International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 17-20, 1988 / Riviera Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada / Software development is becoming less an art form and more an engineering discipline. Methods of software development which leave as little as possible to chance are constantly being sought and documented. However, the gap between what is written and what is actually applied is usually quite wide. The only way this gap can be narrowed is through practical application of these very detailed and complex methods. Since it is unlikely that the complexity of these methods will be reduced, automation must be employed wherever possible in the software development process. This paper addresses the successful development of software for the Navy's Realtime Telemetry Processing System III (RTPS III) using practical application of existing methodology in conjunction with a Computer Aided Software Engineering (CASE) tool. Based on this experience, the conclusion presents implications affecting software development the 1990s.