CaseComplete Community

This is also very interesting to us at Serlio.  If requirements reuse is common and successful, maybe it makes sense for us to supply pre-built use case models for common domains or components that would provide a starting point which you would then customize.  If so, which domains would you like to see?  Also, would you like Case Complete to support use case inheritance to aid in reuse efforts?  Or would that just make the tool more difficult to use and understand?

Doug

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Doug
Serlio Software

Actors / roles are an area that, within an enterprise domain, are ripe for some level of standardization and reuse. I've also had good success with reuse of use case models of business rules and workflows.

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Ron Phillips

In my current role, we undertake a number of very similar projects within the same business domain; often, the only real difference is the audience. This means that the core of each individual application is very similar (although often not quite the same, for reasons that only make sense in the business world!) but the UI might be very different. I would imagine this is the case for lots of other analysts too.

Cockburn co-authored a book on use case patterns, which I have not read myself yet (it's on the to-do list), so there is some work available in this field. My understanding is that he looked at the design pattern work that had been done and then tried to apply the same approach to use cases.

Personally, I would be more interested in seeing a use case inheritance capability as opposed to pre-built domain-specific templates, though both would be useful. If it were possible to protect parent use cases and just publish them for use or specialisation by consuming projects, that would be great (just as you might publish and protect a class in an OO programming language).

If you are worried about complexity, this might be manageable by providing the user with a choice of configurable user modes e.g. an "expert" mode, which enables use case inheritance and other advanced features, and a "standard" mode, which disables them. In my view, the complexity would not be a problem for experienced analysts, though it may confuse those with less experience.

HTH

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John SC

I am constantly surpised that we don't see more standardisation of these entities within specific verticals or business domains; EDI achieved some measure of standardisation by defining generic business documents such as purchase orders and invoices, but this doesn't appear to be the case with OO, or even within large organisations. Perhaps the move towards SOA will change this situation for the better in the future.

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John SC

I can think of a lot of ways to be successful with this for websites that sell downloadable media (Virgin, Rhapsody) that ties into larger systems.

I think that there would be A LOT of value in putting together starting points for eCommerce websites so that basic functions are in the right spot, like making Login or Browser Check functional requirements so that they don't get put in as Use Cases. This would be a great add-on freebie for use with your software, and as it develops, a natural lead in for selling a similar package for Software Companies who have larger projects with repeatable installations, like custom installs of asset catalogs, lower end logistics packages.

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My $0.02.

-Amanda