Hardware and Software Control System "SVS"

Customer: dSpace Ltd. Germany

Business Case: dSpace is arguably the world’s foremost producer of hardware and software for the development and testing of mechatronic control systems. These complex products require sophisticated system management to ensure quality in all areas of production and maintenance. For the purpose of expanding their installation of Axapta (now Microsoft Dynamics AX), Sitex was tasked with creating a solution that would enable dSpace to trace all systems they produce including the components, the specification of those components and the version of software installed, as well as the customer and the status of delivery. This solution consists of 3 modules: management of versions, management of systems, licensing.

Solution: The solution, named SVS, is used to automate business processes within dSpace for the automation of production, delivery and maintenance of hardware/software systems. dSpace uses SVS for the expansion of its installation of Axapta for system management, allowing dSpace to trace systems they have produced.

SVS imports data from Axapta using an intermediate database for data exchange. The system supports a unique business processes, operates the working processes and also configures the roles of its users.

SVS administrators can assign users to different groups, and assign to groups different access rights. Access rights are granted on a per function basis, where groups may have read/write access, read-only access or no access.

Requirements Analysis and User Interface Prototype

Following the detailed analysis of the requirements provided by the customer, Sitex created a comprehensive Software Requirements Specification document (SRS) and a prototype user interface. The SRS was written in the FURPS+ model and the functional requirements defined by a comprehensive set of use cases.

Technical architecture of SVS

SVS was developed in C#, using the Microsoft Visual Studio development environment using the .NET 2.0 framework. The solution makes use of Microsoft SQL Server 2005 to provide the database, with access to the database enabled through Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC).

SVS also makes use of a number of standard libraries, including:

The application utilizes the following libraries:

• Microsoft Composite UI Application Block (CAB)

CAB is a ready-to-use building block for creating complex, modularized smart client applications. This building block provides the following functionality which was used during the development and deployment of SVS:

• Dynamically loading independent yet cooperating modules into a common shell
• Event broker for loosely coupled communication between modules and parts of modules
• Ready-to-use Command pattern implementation
• Base classes for Model-View-Control (MVC) pattern implementations
• Framework for pluggable infrastructure services ranging, such as authentication services, authorization services, module location, and module loading services

• Microsoft Smart Client Software Factory (SCSF)

SCSF is an extension to Microsoft Visual Studio that provides added functionality for automating many development tasks and provides a large amount of detailed documentation about creating composite smart clients using CAB, including how-to topics and a set of very useful reference implementations, such as the Global Bank Reference Implementation.

Development model:

• Iterative development
• Frequent deliveries to the client
• Clear progress monitoring
• Regression testing

Tools and Technologies: MS Visual Studio 2008, Microsoft SQL Server 2005, C#, CAB, SCSF

Reference:
Mr. Andreas Kleine
CIO
Technologiepark 25
33100 Paderborn
Germany
+49 5251 1638-718
akleine@dspace.de
http://www.dspace.de