Rapid application development (RAD) tools that generate code vs. traditional programming in which thousands or millions of lines of code have to be written to create a single application

Lead time on creation of complete software application is measured in days or weeks, not months and years; for example: quoting system was generated from start to finish, from original “spec-ing out” to production, in 20 days

Facilitates instant upgrades for additional functionality; entire application suites can be “regenerated” in minutes

Entire application is self-documented; entire database, screens, reports, and functionality are generated from diagrams and business process flows

Virtual Private Database

Record and field level virtual private database security prevent any unauthorized viewing or manipulation of data

Security is enforced regardless of application or tool working with the data; traditional database security requires rules to be written into application…which leaves security to chance during the programming process and may be comprised if developers are not trained accordingly