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Borland defines what apps require

DefineIT

The next step is to define a scenario and the primary actor. This generates the scenario screen and the basic scenario diagram (flowchart). To make the scenario effective take each sentence in the scenario definition and turn it into a step, decision or branch. During this process it is likely that the original statement for the scenario will be defined or may even need to be broken down into smaller scenarios.

As you work through the process of detailing the scenario, DefineIT creates a detailed scenario diagram or flowchart. This provides a double check over the decision processes involved in the scenario. A clever feature here is that you do not need to make the changes just in the Scenario editor. You can go to the flow chart and add new steps or decisions as required. These are immediately reflected in the Scenario editor. However, you will need to return to the scenario editor in order to document the new step or decision.

As you work through the chart there is an automatic validation of the various branches. This acts as a first line check of anything missing. With any complex software decision it’s very easy to miss a decision point.

A key feature to prevent any scenario from becoming excessively complex is that you can invoke another scenario from a step. This allows for a project to develop over time and be broken into more manageable and detailed steps. It also provides both the developer and the test/QA engineer with easy to use data to code and test against.

For the test/QA engineer DefineIT will go further. For each decision point you can generate test cases from DefineIT. The problem here is that you need to do this from each decision point rather than from each scenario or project. This is something that Borland should look at urgently because it is difficult to see anyone really going through every decision point to generate test cases.

Once you have created a flowchart you can then run through it using the Storyboard feature. This allows you to validate the flowchart and find unused steps or, more importantly, missing steps. This is a major breakthrough for requirements analysis. Users and analysts can sign off a project confident they have an effective representation of what is required.

All of the data created by DefineIT can be input into CaliberRM, allowing for versioning and management. Any CaliberRM user can view the output from DefineIT.

Despite the amount of software that is written, it is rare for a vendor to actually introduce a requirement analysis package that is exciting, easy to use, and a must have. Despite the price of the licence - £1,300 for a named user licence and £3,900 for a floating licence - any experienced software developer, analyst and user will recognise how much time and money can be saved through an effective requirements tool.

While Borland has received a lot of negative comment over its move away from developer tools, if DefineIT is indicative of its new direction then things are looking very bright for Borland indeed. ®

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