"Discovery Task Structure and Flow Modelling"

Supervised by A.Simons

Abstract

The aim of this dissertation is to construct the first C.A.S.E. tool in a series, which will cover the forthcoming version 2 of the Discovery Method, and to provide a repository framework that can be utilised and extended as required throughout the method. The first C.A.S.E. tool allows the editing and manipulation of tasks from various integrated perspectives. Tasks are elicited in relation to the actors that perform them and are clustered, presented structurally according to their similarities (alternation) and their decomposition into subtasks (hierarchy).

All Tasks have narratives as their primary backbone. Complementing this, tasks are presented in their sequential order, like a flowchart or activity graph. The C.A.S.E. tool should support the visual manipulation of tasks in both of these views, maintaining consistency across the structure and flow viewpoints, supporting the documentation of tasks via simple narratives. All diagrams created from the flow viewpoint should be exportable allowing the second C.A.S.E. tool in the series, that of O'Brien (2000), to import and continue with the Discovery Method's processes.