ORGANISATIONAL IMPLICATIONS CAUSED
    BY    THE   FOURTH     GENERATION
    ENVIRONMENT
    Simon Holloway
    Principal Consultant
    DCE I nformation Management Consultancy
    Vice Chairman, RCS Data Management Specialist Group
    Copyright S.R. Holloway



    1.        INTRODUCTION

    Every person involved in the system development life-cycle will be affected by the
    increasing level of automation and support. Some traditional data processing roles will be
    radically altercd, while some will become obsolete. With the adoption of automated
(
    methods, the concentration of human effort will be in the planning, analysis and design
    stages. New skills will need to be acquired by the programmers of today if they arc to
    adapt to the changing environment. Allhough the development of an organisation's major
    data and processing architectures Illay still involve large teams, much of the subsequellt
    application systcms developmclll will be achieved by small teams or by individuals.

    At the time of the first Unicom Seminar on thc subject of fourth Generation Tools, two of
    the UK's leading independent consultgants had seperatcly looked at what were the possible
    areas of impact of Fourth Generation Tools on an Organisation.

    David Gradwell [I] felt that there were three major areas of impact on organisational
    requirements due to new application development tools, be they 4th generation systems or
    Design Aids or whatever. The organisational stllrcture would need to evolve to meet these
    new needs. He stated that the three were as follows:-

             The distinction between prograllllllers and analysts will weaken and then disappear.

             The importance of strategic analysis is increased. Data administration will become
             essentirtl. Cross project planning ;1I1c1 cross user department planning will become
             essential.

             End users will need support in rheir use of decision support software. This will
             further emphasise the need for a data administration funclion.

    Roger Tagg [21 believed that there were thrce areas of change needed for an organisation to
    successfully usc Fourth Generation systems:-

             The demarcation lines between programmcrs and analysts become less valid.

             The position of" c!,lta processing within the organisation will change, with the
             IlCCCSS;II)' change in the sort of person who is manager of the area - Illorc a business
             manager.

             The involvement or end users in ;\c(lIally developing solutions to their own
             problems.

    As C:Ill be seen, they agreed Oil nnly two ;ISpcctS. namely Ille distinction between
    programlllers alld ;1Il1ysts, and the involvl'mcilt (If Cl1d~llscrs. Since thi;ll time, the Illslilule
    of Data Processing Man:lgcmenl ",,\'C issucd a rcport I:II, which ":IS suggcsted Ih"t
    Or9~nis<)tjonallmp!icalions C~us()d hy tile 'Ith Generation Fnviroflfllcnl                    P<tge: 2
organisations who have purchased Fourth Generation tools have not been successful as
they expected. It is prehaps unfortunate, that no real reasons for this situation, were
discussed in the report. My own fcelings are that Ihis situationis due to 2 main factors;-

•       Firstly, the size of the sample of organisation who were involve in the survey, was
        not represenlsative of all the producls

        Secondly, and of far greater imporlance, the organisations had not thought about
        changing their methodology for developing systems, the new software and it
        associated new techniques, as well as catering for the new problems that the
        software causes.

In this paper, I shall put forward my ideas for changes to the orgabisation that need to be
considered to take full advantage of fourth Generation Tools and to prepare for the coming
Fifth Generation products. The areas [ shall cover are as follows ;-

                •        Application Developers
                •        Data Administration
                •        Database Administration
                •        Project Management
                         Security Administration
                         End User Involvement


2.        APPLICATION               DEVELOPERS                    NOT   ANALYST     OR
          PROGRAMMER

Fourth generation products have been designed to shicld developers from some of the
major time-consumming environmelllal elemellls they have had to deal with in the past;
such as operating system, JCL, TP monitor, etc. This liberates time which the developer
can use in concentrating upon the organisation - the actual business problem being
addressed - and improves communication between data processing and users. Figure 1
illustrates this point.




                                                                  The
                                                                  Organisation




                                                               4th Generation
                                                               System

             ProgrolTlITllng
             Language




             Before                                                    Afte r
                Figure 1. ; Fourth Generation Software impact on Developers

Fourth generation products also enable developers and end-users to develop applications

Organisational Implications Caused by the 4th Generation Environment                Page: 3
    much faster than with conventional languages. The developer can often create programs
    that have a tenth of the number of instructions that COBOL would require, and in a tenth of
    the time. The end-user is helped by Fourth Generation languages by being able to specify
    what he/she wants the computcr to do, and not how to do it. This has led to a new problem
    , that of the overworked analyst.

    David Gradwell at VLDB in Brighton [41 felt that Fourth Generation products in the main
    did help in the following areas :-

            Productivity gains in program coding and testing

            Reduction in the need to understand TP monitors and Database Management
            Systems

            Easier end-user access to data
(
    On the other hand, he saw that Fourth Generation tools had led to overloaded development
    machines as wcll as giving no real support to the analysis phase of the development of a
    system. In addition the majority of Fourth Generation products had tow major failings :-

(           No support for word processing and text management

            Lillie or no version control

    He went onto talk about the arrival of CASE tools, and stated his belief that there was a
    collision between these two sets of products. It is my beleif that we need both sets of tools
    to be able to fully develop and maintain applications. The current way in which certain
    CASE toools have reverted to generate COBOL, and their rigidity in making changes, I feel
    is a backward step. When working for Applied Data Research, earlier this year, I found
    that it was their beleif that you needed both sets of tools need to co-exist ,not only for ease
    of maintenance, but also to evolve rather than revolutionise application development


               Analyst's                   workbench                         ADTs



                                                 \~
(




                    figure 2: fourth Generation Products - CASE Tools Clash '?

