MKS Integrates Workflow Application with WDSc

The iSeries developers who work within WebSphere Development Studio Client (WDSc) can now access additional workflow and process management capabilities directly from within their IDE. Last week MKS announced new integration between MKS Integrity Manager, its high-level process and workflow application for managing complex development projects, and IBM‘s Eclipse framework. Developers can now do such things as receive work assignments, run queries, conduct reviews, and make updates, without ever stepping outside of WDSc.

MKS Integrity Manager is a process and workflow management product that provides structure for software development projects spanning multiple platforms or multiple locations. While the MKS change management products–Implementer for OS/400 and Source Integrity Enterprise for open platforms–handle basic check in, check out, and other common change management functions, Integrity Manager helps to bring these various change management products together, for heightened visibility and control, and compliance with new rules affecting IT, such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

Integration of change management products and WDSc is nothing new. All of the major change management software vendors for the OS/400 server (MKS, Aldon, and SoftLanding) offer some degree of integration between their change management products and WDSc, usually by means of a plug-in that allows developers to access basic change management functions from within WDSc.

With the integration of Integrity Manager 4.6 and Eclipse framework Versions 2.1, 2.1.1, and 3.0 (which includes WDSc 5.1, among other IDEs), MKS claims it is the first to offer developers the capability to access process and workflow capabilities from within WDSc. Developers can use the MKS “WorkTray” within WDSc and other Eclipse-based IDEs to receive work assignments, run queries, conduct reviews, and make updates.

David Martin, MKS vice president of product management, says the certification of Integrity Manager’s integration with Eclipse will be a boon to IT organizations with a strategic investment in Eclipse and IBM’s WebSphere development tools, or to those that need to comply with Sarbanes-Oxley. Now, with our integrated workflow capabilities, developers can follow prescribed process with ease,” he says. “Project managers can trust that development work is properly resourced, and have immediate visibility through MKS Integrity Manager of work assignments and progress.”

This is the second major Integrity Manager enhancement this year that benefits MKS OS/400 customers. In March, MKS rolled out a new release of Implementer that tightened the integration between Implementer and Integrity Manager (see “MKS Addresses SarBox Transparency with Implementer 5.5”).

Integrity Manager Version 4.6 is available now. The software runs on Unix , Linux, and Windows servers, and is accessed from a Java or an HTML client. For more information, go to www.mks.com.