According to "Head First Object-Oriented Analysis and Design", Complex projects involves first finding a feature list -> drawing use case diagrams -> breaking into smaller modules before implementing object oriented design (requirements gathering -> use cases -> OO -> design patterns etc.)
I want to understand, what is the criteria for the size of project when feature lists and use case diagrams should be implemented before finding requirements and writing use cases?
I am particularly interested in how can this knowledge be applied to my real wold problems
Example, I am working on a UI that send instrument commands to the server and displays the response back from the server. I know from customer feedback that the UI should have the following things:
It should be able to let the user select an instrument from available list and send any custom command and display the result
It should be able to let the user select an instrument and a command from available list and display the result (create commands using drag and drops from given lists)
It should be able to have capability of creating macros
Is this UI project small enough to not have steps for gathering features and drawing use case diagrams? Do we go straight to categorizing the asks as requirements and start gathering requirements and writing use cases?
How would one go about breaking down project of this nature to deduce it to its appropriate class diagrams?
I have tried considering the above mentioned asks as features and then tried creating requirements, mainly on the different states that one could have during the life cycle of the UI application but I am still not sure and unable to comprehend the teachings of the books on this project.
I haven't read the book, so I'm not sure what the author(s) of the book really wanted to emphasize here. But I assume that you misinterpreted it.
Without knowing the requirements there is no feature list. If you don't know what is needed then you can't say anything about the system's capabilities.
Gathering requirements is an iterative process. First you gather the high-level requirements in order to be able to start building a mental model about the system. This can help you to start think about the supported features. By sharing your mental model and the exposed feature set of the system with the stakeholder, it initiates the next iteration.
Here you can start talking about actors, user journeys, use cases, etc. These are mainly focusing on the happy paths. As you have more and more iterations you will reach a point where you can start talking about edge and corner cases: What suboptimal cases can we foreseen? What can we do (prevention, detection, mitigation)? How does it affect the system/actors/journeys?...
The better you understand the needs and circumstances, the better the design and implementation of the system could be.
UPDATE #1
Will we always have high-level and low-level (edge cases and detailed use cases) requirements i.e. we will first need to make use case diagrams and then write individual detailed use cases?
There are a lot of factors which can influence this. Just to name a few:
Is it a system, submodule, or component design?
Is it a green or a brownfield project?
Is the stakeholder experienced enough to know which information matters and which doesn't from the IT project perspecitive?
Does the architect / system designer have previous experience with the same domain?
Does wireframe or mockup exist at project kick-off?
Should the project satisfy special security, legal or governmental regulations?
etc...
In short, yes there can be circumstances where you don't need several iterations, but based on my experiences that's quite rare.
I'm looking for a Tool to do
Test planning
Inserting test results
Searching previous tests and results
Comparing multiple test results
Making reports out of existing test
data
The tests could be almost anything. For example testing performance of a specific software in a specific hardware. The point is that it would be possible to search earlier test procedures and results to be able to reproduce the test conditions. For example new results could be written using the same procedure only with different hardware.
This tool would be used to record test plans and results. The tools would NOT be used for executing the tests. The tool would act more as a database for developers to insert test plans and result, search existing tests and compare results.
How about retrofitting an existing blog, wiki or CMS engine for doing this?
Say for example, in a wiki each wiki article could represent a test. You could have page templates set up, with required sections like "purpose", "scenario", "results".
Pick a system you're already familiar with, so you'll have something running quickly, use it for a while, see what customizations it needs. Once the list of hard-to-implement things gets bigger, you can look for a custom tool, and you'll have a solid list of requirements by then.
You are probably looking for a test (case) management software. A good test management software lets you plan tests (and cases), record results and print reports/provide relevant metrics. Assigning tests to team members and email notifications similar to defect/bug tracking tools should also be included in a good tool. There are quite a few tools for this out there. A modern web-based test management app is our tool TestRail, feel free to give it a try.
(source: gurock.com)
What do you prefer (from your developer's point of view) when it comes to implement a business process?
A Business Process Management System (BPMS) or just your favorite IDE with the needed tools and frameworks (a reporting tool for example)?
