Requirements

Capturing and analyzing the requirements makes it easier to translate into a PageSeeder model.

The most useful requirements to capture for PageSeeder modeling are:

• Semantic data model (such as an entity relationship ER model).
• System requirements.
• Use cases.

Entity-relationship model

The first step is to build a semantic data model by identifying the following:

• Entities
• Attributes
• Relationships

Identifying semantics and relationship help with translating the model into a PageSeeder solution.

Entities and attributes

An entity is generally expressed as a noun.

Entities

• Identify primary keys.
• Are there any public keys?
• Cardinality – How many possible instances?

Attributes

• Mutability – Can they change?
• Volatility – How frequently are they changed / created?
• Data types of value (integer, string, boolean, date).
• Range of possible values (for example, 1-100, enumerated lists).

Relationships

Relationship between entities.

A relationship is generally expressed as verb.

Note if the relationship is either of the following:

• Hierarchical
• Bidirectional

Cardinality

• 0..1, 1..1, 1..N, N..M

Semantics

System requirements

System requirements inform design decisions.

They should include:

• Business case
• Usability
• Reliability
• Performance
• Security
• Supportability
• Documentation & help system
• Training
• Future developments

Use cases

Use cases are helpful to identify actors and how they interact with PageSeeder.

Use cases should include:

• A title or goal
• Actors
• Scope
• Success / failure scenarios
• Related information

Next...

See common approaches to PageSeeder modeling.