Str#6. “Four Kinds of Features” Strategy // identifying purpose and features

  • Be certain to include features that cover the following:

  1. Log important information.

  2. Conduct business.

  3. Analyze business results.

  4. Interact with other systems.

Str#6a. “Add Features, Inspired by Patterns” Strategy // identifying purpose and features

  • Add features inspired by the stereotypical responsibilities of a participant (in Patt#3, Participant-Transaction), transaction (in Patt#6, Transaction - Transaction Line Item), and place (in Patt#4, Place-Transaction).

  • Examples: assess the performance of a participant (how many, how much), calculate the total of a transaction, assess the performance of a place (how many, how much).

Str#6b. “Organize and Prioritize Features” Strategy // identifying purpose and features

  • Organize the features into &quotfeature categories” (also known as &quotuse cases”).

. Example: maintaining employee info; assigning employees; assessing employee performance

  • Prioritize the features.

. Identify the prioritization criteria. For example: normal sequence of business usage; greatest risk; customer interest; management interest; ease of implementation.

Str#7. “Calculation Results and Decision Points” Strategy // identifying purpose and features

  • Add features that deliver calculation results.

  • Add features that support decision points.

Str#8. “Best and Worst Features” Strategy // identifying purpose and features

  • Ask users:

  • What are the best features of the current system? Of competitive systems?

  • What are the worst problems of the current system? Of competitive systems?

  • What are the unneeded features of the current system? Of competitive systems?

Str#9. “Top 10” Strategy // identifying purpose and features

  • Build a list of features.

  • When you face an abundance of features (or classes, attributes, services), go after the top 10.

  • Why: avoid being overwhelmed by a sea of low-level details.

Str#10. “Now and Later” Strategy // identifying purpose and features

  • Consider current capabilities–and anticipated future capabilities.

  • Ask, “How is it done now? How will it be done later, with the new system?”

  • Look at things that people do to objects now, and consider features you can add (your automated objects might be able to do those actions to themselves).

Str#11. “Reengineer on the Boundaries” Strategy // identifying purpose and features

  • Look at each organization or automated system boundary.

  • Look for duplicate efforts on each side of such a boundary.

  • Model the capability one time–and encourage some reengineering improvements for the organization.

Str#12. The “Smarter Devices” Strategy // identifying purpose and features

  • Look for opportunities to use smarter devices, simplifying your object model and reducing software development schedule and costs.

  • When building an object model in a field with rapidly changing data acquisition and control technology, be sure to take a systems perspective, spanning both hardware and software.