What is from your point of view the greatest Benefit of a BPMS compared to an IDE with your personal tools and frameworks?
OK. Maybe I should be more specific... I got to know one specific BPMS which should make it easy to implement a business process by configuring rules. But for me as a developer it is hard to work with the system. I would like to work with text files which I can refactor and I would like to be able to choose the right technology or framework for the job I have to do. Instead the system forces me to configure.
There are rules where I can use java, but even then I have to stick to the systems editor without intellisense etc.
So this leads me to the answer of my own question - I would like to use the tools I am used to instead of having to learn how to work with a BPMS (at least the one I know) because it limits me more than it helps. The BPMS I know is a framework from which it is hard to escape! At this time, I would prefer a framework like Grail over any BPMS I know.
So maybe the more specific question is: do you feel the same or are there BPMSes which support you in beeing a developer and think like a developer or do most of them force you to do your job a different way?
In my experience the development environments provided by BPMS systems are third rate, unproductive, and practically force you to write hard to maintain, poorly designed code (due to their limitations). Almost all the "features" (UI, integrations, etc) provided by the BPMS system I'm familiar with (the one sold by that company named for its database) were not worth the money we paid.
If you're forced to use BPMS, as a developer, my advice would be to build as much of your application in a conventional development environment, such as Java or .Net, build as little as possible in the BPMS environment itself, and integrate the two. The only things that should go in the BPMS is the minimum to make the business process work.
Not sure what exactly you ask, but the choice BPM vs. plain programming will depend on the requirements. A "business process" is a relatively vague term in software engineering.
Here are a few criterion to evaluate your needs:
complexity of the rules - Are the decisions/rules embodied in your process simple, complicated, configurable, hard-coded?
volatility of the process - How frequently does your process change? Who should be able to make the change?
integration need - Is your process realized using multiple heterogenous services, or is all implemented in the same language?
synchronous/asynchrounous - Is your process "long-running" with the need to handle asynchronous actions?
human tasks - Does your process involves human interaction, with task being assigned/routed to people according to their roles/responsibilities?
monitoring of the process - What is the level of control you want on the existing process instances being executed? Do you need to audit the actions, etc. ?
error handling - Depending on the previous points, how do you plan to deal with errors, or retry of faulty process execution?
Depending on the answer to these questions, you may realize that your process is closer to a simple state chart with a few actions and decisions that can be executed in a sequence, or you may realize that you need something more elaborated, and that you don't want to re-implement all that yourself.
Between plain programming and a full-fledge BPM solution (e.g. Oracle BPM suite which contains BPEL, rule engine, etc.), there are intermediate solutions such as jBPM or Windows Workflow Foundation and probably a lot of others. These intermediate solution are frequently good trade-off.
I have worked with Biztalk in the past and more recently with JBPM. My opinion is biased against BPMs for the following reasons:
Steep learning curve : To make a process work, I have to understand how the system and the editor works. It is hard enough for a developer to understand the system, let alone a business user. The drag and drop and visual representation is a great demo tool. It certainly impresses managers (who ultimately pay for it), but a developer's productivity just drops.
Non developers changing the workflow : I haven't seen one BPM solution do it flawlessly. Though it doesn't look like code, right click on the box and you do have to put some code, otherwise it is not going to work. So you definitely need a developer to do it. The best part is that it is neither developer friendly nor business user friendly, just demo user friendly.
Testablity and refactoring : It is virtually impossible to test drive a BPMS. You do have 'unit test frameworks' advertised, but most of them are hacks and hard to use. Recently I tried the JBPM one; I ended up writing a lot of glue code and fake workflow handlers to make it work. The deal breaker for me though is refactoring. If the business radically changes it's mind about how a business process should look, then good luck re-arranging the boxes, because just re-arranging them won't work, all the variables bound to the boxes also need to be re-arranged. I would prefer the power of the IDE and tests to refactor my business process.
If your application has workflow, then you could try a workflow library (with or without persistent state). It will still manage your workflows without all the bloat that comes with a BPM. If a business user needs to understand the code, then let the business prepare good process flowcharts and translate them into good domain driven code. Use cucumber style acceptance tests to make bring the developers and business together. A BPM is just something that tries to do too many things and ends up doing all those things badly.
