Flyer U175-0397
mtfed.txt


MTF Editor Wins at Object World


On August 16, 1995, the Message Text Format (MTF) Editor, 
Version 4.0  won the category of Outstanding Custom 
Application Development Object Technology in the category of 
Best Application Utilizing Reusable Components Leveraged 
From or For Use in Other Products at the Object World 
conference in San Francisco, California.

MTF Editor was selected from a group of three finalists 
including projects from IBM - Switzerland, Business Unit 
Government Solutions, and the Canadian Imperial Bank of 
Commerce. The ComputerWorld Object Application Awards are 
presented annually to the best end-user application using 
Object Technology. 

This Navy and Marine Corps project was developed at the 
Naval Computer and Telecommunications Station (NCTS), San 
Diego. NCTS San Diego provides coordinated resource 
management and strategic planning to effect quality 
communications, cryptologic support and information 
technology services throughout the United States.  The 
command's vision is to be a customer orientated, quality 
service organization, on the forefront of technology.  The 
project was co-sponsored by the Defense Information Systems 
Agency (DISA), who funded MTF Editor's reuse support to 
demonstrate the cost effectiveness of systematically 
planning and integrating software reuse into an Ada 
Development effort.

The Benefits

MTF Editor benefits the military community by enhancing 
the ability to generate validated military messages and 
reduces workload by eliminating the need users to be trained 
and knowledgable in the numerous formats used for military 
messages.

"It was extremely important to the MTF Editor 
development team to create a product that was aesthetically 
appealing, and at the same time 'functionally easy' to use 
in drafting military messages for electronic processing. 
Based on this philosophical belief, the team made a decision 
early on to solicit user feedback throughout the MTF Editor 
development life-cycle. The positive overwhelming response 
resulted in some significant changes that greatly enhanced 
the product," said J.T. Manning, Project Test Manager.

The ability to develop and deploy MTF Editor on schedule 
was attributed to emphasis on maximizing software reuse and 
use of AdaSAGE, a toolkit of application development tools 
and reusable library components. 

"The use of AdaSAGE during the development stage of this 
project was an important factor in the success of the MTF 
Editor 4.0," added Bill Kelly, a member of the MTF Editor 
technical staff.  AdaSAGE was developed by the Department of 
Energy at Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL) and 
is used extensively throughout the Department of Defense and 
commercially.

The Bottom Line

75% of the 415,000 source lines of code of MTF Editor 
were reused Ada 83, Pascal and C++ code from existing 
systems. Documented savings attributed to reuse for this 
system was over $4 million dollars.

********************** 
The views, opinions, and findings contained in this report 
are those of the author(s) and should not be construed as an 
official Agency position, policy, or decision, unless so 
designated by other official documentation.

Copyright 1996.  IIT Research Institute.  All rights 
assigned to the U.S. Government (Ada Joint Program Office).  
Permission to reprint this flyer, in whole or in part, is 
granted, provided the AdaIC is acknowledged as the source.
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