WSP07134 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Table 10: Alternative Architectures Summary e Function Architecture/ Distributed Centralized Organization Structure Dedicated NO! recommended Feasible Dala Centered Recommended Recommended Table 10 contains the only other relevant interaction. namely that between the orgllJ1izational ..component of the access architectures and the functional architecture of CRDSS, From Table 10 it is evident that a disoibuted organizational structure does not satisfactorily combine with a Dedicated DSS architecture. The reason for this is that the solution is simply impractical for logistic reasons. Dedicated systems are typically stand-alone systems, Distributing their databases or system updates involves a lot of maintenance and logistic management. Dedicated DSS and Disoibuted organizational structure therefore do not go together well. Summarizing. a Data Centered Architecture is recommended over a Dedicated DSS approach. The Data Centered approach allows far more flexibility regarding extensibility of the system and is characterized by a high modularity of implementation, We recommend the use of forms-based interfaces for status and reporting on platforms which do not support interactive graphics interfaces and the use of interactive graphics in all other cases. Both centralized and distributed access modes are feasible. the choice being more of an organizational than a software development issue. However. although both dedicated DSS and Data Centered systems go weJl with a centralized approach, we do not recommend a Dedicated DSS architecture in a disoibuted access context. e Alternative System Development Cost Estimates For this task the costs of alternative architectures were systematically estimated. These estimates are based on the results of Tasks 2 through 5 (e.g. model evaluation. data determination. evaluation of alternative user interfaces, and evaluation of alternative architectures), The total cost of the various architectures is the sum of the estimated coSts for six development tasks: 1. Development of the database. Since we recommend a Data Centered Architecture for CRDSS, considerable effort must be spent on the development of the central database. 2. Development/enhancements or models. From the models inventory (Task 2) it can be concluded that the inclusion of models into CRDSS e DAMES& M OORE/CADSWES-45