[Advacs-discuss] Requirements

[Helmut Wollmersdorfer]

John Hasler wrote:
> I've started work on a requirements document.  All I have so far is an
> outline.  Opinions on use cases?

As a tester I like use cases - and test cases, obviously.

At the last project we used Rational Requisite Pro, but I do not like 
it, and it runs on the wrong OS.

If there is no nice and ready to use tool under Linux, we should choose 
semi-formal text files.

E.g.
Use-Case:      Create a new account
Actor:         accountant
Precondition:  company exists
Precondition:  account does not exist
Constraint:    valid acccount-ID, valid account-type
Postcondition: new account exists
Postcondition: account-balance is zero

It would be nice, but it is a lot of work. At the last project (billing 
for a telekom company) we were 6 people, and needed 3 months for the 
definition of 5000 requirements. This was not from scratch, as we had 
documents with high level requirements, detailed functional 
specifications and interface specifications.

Use cases are very useful for checking completeness, writing docs and 
developing test cases. But we should find an efficient way, to avoid 
over engineering and over administration.

Helmut Wollmersdorfer