Improving student information system design through evaluation and selection of an appropriate CASE tool

Most undergraduate information Systems courses use some sort of Computer-Aided Systems and Software Engineering (CASE) tool to help the System Designers (cadets) graphically depict the proposed System under construction. Currently, at the United States Military Academy, we are in the process of identifying, evaluating and selecting an appropriate CASE tool for use by our Computer Science Engineering Sequence cadets. The cadets who will use the CASE tool are seniors completing a capstone design project with a local client. They have become system designers who must build an Information System to meet the needs of their client. The cadets only have 2 semesters to learn how to use a CASE tool and apply it to their system design using the six phases of the Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC). The current CASE tool available to them is very robust and non user-friendly. As a result, little value is currently gained from the use of this CASE tool. That is why it is vital that a new user friendly CASE tool is acquired. We have developed a ten step method that will evaluate and select the most user friendly and cost efficient CASE tool for the cadets, which will ultimately improve present and future information System Designs. This method can take up to ten months from developing a initial scoring criterion to the final selection and procurement of a meaningful CASE tool.