a quality model for design documentation in model-centric projects
Model-centric software processes, such as RUP, involve a rich set of artefacts (e.g., requirements specifications, design models, code) used for many activities (e.g., cost estimation, construction, communication, maintenance, archiving) by engineers in many roles (e.g., analysts, designers, developers, testers, managers). This diversity makes organisation and implementation of infrastructure for artefacts (such as document repositories, web portals, editors, indexes) a challenge: without analysis of involved tasks, and validation of the infrastructure's implementation, some tasks may not be properly supported. This paper presents a quality model for design documentation (i.e., for artefacts on the abstraction level between requirements specifications and code) intended to be used for requirements engineering of such. Twenty two qualities, most of which concern nonfunctional requirements on the design documentation are identified. The model is based on qualitative analysis of interviews with engineers and managers in a large software development organisation with 8 years experience of implementing RUP.
quality model modeling design documentation uml