Foundation software: a significantly improved approach to the development of large application systems

The American Management Systems (AMS) approach to the technical framework of large applications systems is based on a concept we call foundation software, an integrated environment of standard packages and custom modules that provides common services to the development and operation of applications software. This environment provides a standardized, structured, and simplified view of the outside world to applications software. Use of foundation software dramatically improves the economics of development, operation, and maintenance of large systems and reduces the risk of developing such systems. In this paper, the foundation software approach is defined and illustrated, with particular emphasis on the relationship of foundation software to the overall architecture of large-scale systems and the impact of foundation software on the application-system development life cycle.