RMM

There is a difference between developing a set of homepages for a small website and developing systems on the Web that manage information, interact with databases and are integrated with other enterprise information systems. The latter, called Web System development, requires well thought-out methods and different tools than those available from homepage creation. The Relationship Management Methodology (RMM) is a methodology for the design and construction of Web systems on Inter- and Intra-nets.

Without guidance, WWW applications can evolve into an entangled spaghetti-like collection of HTML pages that are hard to access and costly to maintain. RMM is a aimed at solving these problems:

• RMM facilitates the design of WWW sites, and their seamless integration with databases and enterprise-wide information systems.
• RMM applies best to applications that are large and dynamic, where data is stored in databases, and where hyper-links are computer generated.
• RMM has been applied to applications such as: On-Line Conference Proceedings, directories, academic journals, course-ware, and electronic-commerce, among others.
• RMM consists of a series (seven) of well-delineated steps to guide in Web Systems design and development.
• The design of a WWW application can be succinctly represented with RMM diagrams so that designers, programmers and users have a clear understanding of the scope and structure of the application.
• RM-CASE is a software tool that supports RMM design and development.

Advantages of using RMM

• RMM enables a structured approach to design. It eliminates spaghetti-like code in favor of well structured sites that are (1) easy for users to navigate, and (2) easy to maintain.
• Different groups can concurrently work with the design of your WWW site. You can concurrently work on the information, access, user-interface and layout stages.
• RMM developed Web systems are easily updated. DATA updates can be submitted either directly through the Web, or via database APIs or SQL queries

Benefits of using RRM include:

• Robust Design:
  • RMM imposes discipline onto the system design and development process.
  • RMM assists in keeping a homogenous site so that a common "look and feel" can be maintained throughout an application. This is important to aid in user-navigation and to portray a consistent corporate identity.

  Instead of starting with a bunch of files here and there, and linking them, developers have guide to proceed with the design and development.

• Expressive Design:

  In RMM, designs are expressed through concise graphical diagrams. This facilitates the process of reviewing, creating and documenting designs. Currently, there is no procedure for documenting Web sites in a concise and useful way. The design of the document site is expressed as an RMM diagram. Designers can use this diagram to argue about the design and improve it.

• Separation of data, structure and user-interface:

  RMM keeps these three elements separate and allows them to be manipulated. Instead of having a collection of directories and files to manage, software developers can analyze these aspects of the application separately. Currently Web sites consist of groups of HTML files, CGI scripts, JAVA applets and multimedia files (gifs, jpgs, au, wav, mov, etc.). In the current format, design elements, such as page-layout and navigation access are merged with content elements. This makes it extremely hard to develop and maintain applications. RMM effectively separates these three components.

• Maintenance of WWW sites is bound to be a costly task. Issues that arise are:
  • STRUCTURE: it is difficult for designers to envision and implement an overall navigation design. RMM-SOLUTION: navigational access is denoted through diagrams. These diagrams can be used by designers, users and programmers to discuss and develop the system.
  • USER-INTERFACE: revising the "look and feel" of a Web site (done quite often) is a laborious and error-prone process. RMM-SOLUTION: changes made to the design cascade through the Web system with no programming costs and without errors.