Adoption of case tools & uml: A local study

CASE (Computer Aided Software Engineering) tools include computer-based support in the software development process and support for the managerial, administrative or technical aspects of software engineering projects. CASE facilitates activities during the software development process, which as a result may increase productivity and improve quality. The use of UPPER CASE tools and UML diagrams for a number of small and medium scale selected local companies are studied. There are works in the literature which report companies that want to standardize their developments may use UML diagrams. UPPER CASE has been used to prepare UML diagrams in the early stage of the software life cycle. In this study, a survey was conducted in a number of selected companies in Ankara in which interviews are conducted given to information system managers and developers in six different organizations provided feedback throughout the survey. CASE and UML are reported as being considerably used in Ankara with CASE tools being used for project members' communication and documentations. Furthermore, CASE tools have been used for some companies for documentation as parts of contracts and to follow standards such as ISO and CMMI. However, they require a detailed and straightforward definition of company processes. Some standards have an indirect effect on CASE usage. To answer our research question, we can assert that CASE tools can be used to facilitate project developments, especially when enforced by the standards and methodologies required in the contracts. However, CASE tools have been adopted only for documentation and there is a lack of engineering when this vi usage is left to developers. This research presents the role of CASE tools in the software development process for local companies in addition to the importance of CASE in following a number of standards. This work relies on key informants from only six local companies; hence, the findings are limited. Keywords: UPPER CASE tools, UML, small/medium size software developer companies