Waypoint™ Software Architecture

1. About Waypoint™

Waypoint™ is a network design, planning and inventory management tool.

Waypoint™ helps its users plan changes to existing networks, keep a detailed inventory of network assets, and produce reports about their network.

Waypoint™’s user interfaces are based on Windows™. The interfaces provide users with a graphically rich view of network data stored in a relational database management system (RDBMS) such as Microsoft Access™ (for demonstration purposes only), or Oracle™.

All information in the Waypoint™ database can be made open and accessible to other applications, as required. Waypoint™ achieves this adaptability by using Component Object Model™ (COM) technology as a development tool.

2. Waypoint™ Deployment Architecture

Waypoint™ is designed specifically for various end-user requirements. It is available in applications that are based on the customer's stage of deployment and the size of the identified user base at the time of initial deployment. Waypoint™ easily integrates into existing network systems, ranging from a two-tier application to a thin client application.

3. Waypoint™ 2-tier Architecture

3.1 Overview

The current 2-tier architecture of Waypoint™ looks as follows:

Figure 1: Waypoint™ 2-tier Architecture

The Client Tier layer contains the following elements:

- Waypoint™ Business Logic Components – COM Servers, which completely encapsulate Waypoint™ Application’s Business Logic (Object Types, Relationships, Rules, Validations, etc.) as well as manage all aspects of data manipulation (DDL & DML Statements).

- Waypoint™ Graphical User Interface (GUI) – ActiveX components forming the layer for end user interaction. All information displayed and interacted with at this level is obtained from and sent back to the Business Logic Components, which encapsulate all aspects of data access.

- Configuration – Repository of ‘Metadata’, which defines the particular Application (Object definitions, their relationships and other application-specific rules). No Instance Data is stored in the Configuration file which means that the size of the Configuration file is negligible from the point of view of Client performance, disc space, etc.

The Server Tier layer consists of the Database Server (main development platform is Oracle™. The Database Server contains all Application Instance Data in a common schema.

Waypoint™ Business Logic Components and Waypoint™ GUI are implemented as independent entities, but are coupled within a single tier – providing optimal performance.

Waypoint™ also acts as an Oracle™ CASE tool since Oracle™ Objects construct and user privileges are created and maintained via the Waypoint software alleviating a need for additional application maintenance tools.

3.2 Data Access

Communication between the Waypoint™ Business Logic Components and the Oracle™ Server is via Oracle™ Net8 with Oracle™ Objects for OLE.

In order to maximize Database Server efficiency, connections are established as needed. This is transparent to the end user: the user’s login credentials are provided at the beginning of a Waypoint™ session (through standard login). Those credentials (name & password) are reused by Waypoint™ components to establish a new session with the Database Server, whenever communication with the Database is required. Sessions are not left open ‘on idle’. This reduces network traffic and server load, further optimizing performance.

3.3 Execution of Application Business Logic

Core Business Logic of Waypoint™ is embedded directly in the Waypoint™ Business Logic Components. All parameters specific to a particular Waypoint™ Application reside in the Configuration. Actual Instance Data resides in the Database Server.

Waypoint™ was originally designed in cooperation with Oracle™ and makes full use of Oracle’s technology.

Resource intensive processing takes place on the Oracle™ server, and Waypoint™ applies Business Logic rules to the resulting data to present it in a user-friendly way in the GUI.

Waypoint™ Business Logic execution is fully optimized for Oracle’s environment by utilizing Oracle-specific SQL constructs and dynamic SQL (due to the flexibility of Waypoint™ Application’s schema).

Additional triggers and specific process automation functions configured for a customer implementation are all packaged and installed with the same database.

An additional feature in Waypoint™ is that it can also be run with a light database using a Microsoft Access-format file (.mdb). This is extremely useful for portable laptop use, training, etc. However, this feature is not intended for the actual production system as it has limited performance & functionality. Data can be easily exported to Excel™, etc for ad hoc reports or other business-support functions.