ATA integrates automatic document generation tool with leading structured and object-oriented CASE tool suites.

TORRANCE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 2, 1994--ATA Inc., a pioneer in the Computer-Aided Software Engineering (CASE) market, today announced new DocEXPRESS integration with leading CASE tool suites from Cadre, IDE, ProtoSoft and Marconi.

DocEXPRESS has been integrated with Cadre Teamwork 6.0 for structured environments, Shlaer-Mellor OOA/RD and Rumbaugh OMT; IDE Software Through Pictures for structured environments and Rumbaugh OMT; ProtoSoft Paradigm Plus; and Marconi RTM. DocEXPRESS, the industry's leading automatic document generation product, automatically gathers information from each of the leading CASE tool suites and generates documentation that is compatible with the major standards.

DocEXPRESS helps system and software designers in the federal, aerospace, DOD, and commercial markets produce documents that are in compliance with the major DOD, ISO 9000, ANSI/IEEE, MIL, corporate and custom standards. By automating the document generation process, DocEXPRESS can reduce the time spent on documentation by as much as 80%.

"There is enormous pent-up demand for a comprehensive automatic documentation solution that is compatible with the leading structured and object-oriented CASE tools," said Alexander J. Polack, president of ATA. "In some industries, the paperwork associated with software development may exceed 50% of the entire software development cost. DocEXPRESS dramatically reduces this cost by automatically mapping engineering data from the CASE tools to the correct section of the documentation. Documentation becomes a push-button by-product of the engineering effort. By making this unique technology available to Cadre, IDE, ProtoSoft and Marconi users, we enable development teams to spend more time on product engineering. The result is higher quality documents, reduced development costs and shortened time-to-market."

"Documentation is a critical aspect of virtually every project that we work on," said Blair Sherwood, program manager at Litton Data Systems in Pascagoula, Miss.

"Our customers have a range of documentation standards that we must be in compliance with, and DocEXPRESS is providing the flexibility to meet these requirements. We have experience showing that DocEXPRESS saves us time and money. Litton Data Systems has instituted modern software development processes to include peer inspections of deliverable documents.

"Through a project life cycle we may generate a particular document 20 times or more. Cadre Teamwork provides a modern software engineering environment that tightly couples the analysis and design models to the documentation and, now with DocEXPRESS, we save 16 hours each time we generate a document. With this ease of production, it is easy to see that DocEXPRESS is a valuable tool."

About DocEXPRESS

DocEXPRESS is tightly integrated with each of the major structured and object-oriented CASE tool suites. It automatically extracts engineering work product information located in the CASE tool repository and other databases, formats it, and inserts it into the appropriate document sections.

Adjustments for the software development methodology and documentation requirements are made automatically. Pre-defined and user-definable templates ensure compliance with both industry and company standards.

Additionally, DocEXPRESS is the industry's only document generation package that is tightly integrated with both the FrameMaker and Interleaf desktop publishing systems. To use the package, the developer simply selects the correct CASE tool and method, documentation standard and publishing software, then clicks on "build." A typical requirements specification of 300 pages can be generated in less than 10 minutes.

Over 90 pre-defined templates with fill-in guides are included with DocEXPRESS, including support for DOD-STD-2167A, ANSI/IEEE, ISO 9000-3/6592, MIL-STD-498 (SDD draft) and MIL-STD-490A. Because input templates are stored in an editable document publishing tool format, they can be easily edited or modified.

This capability allows users to create custom templates which are in accordance with individual company requirements and project-specific industry standards. Additionally, users can turn existing samples of approved documentation into templates. By replacing data entries with variables, DocEXPRESS simplifies the process of creating templates that are compliant with a tailored standard.

Price and Availability

DocEXPRESS is priced at $8,500 US, and includes a single CASE tool link, a complete set of pre-defined templates/fill-in guides, user manuals, one year of maintenance and one seat in a public training class. Add-on tool links are available for an additional price of $4,000. DocEXPRESS runs on major Unix platforms, including SunOS and Solaris, HP HP/UX IBM AIX and DEC OSF/1. The product is currently shipping, and DocEXPRESS 2.2 will be available for customer shipments in 30 days.

About ATA

ATA Inc. was established in 1988 and specializes in enabling the practical application of Computer-Aided Software Engineering (CASE) technologies in the engineering, scientific, telecommunications, aerospace, commercial and DOD environments. The company maintains a strong market and technology leadership position in the key document processing segment of the market. ATA's products are sold through a channel of resellers and partners, including Cadre and Rational. Customers include US West, GTE, Motorola, IBM, Boeing, AMR, EDS, Litton Data Systems, Martin-Marietta, Lockheed and the U.S. Air Force. The company is privately held and has offices at 3528 Torrance Blvd., Suite 214, Torrance, CA 90503. They can be reached at [phone], and by e-mail at [e-mail].

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Note to Editors: ATA and DocEXPRESS are trademarks of ATA Incorporated. All other trademarks are acknowledged to their respective owners.

CONTACT: ATA

             Cliff Sadler, 813/371-8441
                           [e-mail]
             Bedford Communications Group
             James Bairey, 707/836-0104
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