CSSE 490 – Requirements

Technical Course for the MSE Program

RHIT

Due Class time – Wed, July11,2007

Assignment – First real prototype.

Note that this assignment and the other one given out on June 24 aren’t due until July 11. This is so you do have time to do take-home Exam 1 first, if you like.

This is half of the fourth assignment about your main project for this course, which you most recently did a use cases and a starting prototype for.

A. There are two reasons for doing this assignment:

  1. Create a prototype which will cause more feedback when shown to users of the potential system, when we get to the ID part of the course.
  2. Demonstrate the “action” aspects of the requirements for your project.

B. This assignment’sfeatures / tasks:

1. This time, you need to figure out what kind of prototype you can do, so that it will “show” things happening to people who may see it.

A default possibility is to use PowerPoint’s animation features to show different aspects of the system working.

Or, if that’s too messy or challenging, then a sequence of PowerPoint slides may work, where each one represents some slight change from the last, like a movie frame.

You also can try paper prototyping – see lecture notes.

Now if, instead, you have some better tool you can use (like a discrete event simulation tool with graphics), then feel free to use that. Note in part C, below, that you will need to have some way of showing it in class. Assume that the Internet will work from the classroom. However, if you need to connect to your own company’s intranet to do this, better see if that can be done ahead of time.

2. The main feature I see as critical to this prototype is that people can look at it and picture the system “doing” something in interaction with the outside world. That is, it has some dynamic component.

If your first prototype already did this, try to enhance for this assignment. But, probably not.

In particular, the new prototype should appear to “do” something in response to either user actions or the environment.

3. The new prototype can also “do” things which are somewhat internal, especially if how it does such things make up the essence of its capabilities.

However, don’t forget that the principal goal of this particular prototype is not proof of that solution concept but instead verifying that what people see it doing is what they want.

4. This time, do not take it back to your expert to show it, because we’ll be doing that in a particular way as the next assignment!

C. Turn-in:

If there’s some version of this I can see or use without having any special tools you may have used, please put it in the drop box before class on Wed, July 11. In any case, figure out how you can bring along whatever it takes to show the demo of your prototype in class for about 5-10 min, in class on Wed, July 11, minus whatever’s most proprietary about it.