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Author Topic: EA vs Caliber for Req'ts  (Read 3917 times)

SusanG

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EA vs Caliber for Req'ts
« on: March 06, 2006, 11:07:10 am »
Hi All,
We are considering migrating from Caliber to EA for our Requirements Management/Document Creation. Anyone have experience in this area and want to share war stories or lessons learned?

Thanks.
Susan G.

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Re: EA vs Caliber for Req'ts
« Reply #1 on: March 07, 2006, 02:54:12 am »
Susan,
(I don't know Caliber but Doors)
It depends on how intensively you are  using the RM Tool for your tasks. I suggest to create a list of the tasks you need to fulfill, the work products you need to deliver to other stakeholders and then check what EA gives you here.

Anyway, EA is not a fully-fledged RM Tool but allows you to attach Reqs on any element.  EA has also a good feature called RelationshipMatrix. This is the good part.
The hard part is to organize the Requirements as you'd do in your RM Tool. Managing more than 3000 Requirements in a non-wysiwig style, without the ability to filter or create custom views is not funny.
There is an add-on tool called RaQuest but that is still in a very preliminary state (I checked abt 3 month ago) - you might want to give it a try. It is based on Use Case Modeling.

Bottom line: I wouldn't say it is impossible, but it does require a bunch of work to tailor EA to your needs, I guess.
BTW, I also heard rumors about a link EA<->Doors.


jaimeglz

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Re: EA vs Caliber for Req'ts
« Reply #2 on: March 08, 2006, 06:40:37 am »
Susan,

I have not used Caliber either, but here is what works for me:

1. Create a high-level package in your EA project (think of it as a "Chapter" in your documentation). I call it "Objectives and requirements", but use anything that applies to your situation.

2. Create sub-packages, as appropriate (think of these as "subchapters"). I use "Legal and normative framework", "Objectives", "Requirements").

3. Create object diagrams under each subpackage. These enable you to use hierarchies and dependencies.

4. Populate the diagrams with stereotyped objects (for example, <<goal>>) and requirements. Requirements are nice because you can drag and drop them into classes, use cases, tables..., and EA automatically creates a Realization relationship. Objects are nice because you can stereotype them (and they conform to Ericksson-Penker modelling). If in doubt, use requirements.

During JAD sessions, just create or copy new requirements and objects. They will be automatically grouped under your packages.

5. Create sub-sub packages as approriate:  Planning requirements, Standanrds, General requirements, Security...

After your JAD session or interviews, refine your diagrams, subpackages, sub-subpacks...

6. Generate an RTF document with the whole high-level package, and see if this what you are looking for. After a couple of cycles, a nice requirements model will begin to apprear.

I used Doors about ten years ago, and I don't know how the product looks today, but it certainly was a great product then. However, today I would not use anything but EA, because I can assign to my classes, use cases, tables... the responsibility of fulfilling the requirements, and assign to business processes the responsibility of fulfillilng goals.

7. Create a relationship matrix to trace whether you have assigned all your requirements to use cases, classes...

As long as you create a good structure, I see no problem in handling a large number of requirements.

Jaime

« Last Edit: March 08, 2006, 06:42:01 am by jaimeglz »

farmer

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Re: EA vs Caliber for Req'ts
« Reply #3 on: March 17, 2006, 01:06:06 pm »
Susan G.

Curious how your possible move from Caliber to EA for Reqts is going? We may be considering the same.
Do you have much info in Caliber to migrate to EA?

Have you had much success with traces in EA? Seem much different than Caliber.

Are Use Case Narratives and UI Specs with Business Rules part of your Caliber World? How did you do the Use Case Narrative & UI Spec in Caliber?EA?

Interested in why you would leave Caliber, it is not cheap relative to EA. How did you publish in Caliber?  

Thx
Farmer