Design Rationale Capture with Problem Oriented Engineering: an Investigation into the Use of the POE Framework for the Capture of Design and Architectural Knoweldge for Reuse within an Organisation

Nkwocha, Ann (2008). Design Rationale Capture with Problem Oriented Engineering: an Investigation into the Use of the POE Framework for the Capture of Design and Architectural Knoweldge for Reuse within an Organisation. Student dissertation for The Open University module M801 MSc in Software Development Research Dissertation.

Please note that this student dissertation is made available in the format that it was submitted for examination, thus the author has not been able to correct errors and/or departures from academic standards in areas such as referencing.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21954/ou.ro.0001606e

Abstract

Design rational in software engineering fills in the gaps between the original requirements of a system and the finished product encompassing decisions, constraints and other information that influences the outcome. Existing research in this field corroborates the importance of design rational for the evolution of existing systems and creation of new systems. Despite this, the practice of design rationale capture and reuse is not as extensive as could be expected due to reasons which include time and budget constraints and lack of standards and tools. This capture of Design Rationale during software design activities carried out using Problem Oriented Engineering (POE) was demonstrated with the use of a case study. POE is a formal system for engineering design that provides a framework for the resolution of software problems in a stepwise manner. A review of literature on Design Rationale, its capture and management yielded a list of elements used as the criteria for identifying design rationale in the information gathered during the case study. Examination of that information revealed that all the identified elements were recorded and led to the conclusion that Design Rationale is captured when solving a software problem using POE. Examination of the flow of information that occurred during the execution of the case study led to the conjecture that Design Rationale recorded during the case study could be reused. Successful reuse would, however depend on the effectiveness of the categorisation, storage and organisation of the information gathered.