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From: Afshar Mohebbi on 19 Nov 2007 00:00
Dear friends,

I have a lot of reports in an application. Sometimes I got lost
across
them because I haven't a good way to fully describe them. My
knowledge
about them in mainly based on some text (less than a paragraph for
each report), some oral knowledge and few paper forms ontained from
application's final users. Is there anyway to got my reps. documents?
My entire app is analysed and modeled using UML and RUP, so if the
solution would be similar or chained with them is better for me.


Thanks in advance,
Afshar Mohebbi


From: H. S. Lahman on 19 Nov 2007 10:55
Responding to Mohebbi...

> I have a lot of reports in an application. Sometimes I got lost
> across
> them because I haven't a good way to fully describe them. My
> knowledge
> about them in mainly based on some text (less than a paragraph for
> each report), some oral knowledge and few paper forms ontained from
> application's final users. Is there anyway to got my reps. documents?

A lot depends on why you need them documented. Is it just to select the
right report for some user-supplied context? If so, all you need is an
explicit identity for each report and a configuration file that maps
that identity to a particular user context. That would then be
modeled/implemented as a lookup table where the selection is made.

If the need for documentation is more complex, such as needing to invoke
a succession of formatting tools to generate the report, then the
solution will depend up exactly what you need to know about the reports.


*************
There is nothing wrong with me that could
not be cured by a capful of Drano.

H. S. Lahman
hsl(a)pathfindermda.com
Pathfinder Solutions
http://www.pathfindermda.com
blog: http://pathfinderpeople.blogs.com/hslahman
"Model-Based Translation: The Next Step in Agile Development". Email
info(a)pathfindermda.com for your copy.
Pathfinder is hiring:
http://www.pathfindermda.com/about_us/careers_pos3.php.
(888)OOA-PATH



From: Afshar Mohebbi on 20 Nov 2007 00:56
On Nov 19, 6:55 pm, "H. S. Lahman" <h.lah...(a)verizon.net> wrote:
> Responding toMohebbi...
>
> > I have a lot of reports in an application. Sometimes I got lost
> > across
> > them because I haven't a good way to fully describe them. My
> > knowledge
> > about them in mainly based on some text (less than a paragraph for
> > each report), some oral knowledge and few paper forms ontained from
> > application's final users. Is there anyway to got my reps. documents?
>
> A lot depends on why you need them documented. Is it just to select the
> right report for some user-supplied context? If so, all you need is an
> explicit identity for each report and a configuration file that maps
> that identity to a particular user context. That would then be
> modeled/implemented as a lookup table where the selection is made.
>
> If the need for documentation is more complex, such as needing to invoke
> a succession of formatting tools to generate the report, then the
> solution will depend up exactly what you need to know about the reports.
>
> *************
> There is nothing wrong with me that could
> not be cured by a capful of Drano.
>
> H. S. Lahman
> h...(a)pathfindermda.com
> Pathfinder Solutionshttp://www.pathfindermda.com
> blog:http://pathfinderpeople.blogs.com/hslahman
> "Model-Based Translation: The Next Step in Agile Development". Email
> i...(a)pathfindermda.com for your copy.
> Pathfinder is hiring:http://www.pathfindermda.com/about_us/careers_pos3.php.
> (888)OOA-PATH

Dear Lahman,
I want to have my developers to implement thoese reports. Just like
the case I give Use Case and Class Diagrams to developers and want
them to implement the use case.


afshar mohebbi
From: H. S. Lahman on 20 Nov 2007 12:05
Responding to Mohebbi...

> I want to have my developers to implement thoese reports. Just like
> the case I give Use Case and Class Diagrams to developers and want
> them to implement the use case.

This sounds more like you are specifying requirements rather than
software design (i.e., you aren't a developer). If so, then I would
point out that use cases are a form of requirements specification while
a Class Diagram is a form of software design specification. If you are
providing requirements to a separate group of developers, then you
should only be providing use cases.

Note that in use cases it is fair to refer to additional documentation
for standards, etc. If you are providing requirements, then I would look
for a way to specify three things: (A) what context the reports go with
(i.e., what triggers the generation of a report); (B) what the report
formats and content are for each report; and (C) an identity for each
unique type of report.

The identity could be arbitrary but it would usually be associated with
what the report content is about or its purpose in the problem domain.
Identity is important because it allows you to map (A) into (C) easily.
Then all you have to do is provide a mock-up or other description of
each report's content.

Your use cases then just have a step like, "Select report from list", to
specify (A) -- assuming the user selects reports from a UI. (You might
need to provide different selection sets for different use cases.) The
developers can then go to a mock-up named "XYZ" to determine what format
needs to be implemented when the user selects "XYZ" from a pick list in
the UI.

IOW, leave the objects needed to construct the report to the developers.


*************
There is nothing wrong with me that could
not be cured by a capful of Drano.

H. S. Lahman
hsl(a)pathfindermda.com
Pathfinder Solutions
http://www.pathfindermda.com
blog: http://pathfinderpeople.blogs.com/hslahman
"Model-Based Translation: The Next Step in Agile Development". Email
info(a)pathfindermda.com for your copy.
Pathfinder is hiring:
http://www.pathfindermda.com/about_us/careers_pos3.php.
(888)OOA-PATH



From: Afshar Mohebbi on 21 Nov 2007 00:13
On Nov 20, 8:05 pm, "H. S. Lahman" <h.lah...(a)verizon.net> wrote:
> Responding toMohebbi...
>
> > I want to have my developers to implement thoese reports. Just like
> > the case I give Use Case and Class Diagrams to developers and want
> > them to implement the use case.
>
> This sounds more like you are specifying requirements rather than
> software design (i.e., you aren't a developer). If so, then I would
> point out that use cases are a form of requirements specification while
> a Class Diagram is a form of software design specification. If you are
> providing requirements to a separate group of developers, then you
> should only be providing use cases.
>
> Note that in use cases it is fair to refer to additional documentation
> for standards, etc. If you are providing requirements, then I would look
> for a way to specify three things: (A) what context the reports go with
> (i.e., what triggers the generation of a report); (B) what the report
> formats and content are for each report; and (C) an identity for each
> unique type of report.
>
> The identity could be arbitrary but it would usually be associated with
> what the report content is about or its purpose in the problem domain.
> Identity is important because it allows you to map (A) into (C) easily.
> Then all you have to do is provide a mock-up or other description of
> each report's content.
>
> Your use cases then just have a step like, "Select report from list", to
> specify (A) -- assuming the user selects reports from a UI. (You might
> need to provide different selection sets for different use cases.) The
> developers can then go to a mock-up named "XYZ" to determine what format
> needs to be implemented when the user selects "XYZ" from a pick list in
> the UI.
>
> IOW, leave the objects needed to construct the report to the developers.
>
> *************
> There is nothing wrong with me that could
> not be cured by a capful of Drano.
>
> H. S. Lahman
> h...(a)pathfindermda.com
> Pathfinder Solutionshttp://www.pathfindermda.com
> blog:http://pathfinderpeople.blogs.com/hslahman
> "Model-Based Translation: The Next Step in Agile Development". Email
> i...(a)pathfindermda.com for your copy.
> Pathfinder is hiring:http://www.pathfindermda.com/about_us/careers_pos3.php.
> (888)OOA-PATH

Hi again Lahman,
Thanks for your descriptive answer. It's a good idea to use Use Cases
for this purpose. Do you know any good resource or example for it?


A. Mohebbi
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