PORTABLE COMMON INTERFACE SET (PCIS) PROGRAMME

At the NATO Special Working Group (SWG) on Ada Program Support Environments (APSE) meeting in San Diego in December 1990, the SWG agreed to pursue an international co-operative programme with the goal of defining a Portable Common Interface Set (PCIS). The fusion of military and civil (commercial) requirements is seen as essential to ensure that PCIS will be a viable standard for next generation environments. Therefore, before the PCIS Definition Programme commences, there will be a requirements phase to take into account the needs of the military and civil (commercial) communities. This phase has 4 objectives, as outlined by the SWG on APSE:

• The validation of the existing NATO Requirements and Design Criteria (NRAC) and inclusion of non-military requirements.
• An investigation into what is being provided by existing interface technology and an assessment of the perceived emerging technology over the next 5 years.
• A comparison of the results with that which industry is currently providing.
• An analysis of the differences leading to a prioritization and costing of future work.

Two public workshops were held to support the first two objectives. The First PCIS Workshop was held in the U.K. during the week of 29 April - 3 May 1991. The Second PCIS Workshop was held in California during the week of 3-7 June 1991. The Second PCIS Workshop was held in conjunction with the 5th National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Integrated Software Engineering Environment (ISEE) Workshop and the International Workshop on CASE (IWCASE) which have different but closely related objectives.

Professor John Buxton, chairman of the First PCIS Workshop, said that one starting point for identifying requirements is to consider the principal aim of software engineering as one of improving the quality of software. In achieving quality, it is essential to link military and commercial requirements for environments -- because successful commercial software is likely to be software that is widely and extensively used, with result that its defects are more likely to have been detected. As a consequence, the background aim of the PCIS Programme, which is to bring together the requirements of the military and commercial communities, should be regarded as a major step towards achieving quality in itself.

The PCIS Workshops were organized into general sessions and Working Group Sessions. The general sessions provided presentations on emerging technology and the needs of special interests. These general sessions were aimed at both the specialist and the non- specialist. The Working Group sessions allowed participants to discuss detailed technology and commercial issues in depth. The Working Group Sessions addressed:

• Needs of the Tool Builders
• Needs of the Platform Suppliers
• Needs of the Environment Suppliers
• Needs of the Environment Users

Available PCIS Documents

• Interface Technology Analysis (ITA)

  The ITA is the proceedings of both PCIS workshops at the plenary level. This document identifies interface technology from the workshops that is available today or is emerging and will be available over the next five years. It consists of summaries of each presentation in the plenary sessions and includes the slides of each presentation. Emerging technologies presented included: AD/Cycle, ATIS, CAIS-A, CALS & PDES, CDIF, CFI, COHESION, IEEE P1175, ECMA PCTE, IRDS, PCTE+, POSIX, and SLCSE.

  Organizational presentations included those from: AJPO, CEC, CIS, ECMA, IEPG TA-13, IWCASE, NGCR PSESWG, NIST, OMG, OSF, PIMB, STARS, and SWG on APSE.

  Needs of Environment users were addressed in presentations by representatives from: BAe, BT, Bull, ECMA, ICL, MCC, RSRE, SEMATECH, and SD SCICON, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army, U.S. Navy. Needs of Environment/Platform/Tool Suppliers were addressed in presentations by representatives from: Atherton, BMR, Boeing, CASE, CCTA, CFL, DEC, DRA, Emerauld, HP, IBM, ICL, Mk V Systems, SFGL, SofTech, SYSECA, TeleSoft, and USC-ISI.

• International Requirements And Design Criteria (IRAC)

  The International Requirements And Design Criteria (IRAC) for the Portable Common Interface Set (PCIS) with Embedded Rationale, Version 1.0, PCIS/IRAC, dated 1 May 1992, was approved for public release by the SWG on APSE on 1 July 1992. The IRAC captures the needs of environment users, environment suppliers, platform suppliers, and tool builders. The IRAC represents a set of requirements for military and civil (commercial) technical and programmatic requirements, with accompanying rationale. It is denoted INTERNATIONAL to reflect the fact that PCIS is planned to be an international standard encompassing international requirements.

4 Dec 93  First release to the PAL

Approved for public release; distribution unlimited
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