Resource Management System

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Introduction | Read Me | Download
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Entering a proposal Click to enlarge

Allocating resources to a project Click to enlarge

Reviewing resources Click to enlarge

Introduction

There's little doubt that Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) technologies such as JavaServer Pages (JSP) and Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) are the keys to the future for many companies as they .com their enterprise. In fact, excellent applications, both business-to-consumer and business-to-business, that are based on implementations of these technologies are springing up on the web. Many developers are already working with these technologies; others have taken the technologies out for "test drives;" and others want to see more, especially more working examples so that they can get a better idea of how to put the technologies into use. And that suggests the purpose of this article: an opportunity for you to download and examine a working application that runs on the J2EE platform.

What is RMS

The Resource Management System (RMS) is a sample application developed by the Industry and Partners Engineering team at Sun Microsystems. The application uses JSP, EJB, and other J2EE technologies, and is designed to demonstrate these technologies in use. The RMS application tracks resources for projects that are handled by the Industry and Partners Engineering team. However, it can be adapted to meet other requirements, such as inventory control or various types of e-commerce applications.

Here's an example of how RMS is used. Imagine that a software company needs help in porting an application from one operating system platform to the Solaris Operating Environment. The company asks Sun's Industry and Partners Engineering team for assistance. The team uses RMS to record the request as a proposal. The record includes pertinent information about the proposal such as the name of company that made the request, the starting and ending date of the effort, and the requested resources.

After review, the proposal is accepted. The team then uses RMS to create a new project from the proposal. This gives official status to the effort. A project manager is assigned -- the project manager is automatically notified by email. The project manager can then view available resources and allocate resources to the project, as appropriate.

RMS also has facilities to review current proposals and projects. For example, a project manager can review the resources assigned to a project and compare it to the resources that are currently available.

The RMS application package is available for download . You need to be a JDC member to download the package. If you're not a JDC member, join now. Membership is free. The package includes JSP and EJB source code for the application, and a script file for compiling and installing these components.

After you download the package, follow the instructions for installing and running RMS in the RMS Read Me file.