    As far as systems development careers are concerl1ed, the demand for data processing
    expertise will continue. End users will not want to manage large scale "prOduction"
    applications themselves, and Information Ccntres will not be used for this purpose.
    However, there will be a trend for data processing proressionals to specialise in a certain
    industry. The background of an individual in banking, insurance, or manufacturing will
    Organisational Implications Caused by the 4th Generation EnvilOnment                    Page: 4
become more and more important as compared to cxperience with this or that operating
system or programming language. Also, personal communication skills will become a
major factor in job placcment and advancement. The data proccssing community must
lcarn to speak the language of the user, not expect the user to Icarn data proccssing jargon.
Again, fourth gencration languagcs have the goal of cxprcssing a program in business
terms rather than data proccssing terms. Using a common language will improve
communication skills, we will see the ascendancy of information centre specialists. These
are individuals with high communication skills who are well trained in the usage of
infonnation centre products. Thcy serve as a rcsourcc to assist cnd-users in developing
their own applications in the information centrc.

In a combination of CASE and Fourth Generation tools, data processing will havc a two-
edged sword that will speed the phases of an application life-cycle. At the same time, they
will radically effect the working practices, not only of developers and analysts, but also the
end-user must contribute more to the analysis and design process.


3         PROJECT MANAGEMENT
 Without a project manager, bad systems are implemented late and over budget. Sometimes
there is no doubt that this happens with a project manager, but the single most over-riding
characteristics of a project manager is he/she achieves goals, reaches targets and delivers on
time. Expected to manage technology, people and the change process, the project manager
can face the following potential difficulties even before the development process for a new
system has begun:

        dissatisfaction of users with previously developed computer-based systems;

        project management methods and organisation structures inappropriate for new
        systems development;

•       inadequately skilled systems development staff;

        poorly devcloped systems planning mechanisms.

The project manager will nced to be tcchnically competent so as to choose the technical
computing strategies most appropriate for the application development. He will need to be
                                                                                                 (
an effective planned, a good controller of his team and sensitive to the problems of
implementing change. He will need to be a good manager of his team and capable of
training members to discharge their dutics efficicntly. Part of his success will depend on
the organisational relationships between himself and the rest of the organisation. It is
important for the project manager to establish a firm base in the organisational hierarchy
and, in particular, to be sure of his own upward reporting mechanism.

The role of the project manager can be divided into 5 components, as shown in Figure 3. It
is likely that the project manager will need to review and constantly modify the business
justification for the projcct.




Organisational Implications Caused by the 41h Generation Environment                   Page: 5
                                                 PROJECT MANAGEMENT


                                                            I
            I                         I                         I                I                     I
        REVIEW                     PLAN                   CONTROL           MANAGE                MANAGE
        BUSINESS                   PROJECT                PROGRESS          STAFF                 CLIENT
        JUSTIFICATION                                                                             RELATIONSHIP


            I                         I
                                    HARD PLAN
                                                                I
                                                           RECORD       1
                                                                                 I
                                                                             SELECT           1
                                                                                                       I
                                                                                                   PLAN CLIENT
    1    PREPARE               I                      I
         COST/BENEFIT               FOR NEXT               EVENTS            AND TRAIN             INVOLVEMENT
         ANALYSIS                   STAGE
                                                      2    PREDICT      2    LEAD AND         2    REPORTS
    2    PREPARE              2     SOFT PLAN              COMPLETION        MANAGE                PROGRESS
         REPORTS                    FOR FUTURE
                                    STAGES            3    REPORT                             3    RESOLVES
(                                                          PROGRESS                                PROBLEMS


                             Figure 3: Five Components of Project Management

    During the project development cycle, there is a constant need for everyone in the team to
(   reinforce the benefits of the work being done. Short and long term plans will need to be
    prepared in detail, justified and costed out; and the preparation of hard plans for the next
    stage and soft plans for future stages will be an important paI1 of the project manager's job.
    This is because there are always deviations from the plan which, when identified, will
    cause re-planning to be done. Controlling progress means monitoring the work of others
    and hence there is a need to manage staff. The project manager is also responsible for
    managing the relationships between the team and the client. This means many things from:

    •           influencing the altitudes of the client staff;

    •           controlling and motivating his own people to present a positive and helpful altitude
                towards the client;

                selling new ideas;

                reporting progress.

    In a modern 4th Generation environment, the notion of creating or establishing an
    application system and application programs is an activity, which is distinct from writing
    the application program. While in some organisations the same person might do both
    tasks, in other organisations the task of establishing applications and their assigned
    resources may be accomplished by an "Application Administrator", who may be a Project
    Leader, Data Administrator, Chief Programmer or Developer. This person detennines the
    specific application programs which are going to be built and assigns to the specific
    dataviews, panels, reports and other programs. This role is a distinct role from writing the
    application program.


    4.          ORGANISATIONAL                             IMPLICATIONS                  OF          DATA
                ADMINISTRATION

    The positions of the Data Administrator and the Database Administrator are relatively new
    to data processing environments. Traditionally, their functions and responsibilities are
    handled by various people participating in individual projects or dcpartments within the
    proccssing environment. Howcvcr, the databasc environment makes it necessary to
    centralise control and managemcnt under one administrative group.


