Re-engineering a database driven software tool: Rebuilding, automating processes and data migration

This thesis aims to re-engineer a database driven software tool that is used to insert engine related data and generate an EIAPP Technical File that is needed for certification of marine engines to show that they comply with IMO’s emission regulations specified in MARPOL Annex VI and NTC 2008. The need for an updated tool has emerged as the way of working is to be changed, from document management to content management. The current tool is also divided into two different tools, one for engines built in Italy and one for engines built in Finland, which leads to another objective that is to merge these tools into one. The tools are built-in Microsoft Access which does no longer suit the needs. Therefore, the last purpose of the research is to conduct a data migration from Microsoft Access to SQL Server. The research was divided into theoretical and empirical research. The theoretical part first presented the theory behind software engineering and software re-engineering. Then the theory behind databases and data migration was explored to at last go through the emission regulation and certification for marine diesel engines to better understand why the tool is needed. In the empirical part, first, the existing tool and the certification process were inspected. Furthermore, the research method, the constructive research approach was discussed, that focuses on producing a construction (solution) to a real-world problem in practice. At last, a more in-depth analysis of the tool was made to propose a plan on how to re-engineer the tool, which included an implementation process plan. The main result of this research is a re-engineered EIAPP tool that has the front-end in Microsoft Access and back-end in SQL Server. The tables have been restructured to comply with the change to only use one document number for the whole Technical File. The forms have been redesigned and processes have been automated to make the tool more reliable and efficient. The new re-engineered tool has more than 50 % fewer objects and fewer lines of code compared to the two existing tools. In addition, the research provides suggestions on how to further develop the certification process and the toolDenna avhandlings syfte är att återutveckla ett databasdrivet mjukvaruverktyg som används för att sätta in motor relaterad data och generera en EIAPP Teknisk Fil som krävs för certifiering av motorer för att visa att de uppfyller och följer IMO:s utsläppsbestämmelser som anges i MARPOL:s bilaga VI och NTC 2008. Behovet av ett uppdaterat verktyg har uppkommit eftersom strukturen och arbetsättet skall ändras, från dokumenthantering till innehållshantering. Det nuvarande verktyget är också indelat i två olika verktyg, ett för motorer byggda i Italien och ett för motorer byggda i Finland, vilket leder till ett annat syfte som är att slå samman dessa verktyg till ett. Verktygen är byggda i Microsoft Access som inte längre passar behoven. Därför är det sista syftet med forskningen att utföra en datamigrering från Microsoft Access till SQL Server. Forskningen delades in i teoretisk och empirisk forskning. Den teoretiska delen presenterade först teorin bakom mjukvaruteknik och omstrukturering (re-engineering) av mjukvara. Sedan undersöktes teorin bakom databaser och datamigrering för att till slut genomgå utsläppsreglering och certifiering av marina diesel motorer. I den empiriska delen inspekterades först det befintliga verktyget och certifieringsprocessen. Vidare diskuterades konstruktiva forsknings strategin, som fokuserar på att producera en konstruktion (lösning) till ett verkligt problem i praktiken. Till sista gjordes en mera djupgående analys av verktyget för att föreslå en plan för hur man skall omstrukturera (re-engineer) verktyget, som inkluderade en implementeringssprocessplan. Huvudresultatet av denna forskning är ett omstrukturerat EIAPP verktyg som har frontend i Microsft Access och backend i SQL Server. Tabellerna har omstrukturerats för att uppfylla ändringen i att bara använda ett dokumentnummer för hela tekniska filen. Formerna har omarbetats och processer har automatiserats för att göra verktyget mera tillförlitligt och effektivt. Det nya omstrukturerade verktyget har mer än 50 % färre object och färre kodrader jämfört med de två befintliga verktygen. Dessutom ger forskningen förslag på hur man kan vidareutveckla certifieringsprocessen och verktyget

High-mix, low-volume lean manufacturing implementation and lot size optimization at an aerospace OEM

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering; and, (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management; in conjunction with the Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT, 2003.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.Includes bibliographical references (p. 97-103).by Jonathan M. Rheaume.S.M

Semantic discovery and reuse of business process patterns

Patterns currently play an important role in modern information systems (IS) development and their use has mainly been restricted to the design and implementation phases of the development lifecycle. Given the increasing significance of business modelling in IS development, patterns have the potential of providing a viable solution for promoting reusability of recurrent generalized models in the very early stages of development. As a statement of research-in-progress this paper focuses on business process patterns and proposes an initial methodological framework for the discovery and reuse of business process patterns within the IS development lifecycle. The framework borrows ideas from the domain engineering literature and proposes the use of semantics to drive both the discovery of patterns as well as their reuse

Pandemic economic crisis: essence, reasons, comparative characteristics, opportunities

Before pandemic the world economy had a pre-crisis situation which was characterized by unprecedented imbalances in the global financial and economic system, the lack of growth in world GDP, which posed a real threat to the world economic order. Almost all global analysts predicted a global economic crisis at the end of 2019. For the first time since time immemorial, bank interest rates in all countries have dropped to unprecedented low levels. Often interest rates were 0% or even negative. The EU’s financial system has been so disfigured by the VAT tax that fraud with this tax has reached a scale far exceeding hundreds of billions EUR and in fact got out of control of the authorities