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Software Development Magazine
SDWest 2004 / Show Daily / Day One
Out of control? Try SPEM
It's not a luncheon meat, it's a new OMG standard for process engineering.
By Alexandra Weber Morales
Osellus's IRIS 1.0 lets you model your process-and then make sure it's being followed. |
Here's a new acronym to add to your memory banks, courtesy of the Object Management Group: SPEM, the Software Process Engineering Metamodel, released October 2002. A two-year-old Toronto startup, Osellus Inc., claims to be the first to commercialize the standard with IRIS 1.0, a system-not a tool, COO Aditya Jha emphasized-for automating lifecycle management using the process of your choice. IBM Rational Process Workbench also utilizes the spec, according to Jha, putting Osellus in fine company.
"Where we come into play is, now that you have these methodologies, how do you ensure that the process is lived? These processes may be in binders and handbooks, but they're not living. There's no guarantee-they're being prescribed, but not practiced," Jha said.
IRIS is a J2EE application with an Oracle database and BEA WebLogic server, and a 100 percent browser-based client. "Something we think is very unique is that we use Flash for our UI. Flash has its own limitations: It didn't have a way to scale to an enterprise environment," Jha said.
Developers over Designers
According to CEO Omid Hodaie, Macromedia's latest release, Flash MX, has revamped the whole Web UI paradigm, embracing developers rather than designers. "The old Flash had a time-tracked, movie-making approach. Now it's a full-fledged scripting language, and with limited training, developers can be writing action scripts."
With 18 employees in Toronto and 26 in Bangkok, Osellus is small but well-bred: Its founders sold Isopia, a learning management software firm, to Sun in July 2001, and several of its principals are former executives from Sun Microsystems Canada.
Though they have only one customer at present, Jha has high hopes: "We see momentum in this space. We see the Kintanas of the world, and we like to say we're the earliest in the software development governance area. How do you deal with an outsourced environment, where vendors claim they're rated CMM level 5-but how do you know it's being lived in your project?"
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