    Organisational Implications Caused by the 4th Generation Environment                               Pago: 6
Data Administration, according to the I3ritish Computer Society Data Administration
Working Party (DA WP) [51. will primarily have a co-ordinating role, and will otherwise
playa controlling role, related to the use of data. A more active role that this should only
be adopted when necessary to advise, train, or co-ordinate to achieve specific longer term
goals. There arc areas where guidelines need to be drawn. Outside these areas, data
administration will rarely have authority or responsibility, but as general rule, inside them
data administration will be involved at a level that renects the level of existing or potential
data related problems. Data administration is not responsible for actual data values of the
data of the organisation, but will be concerned with the meaning of the data. A definition
derived by DAWP [6] for data administration is as follows:

Data Administration is the corporate service which assists the provision of infonnation
systems by controlling and/or co-ordinating the definitions [format and characteristics] the
usage of reliable and relevant data. Data that is internal to an organisation can be
cOJ1lrolled, whilst data from external sources leg. tax rates, independent marketing slllveys]
that is used by an organisation can only be co-ordinatcd.

Data administration is primarily concerned with problems that cross company
organisational boundaries. It follows that the relationship between data administration and
the organisational structure is the crux of data administration.

Data administration is as concerned with the way the company is organised as it is with the
data - someone with a mathematical bent might define data administration as the intersection
of data and the organisational structure.

In order to have successful data administration - that is to have good data - a company must
be prepared to pay the necessary price. This price is not so much in terms of money and
resources, but in terms of organisational willingness to adapt, co-operate and spend time
and effort helping to set up and carry out successful data administration. There are
companies where the different parts and functions are not prepared to co-operate with each
other, where any issue crossing organisational boundaries is seized on purely as an
opportunity for political in-fighting. There is virtually no chance of making data
administration work in such companies. Attempts to set up data administration will fail,
and can be of value solely in showing up this intrinsic weakness within the company.

The scope of the Data Administration function must be as wide as is needed by a particular
organisation, in order to achieve the aims of cost effective use of the data of the               (
organisation. A Data Administration function will always perform a service role, and will
be involved in the identification and solution of the data aspects of the problems of the
organisation. Data Administration does not directly control data, except data about the data
of the organisation and data about its own function.

4.1       Resposibilities of Data Administration

There are a number of areas in which the Data Administrator should have responsibilities
assigned to him. These breakdown into roughly 14 major task areas:

        Data Administration Policy - the establishment of the principles of data management
        which in their turn detennine the responsibilities of Data Adminisn·ation.

        Identification of Corporate Infol111ation rcquirements - The determination and the
        obtaining of acceptance of the policies for the identification of corporate
        requ iremeJ1ls.

        Generating a corporate awarcness of data - Thc cducation of thc company of the
        importance of data. An awareness of the value of data as a company asset has to
        be created. In addition, the knowledge of what data exists and for what purpose the
        data is used must be communicated.
Organisational Implications Caused by the 4th Generation Environment                    Page: 7
        Data Analysis - The selection of the data analysis methods in conjunction with the
        development of procedures for its use. Assistance with the production of business
        data models and the monitoring of the consistency of the results.

        Data definition - The establishment of standards for the definition of data and the
        medium for the recording and conllllunication of the definitions.

        Data Dictionary control - The establishment of the requirements for procedures for
        data dictionary comrol.

        Problems related to data.

•       Physical Data Models - in that Database Administration (5), provides technical
        support for data administration: Performing database design and development,
        being responsible for organising and defining the logical view of data, providing
        education on database technology, and providing support to users in operational
        database related activities.

•       Impact assessment - assessing thc impact of data changes.

        Data Acccss - The design and gaining acccptance of access authorisation rules for
        an organisation. The arbitration of disputes that arisc from requests for access to
        data.

        Privacy, Security and Integrity - The implementation and the ensuring of
        compliance within the company of aspects of the Data Protection Act. The
        establishment of the strategy for specifying the requirements for privacy of data.
        The determination of the strategy ensurement that the requirements for data
        integrity, data security and privacy are addressed during physical systems design.

        Data Duplication - The promotion of a policy for a single source of data and the
        encouraging of the sharing of data across applications.

•       Data Archiving - The establishmem of a strategy for archiving data.

•       Monitoring usage of data - Monitoring live runnning to ensurc that the strategies for
        data integrity, data security and privacy are bcing followed. Monitoring the use and
        the content of the data dictionary to cnsure compliance with the established rules.

The responsibilities of the Data Administrator will vary from company to company. The
responsibilities will vary both in areas covered and the degrec of responsibilities involved.
Thus the Data Administrator may conlrol, manage, advise, audit, plan, set standards - or
any combination. It would be wrong an~1 dangerous to try to specify a set of exact
responsibilities that will suit all companies. The right SCi of rcsponsibilities for the
individual company will depcnd on the particular naturc, business and history of the
company. There are however, certain factors Ihat will strongly affect the responsibilities of
the Data Administrator:

•       homogenity or complexity of company structure;

        company policy on centralisation and decentralisation;

        use of Database Managemcnt Syslcm;

        system inconsistencies;

        data protection legislation;

Organisational Implications Caused by lha 4th Generation Environment                  Page:S
        corporate business plans.


5.      THE CHANGING ROLE OF THE DATABASE ADMINISTRATOR

The Database Administrator is primarily responsible For the technical implementation of the
database environment, the day-to-day operations of the database, and the policies
goveming its everyday use. The Database Administrator's responsibilities include:

•       Establishing technical standards and guidelines: Makes sure that all he data are
        defined, organised, and represented in such a way that multiple uses and
        applications are allowed, and that end-users, programmers, and analysts have
        speciFic, standard guidelines by which data may be input, updated or accessed.

•       Supporting policies and conventions of management: Makes sure that the users
        maintain the policies and conventions determined by management, including the
        Data Administrator, governing the use and evolution of the database.

•       Reviewing application system candidates: Determines whether conform to the
        design requirements of the database or whether they need to be modified before
        they are converted to the database system.