BPMS-- a lot of common business case, use case are already implemented. So you just have to know how to use it. For common workflow, you don't even need to write a single line of code, though mostly you would have to write some scripts to cover things that are not yet implemented.
Plain programming-- just use the IDE to hack out the code. The positive side: more control. The negative? A lot of times are spent on rewriting boilerplate code. And you have to maintain them.
So in a nutshell, I would prefer a Business Process Management System. One that I would recommend is ProcessMaker. It features an intuitive process designer that allows you to design workflow with drag and drop. And you can always write trigger to extend the process functionalities. It's open source as well.
Documentation is not the favorite area of a developer but an important area to fulfill if you want to have standards in the organization. We are trying to put together a new Configuratio Mgmt Plan to setup Change Controls, Backups strategies and other fun things, like the process from development, staging to production.
I will like to have your opinions on good examples or probably a good start for CMP process.
If you would like some list of the item in software configuration management plant, this links provide an example: http://www.scmwise.com/software-configuration-management-plan.html
However, please notes that the content of SCM plan is highly dependent on your company standard and the process during software development itself.
I usually refer cmcrossroads.com for such information. The site is not organized well but has lots of info. Another very useful resource is nasa.gov (I know).
Rather than me listing out the index of a CM plan, I would recommend you to check this link out: http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ivv/pdf/170879main_T2401.pdf
Some quick pointers for setting up CM process:
You absolutely need the
management's/corporation's backing.
Without them pushing, no one will
adhere to the process.
SCM is like police/postal service. No one remembers them until something goes wrong. In your case, it is a good sign if no one talks (complains) about your implemented SCM process.
Open source SCM systems are at par with the other kind. Depending on the intensity of your project, you may have to do several POCs to determine which system suits your needs.
This is a vast topic; I would recommend Alexis Leon's book if you are stuck.
Software development related all kind of documents are available as part of Rational Unified Process[RUP]. You can find those at:
Configuration management Plans
RUP templates
RUP templates
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I have being toying with the idea of creating software “Robots” to help on different areas of the development process, repetitive task, automatable task, etc.
I have quite a few ideas where to begin.
My problem is that I work mostly alone, as a freelancer, and work tends to pill up, and I don’t like to extend or “blow” deadline dates.
I have investigated and use quite a few productivity tools. I have investigated CodeGeneration and I am projecting a tool to generate portions of code. I use codeReuse techniques. Etc.
Any one as toughs about this ? as there any good articles.
I wouldn't like to use code generation, but I have developed many tools to help me do many of the repetitive tasks.
Some of these could do nice things:
Email Robots
These receive emails and do a lot of stuff with them, they need to have some king of authentication to protect you from the bad stuff :
Automatically logs whatever was entered in a database or excel spreadsheet.
Updates something in a database.
Saves all the attachments in a specific shared folder.
Reboot a server.
Productivity
These will do repetitious tasks:
Print out all the invoices for the month.
Automatically merge data from several sources.
Send reminders of GTD items.
Send reminders of late TODO items.
Automated builds
Automated testing
Administration
These automate some repetitive server administration tasks:
Summarize server logs, remove regular items and send the rest by email
Rebuild indexes in a database
Take automatic backups
Meta-programming is a great thing. If you easily get access to the data about the class structure then you can automate a few things. In the high level language I use, I define a class like 'Property' for example. Add an integer for street number, a string for street name and a reference to the owning debtor. I then auto generate a form that has a text box for street number and street name, a lookup box for the debtor reference and the code to save and load is all auto-generated. It knows that street number is an integer so its text box can only accept integers. If I declare a read only property it will also make sure the text box is read only.
There are software robots, but often you really don't see them. For example consider a robot that is used to package stuff. There is a person who monitors the robot in case of a failure. When the robot fails, the person shuts the robot down and fixes things. That person is like a programmer who operates IDE to compile, refactor etc. When errors occur, the programmer fixes the code and runs the compiler again.
