Requirements Analysis and Design Technology Report.

Abstract : This report reviews the STSC's recommendations for the selection and usage of software engineering products aimed at the requirements analysis and high-level design portions of the software lifecycle. In the early and mid-1980s, when these products first became available, they were called CASE (Computer-Aided (or Assisted or Automated) Software (or Systems) Engineering) products because they were the first class of products to automate software engineering practices. Later the term Upper CASE was coined to differentiate these products from those that targeted the later phases of the waterfall software lifecycle model. Our use of the term Upper CASE should not be construed as an endorsement of the waterfall lifecycle model. It is used only to represent the aggregation of requirements analysis and high-level design products. This report focuses on two primary issues. The first, how to select and use Upper CASE products, is intended to provide general guidance to the reader. It describes a process for selecting products and contains anecdotal examples of their use. The examples provide analysis of why Upper CASE product insertions have failed in the past. The second focus of the report is an enumeration and classification of Upper CASE products. The report does not address the very important and often overlooked managerial aspects of methodology selection and training. The report does not justify the use of Upper CASE products either through anecdotal examples or through empirical analysis. Appendix E contains a reading list that does address these issues. (KAR) P. 7