•       Database design: Analyses the needs of the users on a priority basis and employs
        the most cost-effective techniques for the design of the database to ensure that the
        immediate and future requirements of the users are met effectively.

•       Control of the database environment: Continues monitoring and control of the
        database environment aFter the system is in full operation, including data dictionary
        maintenance, system additions or extensions, and documentation.

•       Technical implementation of data integrity requirements: Implements the necessary
        data locks and restriction, conducts periodic security audits, supervises the
        authorisation of access to specific data, and invcstigates all known security breaches
        to protect the integrity of the data in the database.

•       Training for the database environment: Ilolds responsibility for the education and
        training of the users in the principle~ and policies of database use which includes
        making current documentation available to the users.

The Database Administrator is a clearing house, a central agency for the collection,
classification, and distribution of the information and skills necessary to the success and
maximum benefit of the database system.

The Database Administrator's primary Functions have lain in the areas of design, control,
and evolution.

5.1       Design

The Database Administrator designs the database to reflect the immediate needs of the users
and accommodate their Future needs. Some of the general responsibilities of the Database
Administrator in the design of the database include the definition of the content and the
organisation of the database [data structure!. the deFinition of the access to the database
[including the logical and physical reFerence paths and methods!, and the allocation of
physical storage in the databasels]. The database design not only should reflect the users'
needs at the time of the design, but it should also provide the means for incremental growth
throughout its life cycle to meet the Future needs of the users. ThereFore, the design effort
is extremely impol1ant to the overall success of the database system.


Organisationallmplicalions Caused by the 4th Generation Environment                    Page: 9
    There are two major impacts on the way in which this role has to evolve, namely Foyrth
    generation tools and CASE tools. With thc former, there is need to be able to adapt current
    physical design techniqucs to work with prototyping systems. To gain the maximum
    benefits, the underlying Database management Systems must, Ibeleive be relational, so as
    to take advatage of flexibility and of ease of use. Both Applied Data Research [7] and
    Cincom [8] have done something in this area. The second impact fonn Fourth Generation
    Systems on design is the ability to exploit tuning possibilities effectively. This nonnally
    seems only to be possible within a fully integrated environment, ie. the database
    management system and Fourth Generation product arc supplied by the same supplier. In
    the case of CASE tools, as thcy progress further down the line of first generation of
    physical model from conceptual model, the black art of design for a particular database
    management system disappears. This is the area where Expert systems are really stat1ing to
    get a hold, for the vast majority of design techniques can be implemented as sets of rules.
    The role of the Database Administrator wi 11 therefore lessen in this area of design.

(   5.2       Control

    After the database system is in full operation, the Database Administrator initiates control
    techniques to assure the consistent and effective perforll1ance of the system.

(   Through testing and acceptance procedures, the Database Administrator is satisfied that the
    design of the database is fulfilling the immediate requirements of the system, and that it is
    evolving properly to COnf0I111to the future requirements of the system. By monitoring the
    inputs and outputs of data through edit and validation rules, data checking, and access
    connuls, the Database Administrator identifies any inconsistencies in data integrity.

    The Database Administrator also reviews all existing application systems for their
    consistency with the data definition and usage standards, so the systems can be effectively
    converted to the database environment without major revisions. The Database
    Administrator makes sure that the development of new application systems effectively meet
    the users' requirements as well. The Database Administrator monitors the use of the
    database through access statistics and request/response statistics to assure the maximum
    efficiency of the system.

    In this area, once again Database management System suppliers are working to automate
    the tuning process, through the use of Expert system technology.

    5.3       Evolution

    The Database Administrator determines the specifications and design of the extensions,
    services, and utilities for the database environment. The Database Administrator also
    documents the evolution of the environment via the data dictionary. The Database
    Administrator maintains the system development life cycle and the procedures for security,
    privacy, integrity, and recovery. This helps to assure that the system remains effective in
    meeting both the current and future needs of the users.

    This role is still needed. It is very difficult to envisaged there being no human involvement
    in the sort of tasks descibed.


    6.        SECURITY           ADMINISTRATION

    The issues of privacy, security and integrity within the database environment are important
    in database design, performance and maintenance. Privacy, security and integrity are all
    closely related concepts, but, in fact, the differences among the three are substantial. The
    specific definition of each of the concepts are as follows:



    Organisational Implications Caused by the 41h Generation Environment                 Page: 10
                Privacy              the right of individuals or institutions to control the
                                     collection and dissemination of personal infonnation

                Security             the protection of the computer resources from accidental
                                     or intentional destruction, modification, or disclosure

                Integrity            the correctness, accuracy, and timeliness of data within a
                                     certain level of appropriateness

The Data Administrator and the Database Administrator are responsible for the privacy,
security, and integrity within thc darabase environment including all data and processing.
Security of the databasc includes the protection of data from deliverate or inadvertent
disclosure, modification or destruction. System intcgrity is thc consistency, completeness,
adherence to specifications, freedom from intrusion, and predictability of a system.

6.1       Computer Security Issues                                                                (
One might ask at this point, "Why do wc nccd security?" The answer is not a simple one.
One of the primary reasons is the growing realisation that data is an asset of a company.
Because computer professionals have done such a good job of establishing computer
resources in the business environment, many businesses today would not survive beyond a
week to ten days if they could not process their data. I'or example, imagine how long a
bank or department store would stay in business without its computerised data of the ability
to process it.

