As a long-time client of the developers of Hydro4GE, I have often marveled at how quickly and effectively they have been able to design and implement new systems.  When I learned that Hydro4GE evolved from the proprietary tools that were utilized for our projects, I knew that it would be interesting.

Now with my “hands-on experience”, I’m starting to realize the tremendous business benefits that organizations will achieve with Hydro4GE.  A developer and a user can build up “creative momentum” as they cooperatively design a working, functional system in a matter of hours (as opposed to days, weeks or months).  Hydro4GE offers an unprecedented opportunity for the user’s business knowledge and expertise to be “aroused”, “actualized” and “transformed” into a software application that truly serves and supports the organization.

Hydro4GE may also appeal to a broader range of individuals interested in the developer role.  I can see this as a great tool for anyone who can methodically approach a problem by first framing the “big picture” and then drilling down to define the more detailed processes, quickly turning a rough design into a software application without the typical tedious coding tasks.

I didn’t get to test the production change management functions (SEL) yet, but I look forward to doing so in the future.

As one of the Alpha partners, I recently had the opportunity to see Hydro4GE in action and I was completely blown away.

I’ve been in I/T for 20 years and like many of you reading this post have seen a number of new technologies unveiled.  I wasn’t quite sure what to expect this time or how it could have an impact on my business.  “Can this really help me deliver a higher quality product in a shorter period of time increasing ROI and profit margins?”  Isn’t that that magic potion we’re all looking for?  Short answer – YES!  The Visualization module is brilliant.  It simplifies the database design process by taking what can be extremely complex to develop and breaks it down into easy to use (click a button and there’s your model) and easy to understand diagrams that demonstrate how information is related.

After a demonstration of the system, we were given the opportunity to see for ourselves with hands on access.  I had a set of requirements that I translated into a functioning process.  I accomplished this in less than an hour.  Unbelievable!

The ease with which a system is built using Hydro4GE will completely change the System Development Life Cycle allowing for greater focus on Requirements and Design which in turn leads to a better product.  In traditional systems development, the majority of time in the SDLC is spent on Code & Testing – 60% or more of allocated time.  If requirements aren’t well thought out and understood, burn rates skyrocket in C&T causing a reassessment of estimates for pending phases, reallocation of resources to accommodate increased burn and often a decrease in quality or reevaluation of scope to meet a promised deliverable.

With Hydro4GE, you’ll allocate more resources in requirements gathering and design phase, utilize this information to create a simple prototype, review the translation of requirements with the client with a visual and significantly reduce rework – and – your prototype is the foundation that you can use to continue to build and layer upon to generate a complete product without wasting resources.  But don’t be fooled – Hydro4GE isn’t a modeling tool – it’s a powerful development platform disguised as an easy to use application that helps you design a value added product for your client or business team.

The Reporting module is still in its infancy but once fully developed will reach well beyond the applications developer.  There’s more to come and I can’t wait to see what the Hydro4GE team will unveil next.

When it came time to experience Hydro4GE first-hand in the Online Development Environment (ODE), I thought I knew what I could expect – instead, I was blown away.

When I think about Hydro4GE, the following words come to mind: quick, easy, powerful, and ground-breaking.  And that’s exactly how I would describe my experience in the ODE.  To get a sense of comparison, I set out to duplicate my Senior Project from college, an online Residence Life Management System.  What originally took me half of a semester to build (a couple months), only took about a day to complete in Hydro4GE.  I found myself spending more time with the business requirements, and not having to worry about database development and web interfaces.

My favorite feature of Hydro4GE is its ability to adapt to changing business requirements, thanks to the Schema Evolution Language (SEL). As a result, making serious changes to the database schema is a cinch, and can be done in minutes.