To define the "new" architecture and technology of IFS Applications, IFS R&D presented project Everest. The name Everest implied to set high goals and take a steep climb to "be on top".
The overreaching goals of project Everest were to:
- Perform BPR on the software development process used at IFS
- Become the most efficient software producer
- Development and assembly of application components
- A product that can follow the customers business development, as well as technology development
- Avoiding BIG-BANG
More specific goals included providing a graphical (Windows) user interface, a productive development environment, component thinking, use of object oriented design, and co-existence with SYSTEM4..
1995
This was the year when the core principles of the new architecture were established.
The architecture was to be 3-tier with business logic and data storage tiers running in Oracle, and the presentation tier built using Gupta SQL*Windows.
This architecture was dubbed Open Layered Architecture (OLA).
The applications were designed according to object orientation principles with business objects such as Customer, Supplier, Order, Invoice and so on.
Each business object had an implementation in all three layers of OLA.
The collection of these implementation was referred to as the Logical Unit (LU). Logical units communicated internally using private API:s and externally in the business logic tier using public API:s.
At the end of the year, Foundation1 consisted of a number of PLSQL system services to support implementation of business logic and a class library for Gupta SQL Windows. There was also the beginnings of life cycle support with some basic code generation and a first version of IFS/Localization tool.
The scope and functionality of Foundation1, which had now reached version 1.1,
was described using the nine components shown on the right.
