CSCI 6448

Assignment Description

The purpose of this assignment is to produce the first iteration of class diagrams for the team project. Class diagrams can be used for a variety of purposes throughout the software lifecycle. Since we are still early in the Elaboration phase, these diagrams should emphasize the conceptual relationships that are criticial for supporting your project's domain. The diagrams should build on the information stored in your domain model (requirements document) and use cases. For instance, you may want to represent each actor initially as a class and then identify classes that are associated with the actor. In addition, you may want to take the approach of mapping out the semantic relationships that are implicitly expressed in your domain model. The Chimera example at the end of Lecture 9 is an example of this latter approach.

The teams should produce a set of diagrams. Each diagram should be accompanied by a textual description of the diagram. You do not have to create one large diagram that attempts to relate everything in your domain model and use cases. Instead, smaller, more focused, diagrams will provide the greatest amount of utility later in the semester. The total number of diagrams will vary from team to team, but each diagram should capture some essential aspect of the requirements for your system. Remember that one critical aspect of a design is that it effectively supports the requirements placed on the overall system. The more focused your diagrams are on capturing requirements information, the easier it will be to track the mapping from design back to requirements.

As described in the previous assignment, Appendix 1 and Appendix 2 should be updated as you make progress in your analysis and design. Appendix 1 records questions and answers about the project. Appendix 2 tracks changes to the requirements document grouped by date.

The goal of this assignment is to take the first steps towards an initial design of your project by crystallizing the information represented textually by your requirements documents and use cases. For this assignment, you may feel that your class diagrams are not directly connected to your use cases. The next assignment, Activity Diagrams, will help to directly link them together.