The Hindu Business Line : In sync, with every stroke

Heard of any software company finishing projects in half its usual time? No. Despite multiple coders working globally, projects get delayed due to the lack of a central database to store code.

How is this a problem? If you and I are working on the same program, our outputs could vary. Why? Because someone modified the program code at some level and your system may not have registered it.

A central storage system for all shared information on a project can record changes in code and automatically update them on user terminals. We can then avoid seeing multiple erroneous versions of code floating around.

CollabNet provides tools for global software development collaboration. This kind of development allows teams to work together in a single central environment while using existing desktop developer tools. Instead of having separate servers for coding, testing, and other processes, all data is now stored in one globally accessible server.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) wanted to eliminate re-using common codes/structures used on projects. This involved finding the source of such codes, that took a long time. Working to modify them took even longer. The company wanted a system where projects with a common architecture would be converted into a template and stored for re-use.

The company adopted CollabNet's Enterprise version 4.0 to support its J2EE Service Oriented Architecture. They addressed Lifecycle Management that relates to re-usables. A database is created to store code structures and all other information related to it, such as names of coders who worked on it. Every project has multiple code structures and each is assigned a unique ID.

All queries (called artefacts) on a particular code structure are linked to its ID. These artefacts are stored as a threaded structure giving the history of work exchanged on that code structure. This includes e-mails, discussion forums, queries, complaints and new requirements that pertain to it.

Every time a new artefact is created, it is recorded by the system and automatically sent to people who worked on it at any point in time. Prior to collaboration, one would get excel sheet updates of artefacts via e-mail.

This enhances identification of the artefact and data hoarding is prevented because all communication on an artefact is publicly stored in the database.

Single-screen dashboard

With this problem solved, TCS next looked at reducing the time spent in decision making. It created a product by which users can look at the status of all their projects through a single-screen dashboard.

Details of progress are given in the form of a 3D colour-coded circle that indicates expected date of completion, percentage of work completed and the number of man-hours required to complete it.

Each colour has a threshold level that can be set by the user. For example, a delay of over 20 days could be dangerous and hence such projects may be coded in red. Grey could indicate completed projects and green for work on time. This helps to have a quick view of the project status. If one wants more details on a project, click on the corresponding circle and one can enter that project page. This gives a colour coded stage-wise break up of the project. One can get into specific tasks and zero in on the problem. One can also see the team that worked on specific tasks and mail them suggestions to overcome the problem. All this data is available real time, thus reducing the on-site - offshore time delays to practically zero.

"Everything that a developer needs — from instructions on what to do, to templates on how to do, down to access into tools for task execution, reporting, reviewing and communication management is available through a single Web interface," says Ananth Krishnan, Chief Technology Officer, TCS.

What stands out in collaboration is the preserved context of any communication. This means all e-mails and discussion forums based on a project are linked. With generic collaboration already in use across industries, developer collaboration can ensure that companies don't move people, but move the problem.

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