Rational Tool Overview
Introduction

Requirements-Driven Software
Development with Rational Analyst
Studio.
Tafadzwa Nzara
Analysis & Design Consultant
Eli Lilly & Company
Agenda
The Purpose of Requirements
 Requirements-Driven Software
Development
 Company Information and Resources

The Benefits of a Requirements
Driven Approach

Build better Software fulfill Customer and User
Needs.
– Understanding the business Context of your solutions.
– Effectively gather users’ input.
– Stay In touch with changing user needs.

Deliver Software on time and budget.
– Protect requirements from unnecessary change
– Effectively scope manage your project

Deliver quality products
– Validate your software against requirements.
– Implement what your customer expects
True Purpose of Requirements


The purpose of Requirements Management is to establish
a common understanding between the customer and the
software project team […] This agreement with the
customer is the basis for planning and managing the
project. (Capability Maturity Model)
Requirements Drive all software activities
– Design

Requirements express the solution you will implement
– Test

Requirements express the solution you will validate
– User Documentation

User manual documents the solution expressed by the
requirements.
– Project Planning
Project schedule is linked to project scope (number of
requirements)
– What are the six best practices of software development?

Requirement-Driven Software
Development Tools
A requirements management tool
 A visual modeling tool
 A change request management tool
 A test management tool

These tools together address the six best
practices of software development.
Poll: Which of the following
represents the biggest software
challenge?
Understanding what the user wants?
 Ensuring that developers know what they
need to build?
 Managing change?
 Predicting when we will deliver?

Which of the following represents your
biggest software challenge? Poll Results
Managing
Change 23%
Predicting
when we will
deliver 8%
Understanding
What Users
Want 52%
Ensuring
developers
Understand
what needs to
be built
17%
Rational Solution 1 RequisitePro

A requirements management tool
– To capture and track requirements
– To ensure requirement coverage
– To measure impact of change
A visual modeling tool
 A change request management tool
 A test management tool

Rational RequisitePro
A Team-based Requirements Management Tool
Track your requirements documents
 Organize requirements
 View requirements coverage
 Visualize the impact of change
 Web access to requirements (Requisite
Web)

Rational Solution 2 – Rational
Rose
A requirements management tool
 A visual modeling tool

– To increase software acceptance
– To get agreement early on
– To increase developers’ understanding of the
requirements
A change request management tool
 A test management tool

Rational Rose

Leading Visual Modeling Tool
To increase software acceptance
– Document business processes where software will be
deployed

To get agreements early on
– Express requirements visually – “The Big Picture”

Increase Developer understanding of
requirements
– Express requirements in use case design.
Increase Software Acceptance

Business modeling for software projects
– To ensure your software fits upon deployment

Document your software business context
– Business activities to be automated

Scope and Vision
– Who will use your system

Actors
– Set of services your software will need to provide to
the user

Use Cases
– Non-functional software requirements

Business Rules, performance requirements, etc
Rational Solution 3 – Rational
ClearQuest
A requirements management tool
 A visual modeling tool
 A change request management tool

– To minimize requirements change
– To sort and prioritize requirements
– To map user feedback to requirements

A test management tool
How Can you Manage
Requirements Change Impact

Distinguish between change requests and
requirements
– Requirements are unambiguous, complete, nonconflicting, …
– Change requests are free form requests, often
incomplete, maybe conflicting and not agreed upon by
the team

Establish a CCB* to formally accept/reject
change
– Triage change requests
– Assess impact of change before accepting change.
*CCB – Change Control Board
Rational ClearQuest
Rational Change Request Management Tool
• Formatted web form to collect all change
requests
• Simplifies the sorting and prioritization of
change requests.
• Links requirements to user feedback
•
Associate change requests to requirements
• Same tool can be used for defect tracking
Rational Solution 4 – Rational
TestManager
A requirements management tool
 A visual modeling tool
 A change request management tool
 A test management tool

– To build test cases from requirements
– To ensure test coverage of requirements
Rational TestManager
•
Comprehensive Test Management Tool
Test the right thing
• Direct link to requirements, use cases and
more
•
Ensure test coverage
• Out-of-the-box test coverage reports
Requirements-Driven Software
Development Tools

A requirements management tool – Requisite Pro

A visual modeling tool – Rational Rose

A change request management tool – ClearQuest

A test management tool – Test Manager
Rational Unified Process – The
Six Best Practices
Develop iteratively
 Manage requirements,
 Model visually (UML),
 Control changes,
 Use Component architecture
 Verify quality.

Where to Get More Information
 www.rational.com