Many years ago when data processing was a purely 'batch' process, security and control
were implemented through external, physical mcasures. The exposure was low because
much of a company's vital information was not stored on the computer. As data
processing has matured, almost all of a company's data has moved to the computer.
Storage of all records on computers means that highly scnsitive infoJ111ation about company
planning strategies or personnel is now stored electronically rather than in someone's
locked filing cabinet.

As we make advances in computing technology, the exposures associated with potential
loss of integrity in our computing environment also increases. The development of large
shared databases, increased ability to access this data online, and the proliferation of remote
terminals is no longer restricted to computing professionals. For instance, consider the
growth of Automatcd Teller Machines, Point of Sale Tenninals, grocery checkout scanners
and the increased use of electronic transfer of funds, all of which have directly affected the
general public.

Of course, this increased impact of computers on the gcneral public has also enhanced
public awareness of security issues. The public is rapidly becoming aware that the data is
now owned by the bank or the credit service bureau, but that the data is really theirs. So
the need for accuracy and integrity of data is coming closer to home for the general public.
Anyone who has ever had a personal loan request rcfused because of information supplicd
by one of the many credit agencics has certainly felt the impact of the need for data
accuracy.

Another item of incrcased public awareness is the publication from time to time of incidents
of the use of computers to perpetrate fraud or embezzle money. While only the largest
cases receive widespread notoriety, each insurance funding scandal or misappropriation of
funds through the misuse of computers plans yct anothcr seed of doubt in the mind of the
public.

The last and perhaps most important incentive for the establishment of computing security
is the increascd interest by legislative bodies in accounting controls and individual privacy.
Legislation is now in force in the following countries:

Organisalionallmplications Caused by the 4th Generation Environment                    Page: 11
          USA
          France
          West Gemlany
          Sweden
          Canada
          UK
6.2       What to Secure?

What we have to ask ourselves is what should we be protecting:-

        Is it the data itself?

        Is it access to the data?

        Is it access to the physical storage devices on which the data is stored?

        Or is it some combination of the above?

To answer this question we must look at the objectives of Security Administration which
are as foilows:-

        To implement the Security Policy of your organisation, using the security facilities
        that are available on the market place that are the most cost effective.

        To maintain the security details apperwining to your organisation.

Therefore Security in my view, should be based on data and data content, and not on
storage device and terminal access. What son of facilities have you available in your 4th
Generation Environment? Well beside OEM access control packages, such as RACF and
ACF Il, certain 4GE products have facilities in built in them to protect the data of your
organisation and access to it. This is normally implemented by the use of facilities in the
underlying dictionary and/or database management system.


7.        END USER INVOLVEMENT AND SUPPORT

The watchword of the Eighties and the Nineties is user involvement. The end user will be
involved in every aspect of data processing, including design, development and testing.
Singer [9] states that the demand for this involvement has come from factors which
operatecl in the late Sixties andtlie Seventies :-

        A strong feeling that data processing technology was so complicated that
        accountants, managers, etc. could not possibly understand it. As a result,
        organisations consistently found that computer systems did not meet the basic needs
        of the users.

        The rising cost of complicated systems was another factor. the time taken to
        develop systems is longer, and in addition requires more people to work on it. The
        hardware cost per CPU cycle may have dropped, but the cost in development time
        has risen dramatically.

        The consideration of purchased sortware packages as being a valid alternative to in-
        house development, is a third factor. the selection of a good package requires
        experts not only from data processing but also from the end user groups.

        The growing awareness or end users lhat the data they need to perform their jobs
Organisational Implications Caused by the 11th Generation Envifonment               Page: 12
       can be obtained from the computer.

If the tTend towards direct user involvement is to be successful, data processing managers
should take the lead in developing a planned, realistic approach to working with end users,
Too often a combined team of data processing personnel and end users will sit round a
table with all the co-operation of two nine-year-old boys fighting overe a cricket bat! In the
Eighties and Nineties, such unbusinesslike behaviour cannot be tolereated. The stakes of
economical survival and profitability arc now too high to allow individuals or groups to
play ego games inside an organisation .. data processing managers are in a perfect position
to break the cycle of disagreement and mistrust which seems to developed whenever their
staff and the end users get together. Several very simple steps have been suggested by
Singer [9] to help insure that such a team approach can be achieved :-

•      Nontechnical users must be educate in basic data processing concepts, such as disk
       versus tape operations, database as opposed to conventional files, and in-house
       development versus purchased packages. The nature of the educational process will
       depend on the situation and circumstances of the organisation and the specific
       project.

•      Verify that all data processing staff involved an a design project with users have a
       basic understanding of the application in question. Just as many data processing
       managers are surprised by the lack of basic computer knowledge of users, user
       management are equally surprised at the lack of communication caused by data
       processing staff who have absolutely no idea what users are talking about.

•      Once bothe data processing and users have been eross-trsained to some degree, data
       processing managers can then take the lead by planning the entire task around a
       formalised project management approach. The degree of formalisation will depend
       on the length. the complexity, and the importance of the task or project in question.

Besides user involvement in the development of thier own systems, there is another
significant trend in recent years, namely the Information Centre. The function of an
InfomJation Centre is to encourage, train, and support end users to develop applications
themselves. With help, end users can generate a wide variety of applications including data
query, data input and editing, report generation, decision-support systems, and many
classes of application programs. The traditional data processing systems life cycle is thus
bypassed, which gives users results much fater, but at a cost ot their own time. In theory,
developers are then free to concentrate on systems without having to shift priorities to
accomodate an end-user's ad hoc requests.

