Object Technology: An Analysis of Current Usage

<p>Over the last few years there has been an increasingly widely held belief that many of the difficulties experienced in the development of computerised information systems could be addressed successfully by adopting the tools, techniques and principles of Object Technology (OT). Many researchers have focused their attentions on the advantages of OT over more traditional approaches and the issues that need to be addressed by organisations moving to an object-oriented approach to information systems development.Although much has been claimed about the impact of OT on information systems development, there appears to be little evidence, at present, to indicate the actual level of usage or the nature of that use. Where OT has been adopted, there has been relatively little evaluation carried out in terms of appropriateness, budget, project success and quality criteria. The authors have conducted a major survey of over 200 IT projects, the purpose of which was to establish where the IT industry in the UK currently stands in relation to Object Technology. The investigation attempted to determine the extent to which OT is currently used, the characteristics of the projects on which it is used and the outcome of those projects. The paper focuses on the use of OT, and comparisons are made with non object-oriented approaches to IS development.The results suggest that OT usage is now widespread and is not confined to particular sectors of industry or types of application. Projects involving the use of an object-oriented (OO) approach appeared equally likely to result in success measured by a wide range of criteria.</p>