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The AdAPT architectural blueprint was introduced to ASF clients in 1996.

The ASAP process blueprint was introduced to ASF clients in 1996.

Products

Over the years, Austin Software Foundry has focused on developing two core products.

• ASF's AdAPT architectural specification and associated base class libraries embody the belief that successful software development and implementation starts with a sound architectural foundation.
• ASF's ASAP software engineering process embodies the knowledge that a business-centric development process is required to produce solutions that create business value.

Business-Driven Software Architecture

Austin Software Foundry has invested years of research into object-oriented technology; focusing primarily on the implementation of domain-specific business objects. It has been active in the Object Management Group (OMG) in order to stay ahead of the market in such areas as distributed application development, object-oriented standards and breakthrough technology concepts like the Business Object Facility.

The AdAPT Base Class Library provides a foundation to create business components, kits (or frameworks) and application shells (or templates) that will further enhance ASF clients' component development environments and leverage the results of ASF's ongoing research into object technology. AdAPT has been implemented in Java, Powerbuilder and Visual Basic. It is an architectural specification, as well as a collection of software classes and components that give ASF clients an architectural foundation on which to build robust, object-oriented applications.

Austin Software Foundry engineered AdAPT to grow as the marketplace continues to define standards and set component development direction; AdAPT will be able to grow with your organization and the industry.

A major ASF customer validated the AdAPT architecture as ideally suited to web-based development due to its inherent modular and partitioned characteristics. This is an impressive achievement, given that AdAPT's original design was established two years before the World Wide Web became a serious development platform.

AdAPT is most effectively used with an object-oriented application development process like ASF's ASAP, Rational's Unified Process or one of the other rapid, iterative processes like Agile, SCRUM or DSDM. The combination of an iterative and object-oriented process, plus a robust architecture, will allow your organization to finally achieve the promises of distributed and component-based technology.

Business-Driven Software Development

Austin Software Foundry believes application development must be driven by an iterative, controlled process, bounded by well-defined architecture and infrastructure, in order to recognize the benefits of object-oriented technology. Traditional methods provide the basic steps necessary for constructing applications. However, they generally fail in creating a repeatable and consistent process that delivers opportunity for reuse, potential growth, and extension after initial deployment. These traditional methods also perpetuate risk; they don't leverage business modeling or an iterative style that creates interim deliverables for review by the end-user.

A business-driven, object-oriented process is flexible and open to adaptation to your changing business and technology requirements. The benefits to this approach are:

• greater end-user involvement and ownership of the result;
• greater potential for reuse; and
• simpler modifications or enhancements at any step in the development process or after deployment.

A business-driven process reduces risk by involving the end-users early and often, receiving feedback in the initial stages of the analysis and design. Changes early in the project life cycle can be corrected at a considerable discount, compared to those found later in the design or development phases.

An object-oriented approach provides models of the business processes rather than descriptions of business functions. Object models mimic real world objects. They are a rich representation of the business system being modeled. Because of this, object models are a valuable component in business process (re)engineering.

Modeling also is a key concept in reducing risk, providing interim snapshots of the application for review and change. It is easier to change the design of a new aircraft when a "model" has been tested in a wind tunnel rather than later on the assembly line.

The final stage in Austin Software Foundry's process is to generalize. Even in disciplined, engineering-oriented development groups, this step often is overlooked; this explains the lack of reuse in most software developed to date. The generalization phase takes the components developed for a particular application and abstracts the characteristics that are common throughout the enterprise so it can be reused in future applications. This is a key benefit to object-oriented development -- and the source of greatest Return on Investment (ROI) from this approach.