Information Centres utilise a wide variety of languages and tools. usally these facilities
include general purpose tools such as query languages, report generators, grphic
generators, decision support systems, and application generators. Additional specialisied
tools may also be used for financial planning, statistical analysis, project management, text
processing, desk-top publishing, and coputer-aided design. It is important to note in regard
to this area that although the software tools get most of the spotlight, they still need to
operate upon data. The data has to be stored and managed somehow, usually by a database
management system. The choice of database management system will actually set limits
upon what end users can and canuot do with those friendly software tools. Two distinct
schools of thought on this subject have eve loved, namely the "truth database approach" and
the "dual database approach".The dual database approach manadates that redundancy
between opersational systems and decsision support systems is a valid approach. Examples
of database management systems that support this arc lflM's DB2 and [MS, FOCUS,and
[CL's IDMS with INGRES, The truth database approach dictates that there will be one and
only one copy of the database for all users, Examples of database management systems that
support this approach arc Applied Data Research's DATACOM/DB, Cincom's TlS/XA and
Cullinet's IDMS/R,


Organisationallmplicalions Caused by the 4th Generation Environmont                   Pago: 13
The Information Centre has not only had to tackle this software probl;em of which
approach to adopt, but also has fallcn into the mistake of "empire building" in a number of
instances. The Information Centre should provide assistance to the end users to develop
their own solutions and not to do the work itself. The one main exception to this mle would
be in the case of board level management. Here the best way that I have heard of was
describe by David Owen of ICL Asia Pacific Pty Limited at MNCC'85 [10]. Each Senior
Executive had a computer expert as an assistant. This person provided the technical
knowledge and wisdom to be able to extract the required information using the best
possible software tool in the quichest possible manner. In the paper he described how these
consultants were used to help the executives put together the organisation's yearly plan,
whereas it used to take some 3 monthes to do this, it was now possible to do this in 3
lVeeks.Here we have a fine example of effective use of data processing people with good
knowledge of a business area, providing effective and efficient service to the end users.

Perhaps the greatest danger of Information Centre operation, or of the spread of small
computers and user-friendly software, is that multiple, uncoordinated data structures will
be used. The answer to this is well-controlled data administration.


8.        CONCLUSIONS

If we are to effectively use Fourth Generation tools, we must be prepared to evolve our
organisational structures. The role of data processing is changing rapidly and the needs of
our end users are changing even more and even faster. With the realisation amonst senior
user management, that to survive in business in the Eighties and the Nineties, they will
need to be able to tap the Information Resource more effectively and to control it, we in
data processing have to be able to respond quickly and effectively. This is not possible
with :-

        the use of Third Generation Languages

•       the use of Third Generation methodologies, such as SSADM and Tnfromation
        Engineering in their current f0I111

        the rigidity of the current data processing organisation, as shown in figure 4

        the demaraction line and in-fighting between end users and data processing

                                   Financial         Director

                                                 I
                                          DP Manager

                      I
                                                 I                              I
               Development                                                Operations
               Manarer                                                    Man.lger



                                                                  or
       Systems             Programming
                                                          Technical
                                                          Support
                                                          Administrator

                 Figure 4 : Traditional Data Processing Dep;u·tment Strucutre


Organisationallmplicalions Caused by the 4th Generation Environment                      Page: 14
How can we tacklc this? What is it we must do?
Fourth Generation Languages in themselves are not thc auswer. A new langauage will only
help in the coding and teating phases of an application's life cycle. We need to be able to
assist the analysis and design phases much more to produce the goods for our end users.
The adoption of prototyping techniques, has certainly, where done in a controlled way,
proved to be of assistance in the design phase. The CCTA have already started to adapt
SSADM to use prototyping and to work more effectively with certain Fourth Generation
Tools [11]. LBMS and CACI have also started to adapt their methodologies to use
prototyping.
The currently avaiable methodologies are very paper oriented. David Gradwell [4] has
spoken of them not only building paper mountains but of building paper mountain ranges!




                               Figure 5 : Paper Mountain Ranges

It is here that CASE tools will assist with the automation of documentation and graphics.
They will also provide the means of tackling the "analyst overload". We must be prepared       (
to adopt a methodology that suits our organisation, as well as being able to work with our
current software and hardware. To take advantage of Fourth Generation technology the
methodology we choose must support not only prototyping but also structured analaysis
and design. The methodology must be flexible, so that ncw techniques can replace old ones
without a complete redo of the methodology. This is only possible if the methodology is
based on a framework approach, as advocated by the British Computer Society Database
Specialist Group's Information Systcms Analysis and Design (ISAD) workiug party in
their Journal of Development [12].

The structure of data processing must evolve to take account of the changes in demand
upon its service, and the changes in technology. Too often I have seen as a consultant
organisations, whose structure is bascd upon technology of the late Sixties, with the
power base in the wrong hands.In addition data processing managers are themselves to
blame for their lack of knowledge of new software and techniques. They havc not spent
time on keeping abrcast of our changing world. Wc must understand the importance of data
as a resource to our organisations, and givc powcr within data processing, if not within the
organisation to the adminiatration of this resource. I have in a forthcoming book looked at
ways that Data Administration can bc evolved in an organisation to get to the right level
[13]. But it is not just data administration that is important. Development of systems has
changed dramatically, thanks in the main to Fourth Generation technology and to adoption
Organisational Implications Caused by the 4th Generation Environment                Page: 15
    of methodologies. The use of teams of coders, designers, analysts and end users has
    proved effective when all the right planning has been done up front.

    What sort of organisation should we being aiming for then? In figure 6, I show what I
    believe should be our goal.

                                            Managing
                                            Director




                  Sales                     Information              Finance
(                 Director                  Resource                 Director
                                            Director




(



                    Data           End user    Application Machine
                    Administration Consultants Development Administration
                                               Teams
                          Figure 6: Data Processing - The Future structure?