Well compiling is not very robot like, but then there are software that compile your project automatically. Now that is more like a kind of a robot. That software robot also checks things in the code like is there enough comments and so on.
Then we have software that generates code according to our input. For example we can create forms in MS Access easily with Wizards. The wizards are not automatically producing new forms form after form after form, because we need every form to be different. But the form generator is a kind of robot-like tool that is operated.
Of course you could input the details of every form first and then run generate, but people like to see soon every form. Also the input mechanism is the form pretty much already, so you get what you create on the fly. Though with data transformation tools you can create descriptions of forms from a list of field names, generate the forms, and call that as using robots.
There are even whole books about automated software production, but the biggest problem is, that the automation of the process lasts longer then the process itself.
Mostly programmers give up on this, since they try to achive everything on one step, from manual programming, to automation.
Common automation in software production is done through IDEs, CodeGenerators and such, until now nearly no logic is automated.
I would appreciate any advance in this topic. Try to automate little tasks from the process, and connect those tasks afterwards. Going step by step.
I'm guessing that, just like just about every software developer on planet Earth, you want to write software that writes software by itself. Unfortunately, it's an idea that only works on paper. I mean, we have things like code generators, DSLs, transformation pipelines, Visual Studio add-ins that statically analyse code and generate derivative code, and so on. But it's nowhere near anything one would call a 'robot'.
Personally, I think more needs to be done in this area. For example, the IDE should be able to infer things and make suggestions based on what I'm actually doing. For example, if I'm adding a property, the IDE infers what attributes other properties in the file has, and how the property itself is structured, and adjusts the property accordingly.
Any sort of AI is hard work and, regrettably, does not have such a great ROI. But it sure if fun.
Scripting away the repetitive tasks - that's what you refer? I guess you're a Windows developer where scripting is not as nearly common as in *nix world. Hence your question.
You might want to have a look at the *nix side of software development arena where the workflow is more or less similar to what you describe (at least more than Windows). Plowing your way via bash, perl, python, etc.. will get you what you want.
ps. Also look at nsr81's post in comments for similar scripting tools on Windows.
Code generation is certainly a viable tool for some tasks. If done poorly it can create maintenance problems, but it doesn't have to be done poorly. See Code Generation Network for a fairly active community, with conference, papers, etc.
Code Generation in Action is one book that comes to mind.
You can try Robot framework
http://robotframework.org/
Robot Framework is a generic automation framework,It has easy-to-use tabular test data syntax and it utilizes the keyword-driven approach.
Even you can used this tools as software bot (RPA).
Robotic Process Automation
First, a little back-story... In 2011, I was the Operations Manager for Contracting Center of Excellence at Bristol-Myers Squibb. We were in the early stages of rolling out a brand new Global Contracting System. This new system was replacing a great deal of manual effort across the globe with the intention of one system to create, store and retrieve Contracting information for all of the organization. No small task to be sure, and one we certainly underestimated the scope and eventual impact of. Like most organizations getting a handle on this contract management process, we found it to be from 4 to 10 times larger than originally expected.
We did a lot of things very right, including the building of a support organization from the ground up, who specialized on this specific application and becoming true subject matter experts to the organization in (7) languages and most time zones.
The application, on the other hand, brought it's own challenges which included missing features, less than stellar performance and a lot of back-end work needing done by the Operations team. This is where the Robotics Process Automation comes into the picture.
Many of the 'features' of this software were simply too complicated for end users to use, but were required to create contracts. The first example was adding a "Contact" to whom the Contract would be made with. The "Third Party", if you will. This is a seemingly simple thing, which took (7) screens of data entry, a cryptic point of access, twenty two minutes and a masters degree to figure out, on your own for each one. We quickly made the business decision to have the Operations team create these 'Contacts' on behalf of our end users. We anticipated the need to be a few thousand a year. We very quickly passed 800 requests per week. With three FTE's working on it, we had a backlog ever growing and a turn-around time of more than two weeks per request. Obviously, this would NOT due in any business environment.
