A Study on Web Development Focused on Evolution

Sho Ho [HREF1], Assistant Professor, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, Tokyo Institute of Technology [HREF2], 2-12-1 Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, 152-8552, Japan.s-hou@me.titech.ac.jp

Junichi Iijima [HREF3], Assistant Professor, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, Tokyo Institute of Technology.iijima@me.titech.ac.jp

Abstract

The evolutionary nature is one of the major differences between WIS (Web Information System)(Isakowitz et. al. 1998) development and traditional software development. In this paper, we classify activities in WIS evolution into several layers and propose a model for perceiving and assessing the development process of WIS from an evolutionary perspective. To explain the model, a case about the evolution of a large-scale publicity web site will be introduced in the presentation.

Introduction

In this paper, we consider the evolution of WIS as the process of changing the form of hypermedia or application software in the WIS to suit new requirements while inheriting the characteristic of the present WIS. There is a tendency for change to occur more frequently in WIS, which has the following characteristics, than in traditional software.

Hypermedia, which tends to require frequent updating, is one of the important development and maintenance objects of WISs, while conventional software development only focus on programs and data structures.
Updating a WIS is much more easier than making modification to other client-server systems, where installations of various client side applications are usually needed.
Usually, a WIS can be seen as a very loose combination of independent components, which are connected by hyperlinks. Therefore, in many cases, it is possible to exchange, separate or add a component, without disturbing system-wide order of a WIS.

In traditional software development, it is natural to consider system development and maintenance after system completion separately, but in WIS development, it is much more difficult to draw the line of system completion since components of a WIS can be developed separately after the initial startup of the system through addition of contents and enhancement of functions. In that sense, evolutionary perspective is important in perceiving and assessing the development process of WIS. In this paper, we propose a model, in which activities relevant to WIS evolution are classified into several layers.

Perceiving WIS Development Process from an Evolutionary Perspective

R. N. Anthony defines three levels of management activities: operational control, management control, and strategic planning. Operational control is "the process of assuring that specific tasks are carried out effectively and efficiently"; Management Control is "the process by which managers assure that resources are obtained and used effectively and efficiently in the accomplishment of the organization's objectives"; Strategic Planning is "the process of deciding on the objectives of the organization, on changes in these objectives, on the resources used to obtain these objectives, and on the policies that are to govern the acquisition, use, and disposition of these resources".(R. N. Anthony, 1965)

Based on Anthony's theory, management activities in WIS evolution can be divided into 3 levels.

Operational Control: administration of routine operations such as updating data and handling user inquiries belongs to the operational control level. (In this paper we define routine operations as operations in WIS enhancement and maintenance that follows established procedures.)
Management Control: Evaluating the WIS, making plan for evolution and managing development projects
Strategic Planning: Setting objectives, designing policies for a WIS to direct the evolution

In project management researches, program is regard as a group of projects managed in a coordinated way to obtain benefits not available from managing them individually (T.J.Bodney, 1992). In a project management perspective, management activities in management control level of WIS evolution can be seen as a kind of program planning and management, which can be separated into 3 level: program planning, program management and project management. Program planning includes evaluation of the WIS and overall planning of the evolution, which follows objectives and policies set in the strategic planning level. Furthermore, evaluation activities in program planning level can be broken down into 4 sections: contents and functions review, system infrastructure review, operation and management processes review, information structure review; Program management includes coordination of various projects concerned with the evolution of the WIS; Project management includes overall planning and coordination of individual project. Operations that complete within a fixed period and do not follow established procedures are treated as project here. (For example, design renewal; function enhancement; hardware enhancement are treated as projects)

Figure 1 shows the hierarchy of management activities in WIS evolution.

The Development Process of a Publicity Web Site

A case about the evolution of a large-scale publicity web site and some experience obtained from the practice of managing the web site will be introduced in the presentation.

Conclusions and Future Work

In this paper, we classify activities in WIS evolution into several layers and propose a model for perceiving and assessing the development process of WIS from an evolutionary perspective. Further investigations on management activities in WIS evolution are necessary to refine the model and to provide suggestions based on experience gained in practice.

References

Isakowitz, Tomas Michael Bieber, Fabio Vitali, (eds.) (1998). Communications of the ACM, vol.41 no.7, pp78-115.

Robert N. Anthony (1965). Planning and Control Systems: A Framework for Analysis, Harvard Business School.

Turner J. Bodney (1992). The Handbook of Project-Based Management, McGRaw-Hill, NewYork.

Hypertext References

HREF1: http://www.hi-ho.ne.jp/baobao/
HREF2: http://www.titech.ac.jp/
HREF3: http://www.me.titech.ac.jp/facul/Iijima/index.html

Copyright

Sho Ho, © 2000. The authors assign to Southern Cross University and other educational and non-profit institutions a non-exclusive license to use this document for personal use and in courses of instruction provided that the article is used in full and this copyright statement is reproduced. The authors also grant a non-exclusive license to Southern Cross University to publish this document in full on the World Wide Web and on CD-ROM and in printed form with the conference papers and for the document to be published on mirrors on the World Wide Web.