    The probable outcome of the latest Fifth Generation work will be to strengthen
    communications between users and developers. This communication will not be confined
    as at present to the specification document, but will use computer graphics facilities, as
    seen in· current CASE tools and prototyping techniques. If the prototype is to be easily
    converted to the final system then Fourth generation tools technology I an sure will be used
    as a basis for the software needed.

    The use of Fourth Generation systems and CASE tools will remove the current bottleneck
    of systems development, but only if data processing itself recognises that it must reorganise
    itself. In addition we must realise that software tools on their own will not help. Neither
    will methodologies on their own solve the problem. It is the combination of the ltols and
    the techniques with the right organisation.

    The potential for new methods and machines and software within an intelligent workbench,
    falls under the heading of "knowledge transfer". This includes not only the initial capture of
    knowledge during analysis, but also all mapping activities, such as physical databas
    edesign. In each case, the rules governing the activity will be defined and used in a rule-
    based expert system, to support and automate a given function in the application life cycle.
    These principles of knowledge engineering and artificial intelligence, combined with the
    use of models of the business and prototyping will allow the users of computer systems to
    become more colpletely involved in their creation. Computer systems will become an
    extension of the business, with the creation of new systems and maintenence of existing
    systems being triggered solely by changes in the business environment.




    Organisational Implications Caused by Ihe 4th Generation Environment                  Page: t 6
REFERENCES
I.      APPLICATION GENERATORS FOR IMPROVED PRODUCTIVITY,
        D.J.L.Gradwell, How to manage The Information Resource, Edited by
        S.Holloway, British Computer Society Database Specialist Group, 1985.

2.      ORGANISATIONAL ENVIRONMENT OF SUCCESSFUL USE OF 4GLS AND
        AGS, R..Tagg, Fourth Generation Languages and Application Generators, edited
        by D.Martland, S.Holloway and L.Ilhabuta, The Technical Press - Unicom
        Applied Infonnation Technology Report Series, 1986.

3.      4GL REPORT, VOLUME I A SURVEY OF IlEST PRACTICE, Institute of Data
        Processing Managers,I986

4.      ANALYST/DESIGNER WORKBENCHES, D.J.L.Gradwell, 13th VLDIl
        Conference, Brighton, September 1987

5.      DATA ADMINISTRATION: A MANAGER'S GUIDE, Ilritish Computer Society
        Data Administration Working Party, 1988.

6       INTERNAL PAPER OF BRITISH COMPUTER                            SOCIETY   DATA
        ADMI1\'lSTRATION WORKING PARTY 1982.

7       METHODOLOGY SALES PACK, Applied Data Research UK Ltd., 1987

8       TIS/XA MANTIS SALES BROCHURE, MAN-003-25M-8604-TH&W, Cineom

9.      THE DATA PROCESSING MANAGER'S SURVIVAL MANUAL [A GUIDE
        FOR MANAGING PEOPLE AND RESOURCES], L.M.Singer, John Wiley and
        Sons, 1982.

10.     PRACTICAL BENEFITS OF EXECUTIVE DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS,
        David Owen and Mark C.Volpato,Proceedings of the Malayasian National
        Computer Conference, Knala Lumper, Malayasia, November 1985

II.     SSADM IMPLENTATION (QuichIluild), Information Systems Engineering
        Report, Information Technology in the Civil Service, CCTA, Draft for
        development, ]anuart 1987                                                          (

12.     INFORMATION SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT: A FLEXII3LE FRAMEWORK,
        Journal of Development, Infolmation Systems Analysis and Design Working Party,
        British Computer Society Database Specialist Group, editor R.Maddison, 1983-84

13.     DATA ADMINISTRATION, Simon Holloway, Gower Technical Press,I988




Organisationallmplicalions Caused by the 4th Generation Environment             Page: 17
             Organisational Implications
             caused by the Fourth
             Generation environment




    SR Holloway
(
    Principle Consultant
    DCE Information Management Consultancy
    43(45 St John Street, London, EC1 M 4AN
(   Telephone: 01 4901242


      10/1




             Organisational
             Implications
(


             o   The present

             o   "The causes for change"

             o   The new roles

             o   The effect on the organisation


      10/1
   -- " / \
10/3




       Technology explosion
        o       Database Management
                Systems
                 Hierarchical ~             ~ Network

                                 Inverted list

                                       ~
                          ~~-
                System R ...      elatlonal (V.1)   Codd 1970



        DB2
            I          INGRES
                             I   Relatl:nal (V.2)
                                       ~
                                                    Codd 1982

                                 Relational (V.3)   Codd 1985


                ISO standard lor Sal 1987



10/4
            Technology explosion
             o    Data dictionary systems
             o    Query Languages

             o    Fourth Generation Languages

             o    CASE Tools
(




    10/5




      Almlication life cycle
             "The Evolution of
             Methodologies"           Structured
                                      Programming


             Quiet!       Functional
                                             "-..
                                             Structured
             Genius - -.. Analysis   - -.... Analysis &
             at work                         Design


                                                       """ SSADM
                                                      /StYle

                          ~ Normalisation

                    ~~~fYSiS             ti
                                 ---... Entity  . /
                                                       / ~ry9~neering
                                                            Information




                                        Modelling




     10/6
       The almlication backlog

                         Application
         Help!           Types          Invisible
                                        Backlog
                        - Ad hoc
                        - New
                        - Maintenance
                       Application       'What
             1::=::::::~Life Cyc Ie     the
                           • Design
                                        user has
                           - Build      not told
                           - Test       us
                                        about' .




