RESUMEN

For applications such as management information systems, customizing the code base to meet each new customer's needs can sometimes be unavoidable. Although good design can minimize the need for such code-level modifications, it can't eliminate it. Moreover, if you don't carefully and accurately manage customizations when they do occur, the result can be skyrocketing development costs, poor customer support, and an inability to respond quickly to new needs. The authors developed a highly automated, model-driven approach for maintaining multicustomer code bases. This approach to the updating process helps control costs, keep the software structure consistent, make changes easier, and improve overall productivity.

Over the past decade, this university's academic management system evolved from a mainframe environment to a Windows-based client-server architecture and then to a Web environment. Aiming for independence from vendors, these developers adopted open-source solutions for their Web applications and were delighted with the results.