NASA

Prior to installing a client/server database, NASA's 10 field centers relied on word processors and typewriters to generate paperwork. Each project required processing many letters and forms for publication, patenting, and commercialization. Information was retrieved from hundreds of paper files, and tracking was near impossible.

To design its technology database, NASA's Commercial Technology Division and several developers at Research Triangle Institute (RTI), a not-for-profit consulting firm in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, selected 4D Server® from 4D. 4D Server provides a flexible programming language, a platform-independent client/server design, and a user-friendly interface. Simon Wright, RTI research computer scientist, explains,"For a project of this magnitude, 4D impressed me with its flexibility and rapid application development capabilities."

Innovative Internet Solution

With 4D Server as the client/server foundation, RTI created TechTracS,© a multi-user, multi-server database system based on a distributed wide area network design. Each NASA site runs a client/server database which communicates across the Internet with the agency-wide server in Washington, DC using 4D Open® and TCP/IP. The master database receives updates, additions, and deletions automatically. The client/server system provides metrics analysis, automated documents, letters, forms, charts, e-mail messages, and multimedia capabilities along with Internet services.

With 4D Write,® NASA employees can merge database information with form letters. To print letters efficiently, an automatic agent, AutoAgent, is used as a batch processing client. At night, the client scans the database and prints correspondence and updates technology records. According to Jim Aliberti, NASA Kennedy Space Center, incorporating 4D Write reduced staffing."We practically reduced our staff requirements by a full person with the implementation of 4D Write and AutoAgent," he says.

By integrating an Internet solution with a 4D Server client/server configuration, work managers can use anything from DOS-based PCs to UNIX® workstations depending on their job requirements. The flow of data travels the following path:
1. To update projects in the database, a user enters a password-protected URL into a Web browser.
2. A WebSTAR, server then communicates with 4D Client.
3. 4D Client executes the appropriate procedure and returns an automated form to the user's Web browser. Data is retrieved from the agency-wide 4D Server at this point.
4. The user fills out the form and submits the data. Data is stored temporarily at the agency-wide server until it is distributed.
5. Updates are then retrieved by the appropriate field center from the agency-wide server via 4D Client/4D Open.

Platform Independence

RTI has expanded TechTracS to Windows, according to Steve Monteith, TechTracS project leader."Moving or adding some NASA field center sites to 4D under Windows should be a smooth and expedient transition, he says. "Obviously a distributed database application of this magnitude benefits immensely with the capability of both Macintosh and Windows users."

Partnerships via the Web

RTI is already working on the next phase of the technology mission, making the information available to the public and marketing it aggressively to private industry. To complete the inventory, RTI is providing corporations Web access to TechTracS via a server. With access to this information, corporations will then be able to search and retrieve data to determine whether they will seek technology partnerships with NASA. If partnerships are established, companies can use the knowledge they acquire from TechTracS and apply it towards designing new or improved products or services, creating new jobs, or improving current industry processes.

TechTracS Success

One of TechTracS key benefits is that it evolves with today's technology."I believe that much of TechTracS success has been because 4D has made it very easy to continuously evolve the application to meet not only the changing processes at NASA but the electronic information industry as well," adds Monteith. Most importantly, for the first time NASA tracked its annual technology budget, a $12 billion investment, with its procurements, technologies, and partnerships, notes Kevin Barquinero, Commercial Technology Division at NASA Headquarters."NASA is the first US government agency that is able to track its technology investments from initial investment to collaborations with industry and capture successful applications on NASA technology in the marketplace," he says."As a first-of-its-kind commercial technology management system, TechTracS enables NASA program managers to plan for and implement
technology commercialization concurrent with their mission responsibilities."

For more information about NASA, RTI, and TechTracS, visit the TechTracS page and conduct your own search of NASA's technology database.

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