10/7




         The present day
         o    We have a lot of software
  .~

         o    We have a lot of techniques
              We still cannot satisfy the
         o    demands of our users!




. 10/8                                              .,
                Information Explosion
                    Information - An organisation's
                    Lifeblood
                o
                    IInformation is a prime asset of an
                    organisation, second only to Human
                    resource          I


                                                        Franz Edelmon VP RCA

                o       'The Enterprises which will excel in the
(
                        1980's and beyond will be those that
                        manage Information as a Major
                        Resource          I
                                                         John Diebold




        10/9




                                              What
                                                   •
    !
                                                   IS
                                    Information
                                                   ?•

                                    'Data it'l Context'
                         .';   ..              I




        10/10
Holloway's solution to the
Agplication Backlog (1986)

        Tool       -..
                          Tools      +           Techniques

                                         o                       . ~Enterprise
        Capabilities     'a...   H   0       0   L       .~         needs
                                                     o
                                                         G
                                     Apply                   y
                                     Software
                                     Tools



                                             Enterprise
                                             benefits


10/11




    The Causes of the Chan9§
   Cause 1:       Relational debate is over
   Cause 2:
   ~
                  Distribution is coming

   Cause 3:        Expert systems will destroy
                   the last vestiges of the
                   black art
   Cause 4:        CASE tools are here

 10112                                                                           .'
           The Causes of the ·Chan9.§
         Cause 5:    End users can understand data analysis


         Cause 6:     End users can program in 4GLs
                      and Query Languages

         Cause 7:     Code generation is coming


         Cause 8:    Information is the second most
(                    important resource in an organisation

         Cause 9:     End users want control of their own
                      information destiny and needs
(




        10/13




                Who is effected?

                o   End Users
    ~           0   Data Processing
                     o Development
                     o Data Management
                     o System Programmers


        10/14
         Holloway's solution to the
         AQ.plication Backlog-!19871
                    Tool

                             +
                        Techniques



                        Right
                             +
                        Organisational
                        Structure
10/15




         The new roles
         "The Deathknell of DP as we
         have known it"
 .0      0    Data resource control

        . 0   Implementors
         o    Information consultants

         o    Tuners

          o   Security Control


10/16
      The New Roles
     o Data Resource Control

            Who? _ The IT Professional involved in
                   providing the corporate service
                       which controls and/or coordinates
                       the definitions and usage of reliable
                       and relevant data

            Requirements -
                       Business Area Knowledge
                       Communication Skills
                       Methodology Knowledge
                       Data Administration Knowledge



    10/17




            The New Roles
(
            Data Resource Control
            o   Data resource policy making
            o   Corporate information requirements
                analysis
            o   Corporate awareness of existence
                and value of data
            o   Data analysis centre of expertise
            o   Data definition control
            o   Data dictionary control
            o   Data access control
            o   Policies for security, privacy and
                integrity of data




     10/18
   The new roles
    Implementor

   Who? -           The IT professional
                    involved in helping users
                    to get operational and
                    to get management systems
                    implemented
        Requirements -
                    -  Business area knowledge
                    -  CASE tool/4th Generation
                     . system knowledge
                    - Methodology knowledge
                    - Communication Skills


10/19




        Fourth Generation Software
        Impact on Programmers


          TP                        The
          Monitor
                                    Organisation


                                   4th Generation
           Programming             System
           Language



           Before                   , After

10/20
            Career paths for Progr'ammers

                                                Analy.1I      1   t
                                                Implementator ~n°tlg~.       _

                                                                      Project
                                                                      Menagement


                                    I•• rn to
                                    love user
                Under.hlnd   Oela




(




(




    10/21




       The new roles
\
       Information Consultants:
       Who? - The IT professionals involved
                       in helping the user management
                       get decision support systems
                       implemented and in helping
                       formulate information strategies
                       for given business areas
       Requirements -
                      •      Business area knowledge
                      •      Query language knowledge
                      •      Methodology knowledge
                      •      CASE tool knowledge
                      •      CClmmunication Skills'
                     '.      Decision Support Tool knowledge


    10/22
         The new roles
         Tuners
         Who? - The IT professionals who are
                    responsible for tuning the
                    implemented data and process
                    structures

         Requirements -
                    •   DBMS knowledge                   (
                    •   4GL knowledge
                    •   TP knowledge
                    •   Network knowledge
                    •   Operating system knowledge


10/23




  The New Roles
   Security Control

   Who?         The IT professionals who are
                responsible for the implementation
                and maintenance of the organisation's
                security policy in respect of data and
                access to data, using software
                packages

   Requirements -
                •   DBMS knowledge
                •   4GL knowledge
                •   TP knowledge
                •   Security package knowledge

 10/24
                 End Users versus DP




                   , If this is what they can do as a beginning,
                   then nothing that they resolve to do will be
(                  impossible for them. Come, let us go down
                   and there make such a bable of their
                   language that they will not understand one
                   another's speech'                       a.no,I, 11 :6,7




         10/15




                 Organisation Structure
                 for the Nineties?
                                       Managing
                                       Director
\
    oJ   - - - -   - 1 , - - - - - - - - 1 - - - - - - - 1 ' --- ----
            Sales                      Information            Finance
            Director                   Resource               Director
                                       Director

                   1---.....,.1----,11                   1------1
                 Data       Security   End user      Implementor     Tuners
                 Resource   Control    Consultants   Teams
                 Control




         10/16
        Conclusions
        To succeed in the 90s:
         o   Manage data as a corporate resource
         o   Have right mix of software tools

         o   Have a flexible methodology

         o   Automate application life cycle
         o   Evolve organisation structure




101Z7