Ratio Group - Excellence in Object and Component Software

Consultancy and Software Development Services

We offer a wide range of consultancy services related to Object and Component technologies. Our speciality is financial software development (see case studies #1 and #2, and also related whitepapers) – but we have also been involved in a variety of other industries.

Some consultancy and development case studies are detailed below. As every project is different it is impossible to describe fully via a web-site the range of suitable consultancy options that may be applicable to a particular project. Please contact us to arrange a meeting where we would be delighted to come and listen to your project problems and needs in depths.

Case Study #1

	Online Trading System Development
Market Sector	Finance, treasury and trading.
Project Objective	Development of a online real-time STP (Straight Through Processing) system with links to custodian banks.
Size	30 man-years
Technology	Java, JSP, Persistence, banking system, Tomcat, Struts, Test-Driven development, Agile Development, Straight Through Processing (STP), CORBA, banking system API.
What we did	Ratio Group were brought in by this due to our expertise in delivering complex systems in stages using agile development techniques. We had a core system up and running correctly within 3 months of project initiation. Since then, we have regularly enhanced the system with software releases approximately every two months. Business management. Agile project management, including liason with partner banks. Specification of extensions to the banking system API. All analysis. All architecture and design (using the large scale application ARM). Development. Automated testing (user interface and underlying unit testing of software). Customer training. The system now has US Patents Pending due to its innovative implementations of real-time STP.

Case Study #2

	Major Management Consultancy/European Merchant Bank
Market Sector	Finance, treasury and trading.
Project Objective	Development of a back office trading settlement system, being undertaken by our client for a major merchant bank.
Size	150 man-years
Technology	Distributed client/server development using CORBA/TIBCO as key middleware. GUI front-end developed in powerbuilder. Server software developed in C++. Much use of automated code generation for increased productivity. System underpinned by Oracle relational database. The system was analysed and designed using UML.
What we did	Ratio group were brought in by this extremely prestidgeous client as acknowledged experts in the area of object and component based development, and due to our market knowledge in this area. Ratio involvement included: Design of an object and component based software process for business and information system, subsequently put forward by our client as part of their CMM Level 3 accreditation. Review of all project deliverables. Development of review guidelines based on the development process. Review and input to technical architecture, including object caching and object/relational database issues. Staff assessment and recommendations for further training. The system was successfully delivered to its one-and-half year timescale. Our client is now developing a large number of extensions to the original system, worth £100s of millions.

Case Study #3

	Major Vendor of Enterprise Resource Planning Software
Market Sector	Enterprise resource planning software product company.
Project Objective	To redevelop their substantial product offering from scratch, using object and component based technologies - providing a base for product extension over the next ten years.
Size	100s of man-years (ongoing)
Technology	Three-tier (presentation, business server and database) distributed object based architecture, using DCOM/ADO as the underlying distribution mechanism, MTS transaction server, with a variety of relational databases underlying the system. Analysis and design was undertaken using UML.
What we did	Ratio Group were initially brought in as our client needed a partner from whom they could gain reliable expertise in real-life object and component based developments. After a period of initial training, we provided detailed consultancy covering: Design of a software process encompassing all aspects of the product lifecycle, including architecture, technical infrastructure and application development. Risk analysis and mitigation. Architecture design and verification. Design of a re-usable component/framework to underpin the distributed transactional database nature of the application. Mentoring in application development using UML, targetting the underlying distribution/persistence component/framework.

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Java, JSP, Persistence, banking system, Tomcat, Struts, Test-Driven development, Agile Development, Straight Through Processing (STP), CORBA, banking system API.