The manual process was so complicated, even my staff had a large number of errors in creating them, even as subject matter experts. The resulting re-work further complicated the issue and added costs. I had some previous Automation experience and products that I worked with, but this need was even more intense and complicated than I had encountered before. I needed something great, fast, easy to implement and that would NOT require IT assistance (as that had it's own pitfalls.) I investigated a number of products, all professing to do similar things. One of course, stood out to me. It seemed to be the most capable, affordable and had good support options. The product I selected was Automation Anywhere at the bargain price of about $4000.00 USD.
I am not here to pitch for Automation Anywhere, or any specific product, for that matter. But, my experiences with this tool, forever changed my expectations and understanding of what Robotic Process Automation really means.
Now, don't get me wrong, I am not here to pitch for Automation Anywhere, or any specific product, for that matter. But, my experiences with this tool, forever changed my expectations and understanding of what Robotic Process Automation really means. (see below, if you are unsure)
After my first week, buying the tool and learning some of the features, I was able to implement a replacement of the manual process of creating a "Contact" in the contracting system from a two week turn around, to a (1) hour turn-around. It took the FTE effort of 22 minutes for each entry, to zero. I was able to run this Automated process from a desktop PC and handle every request, fully automated, including the validation and confirmation steps into other external systems to ensure better data quality than was ever possible, previously. In the first week, my costs for the software were recovered by over 200% in saved labor, allowing those resources to focus on other higher value tasks. I don't care where you are from, that is an amazing ROI!
That was just the beginning, now that we had this tool, and in fact it could do much more than this initial task I needed, it became one of the most valued resources for developing functional Proof of Concept/prototypes of more complex processes we needed to bridge the gaps in the contracting system. I was able to add on to the original purchase with an Enterprise License and secure a more robust infrastructure partnering with our IT department at a an insanely low cost for total implementation. I now had (5) dedicated Corporate servers operating 24/7 and (2) development licenses for building and supporting automation tasks and we were able to continue to support the Contracting initiative, even with the volume so much greater than anticipated with the same number of FTEs as we started with. It became the platform for reporting, end user notification, system alerts, updating data, work-flow, job scheduling, monitoring, ETL and even data entry and migration from other systems. The cost avoidance because of implementing this Robotic Process Automation tool can not be over stated. The soft-dollar savings from delivering timely solutions to the business community and the continued professional integrity we were able to demonstrate and promote is evident in the successful implementation to more than 48 countries in under (1) year and the entry of over 120,000 Contracts entered each year since.
It became the platform for reporting, end user notification, system alerts, updating data, work-flow, job scheduling, monitoring, ETL and even data entry and migration from other systems.
While the term, Robotic Process Automation is currently all the buzz, the concepts have been around for some time. Please, please however, don't make the assumption that this means it is a build and forget situation. As it grows, and it will grow, you need a strong plan to manage tasks, resources and infrastructure to keep things running. These tools basically mimic anything a human can do, and much more than a human as well. However, a human can rather quickly change their steps in a process if one of the 'source' systems she/he is using has a change in the user interface. Your Automation Tasks will need 'tweaked' to make that change in most cases. Some business processes can be easier than others to Automate and might be two complex for a casual "Automation task creator" to build and or maintain. Be very sure you have solid resources to build and maintain the tasks. If you plan to do more than one thing with your RPA tool, make sure to have solid oversight, governance, resources and a corporate 'champion' or I assure you, your efforts will not be successful.
Robotic Process Automation Defined:
(IRPA) Institute for Robotic Process Automation: “Robotic process automation (RPA) is the application of technology that allows employees in a company to configure computer software or a “robot” to capture and interpret existing applications for processing a transaction, manipulating data, triggering responses and communicating with other digital systems.”
Wikipedia: “Examples of robotic automation include the use of industrial robots in manufacturing and the use of software robots in automating clerical processes in services industries. In the latter case, the use of the term robot is metaphorical, conveying the similarity of those software products – which are produced to provide a generic automation capability and then configured within the end user environment to execute manual and repetitive tasks – to their industrial robot counterparts. The metaphor is apt in the sense that the software “robot” is now mimicking or replacing a function classically associated with a person.”