-user tools.

No G G G G G G G 0

Sybase PowerBuilder Proprietary

RAD tool - not a DBMS. No G G G G G G G 0

Firebird Open source

Firebird is an open-source relational database management system offering many ANSI SQL:2003 features. It runs on Linux, Windows, and a variety of Unix platforms. Started as a fork of Borland's open source release of InterBase, the Firebird codebase is maintained by the Firebird Project at SourceForge. Few obvious advantages over Microsoft Access.

Yes A C B E D C D 32,6

PostgreSQL Open source

Very powerful, a bit difficult to use. Needs separate front-end tools such as SQL Maestro for PostgreSQL (chargeable) to make it usable by business students.

Yes A D B D C E A 33,1



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Oracle XE (Express Edition) Proprietary

Express Edition, introduced in 2005, offers Oracle 10g free to distribute on Windows and Linux platforms (with a footprint of only 150 MB and restricted to the use of a single CPU, a maximum of 4 GB of user data and 1 GB of memory). Support for this version comes exclusively through on-line forums and not through Oracle support. Difficult to use for business students.

Yes B D B D A E A 34,1

MySQL Open source

Very powerful, a bit difficult to use. Needs separate front-end tools such as SQL Maestro for MySQL (chargeable) to make it usable by business students. Commonly coupled with PHP, a powerful and fairly approachable programming language; widely used in small and medium enterprises.

Yes B D B D B B B 35,6

Microsoft SQL Server Express Proprietary

Microsoft SQL Server Express is the freely-downloadable and distributable version of Microsoft's SQL Server relational database management system. It offers a database solution specifically targeted for embedded and smaller-scale applications.

Yes A C E B B C B 37,2

Kexi Open source

Open source development, designed to compete with Microsoft Access and based on SQLite. At an early stage in its development. Does not currently support web access. Offers no obvious advantages over Access.

Yes A B B E E E E 38,1

Microsoft Access Proprietary

Well understood, mature technology. Easy to learn. Scales poorly in multi-user applications and is difficult to make web-accessible.

Yes B A E C A C B 44,2

OpenOffice.org Base Open source

Open source development, based on HSQLDB. At an early stage in its development.

Yes A B A D B B D 49

FileMaker Pro (formerly Claris Filemaker)

Proprietary

Strong product, multi-platform, web-capable "out of the box", but proprietary and expensive. 30-day free trial in various languages.

Yes E A B A C C A 49,6

Table 4 Competing database management software

Licence Free for student use

Ease of learning

Multi-platform: Windows, Linux, Mac

Ease of creating web-accessible data pages

Well-known - adds to a CV

Program-mability

Stable and mature

TOTAL

Weighting of this criterion 100% 200% 120% 100% 50% 50% 50%

Firebird Open source

A C B E D C D 32,6

MySQL Open source

B D B D B B B 35,6

Microsoft SQL Server Express

Proprietary A C E B B C B 37,2

Kexi Open source

A B B E E E E 38,1

Microsoft Access Proprietary B A E C A C B 44,2

OpenOffice.org Base

Open source

A B A D B B D 49,0

FileMaker Pro Proprietary E A B A C C A 49,6



Page 14 of 15

8.3. Overall characteristics of software solutions We have suggested above that there may well be very significant evaluation criteria which do

not correspond to specific functionalities, such as Architectural or Design coherence and

Methodological coherence. These are very difficult to identify and describe, let alone use as

evaluation criteria. We would also caution that an excessive concern for design purity is often

associated with tools and approaches which appeal to academics and which fail totally in the

much more pragmatic marketplace. Nevertheless, we feel that they may be very significant in

the levels of productivity achieved with tools which meet those criteria either very well or not

so well. We intend investigating this aspect empirically and experimentally.

Other Overall Characteristics need yet to be identified. One which may be particularly

significant is the “supplier lock-in” which occurs when an organisation commits to the sort of

service described in this paper.

9. Conclusions We have reviewed PC-based databases and the emergence of Web-accessible situational applications.

We have suggested the need for systematic evaluation of these new approaches and concluded that just

as the applications created are situational, so too is the evaluation – in part. These interim conclusions

also set an agenda for further research, both into the effectiveness of the applications discussed and into

new methods for evaluating them.

Concerning our research questions, we can draw interim conclusions:

What Web-accessible applications builders (or situational applications builders) exist, and what are their characteristics?

We have presented a non-exhaustive list of such tools which has

concentrated on commercially-available tools. We have here presented a

small subset of the functionalities we have identified and against which our

ongoing research is continuing to evaluate these tools.

How can business users (practising professionals and students) evaluate the most appropriate Web-accessible applications builders (or situational applications builders) to employ in a given application context?

We have shown how we evaluate functionalities using a Weighted

Functionality Matrix, and we have hinted at the difficulty involved in

obtaining the necessary data from tool suppliers.

We have suggested significant Overall Characteristics of applications.

In subsequent research, we shall refine the list of such characteristics as we

experiment in the use of specific applications builders in specific situations.



Page 15 of 15

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