PRODUCT DESCRIPTION
PROCESS DESCRIPTION
INTERACTIONS WITH OTHER ACTIVITIES

DE.2.2.4. Product Design

Getting Started

The Product Design Activity is an activity of the Domain Specification Activity for creating a Product Design. A Product Design specifies the design for work product family, rather than for a single work product. A design describes a work product that solves a specified problem. Similarly, a Product Design is a design that varies according to the decisions supported by the work product family's Decision Model. By applying the decisions that characterize a particular work product to the Product Design, a standardized design of that work product is produced. The Product Design Activity is performed for each work product family in the domain.

Objectives

The objective of the Product Design Activity is to create a design for a work product family. The work product family's design must satisfy its Product Requirements and must be adaptable to the decisions allowed by the family's Decision Model.

Required Information

The Product Design Activity requires the following information:

• Decision Model
• Product Requirements
• Legacy Products

Required Knowledge and Experience

The Product Design Activity requires domain and software knowledge and experience in:

• The principles and use of appropriate design method(s) used to construct existing work products in the domain
• How artifacts that represent domain knowledge (e.g., code, documentation, test plans) are designed, including an appreciation of typical engineering tradeoffs to be resolved
• The concepts and practice of abstraction-based reuse ( Parnas 1976; Campbell 1989)

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION

Name:

Product Design

Purpose:

A Product Design specifies the design of members of a work product family.

Content:

The Product Design consists of the following parts for each work product family:

• Product Architecture. A (possibly partial) specification of the internal organization of each application engineering work product that can be produced for the family (see Section DE.2.2.4.1).
• Component Design. A specification of the design of a set of Adaptable Components that can be adapted to compose draft application engineering work products for the family useful for the targeted project (see Section DE.2.2.4.2).
• Generation Design. A specification of how a work product family's Application Model is used to select, adapt, and compose Adaptable Components to create work products that satisfy the Product Requirements and Product Architecture (see Section DE.2.2.4.3).

Verification Criteria:

• All aspects of Product Requirements for a work product family are traceable into the Product Design for that family. All variations in Product Requirements for a work product family have equivalent variations in the Product Design.
• The Product Design satisfies the verification criteria appropriate to the specific design method used in creating it.

PROCESS DESCRIPTION

The Product Design Activity consists of the three steps shown in Figure DE.2.2.4-1 Product Design Process.

Procedure

Follow these steps for the Product Design Activity.

Activity: Product Architecture

Action:

Create design structures that characterize the internal organization of members of the work product family.

Input:

• Product Requirements
• Legacy Products

Result:

Product Architecture

Heuristics:

• Create multiple design structures (each portraying a different perspective) for a given work product family.
• Ensure that the work product family's Product Architecture applies to all members of that family.

Activity: Component Design

Action:

Create a Component Design for each of a set of Adaptable Components that compose a work product family as identified by the Product Architecture.

Input:

• Product Requirements
• Product Architecture
• Legacy Products

Result:

Component Design

Heuristics:

Ensure that each Component Design satisfies relevant aspects of the Product Architecture and Product Requirements.

Activity: Generation Design

Action:

Specify a precise procedure of how members of a work product family are derived from Adaptable Components based on the decisions in an Application Model.

Input:

• Decision Model
• Product Architecture
• Component Designs

Result:

Generation Design

Heuristics:

• Decide how the decisions for a work product family determine the form and content of an initial draft of an application engineering work products.
• Specify the design by describing how Adaptable Components are selected, adapted, and composed according to the decisions in the product family's Decision Model.

Risk Management

None

INTERACTIONS WITH OTHER ACTIVITIES

Feedback to Information Sources

Contingency:

The Decision Model for work product family is incomplete, ambiguous, or inconsistent.

Source:

Decision Model Activity

Response:

Describe the inadequacies in the Decision Model. Proceed with Product Design, and document any assumptions made regarding the inadequate portions of the Decision Model.

Contingency:

The Product Requirements for a work product family are incomplete, ambiguous, or inconsistent.

Source:

Product Requirements Activity

Response:

Describe the inadequacies in the Product Requirements. Proceed with Product Design, and document any assumptions made regarding the inadequate portions of the Product Requirements.

Contingency:

The Domain Plan cannot be satisfied with available technical capabilities.

Source:

Domain Management Activity

Response:

Propose (alternative) revisions to the Domain Plan that better match available capabilities. Complete a Product Design that satisfies the Domain Plan as closely as possible.

Contingency:

The practices and procedures specified in the Domain Plan are either ineffective or inefficient.

Source:

Domain Management Activity

Response:

Describe the ways in which the practices and procedures are either ineffective or inefficient. Propose revisions to the practices and procedures to make them more effective.

Feedback From Product Consumers

Contingency:

Suggestions are made for Product Design changes to exploit unforeseen opportunities, e.g., a situation where substantial software is made available for use in the Domain Implementation that was not available when the Domain Specification was completed.

Source:

• Product Implementation Activity
• Process Support Development Activity

Response:

• Revise the Product Design.
• Refer to Domain Management for future planning.
• Reject the changes due to conflicts with the Domain Definition.

Contingency:

The Product Design for a work product family does not satisfy the Product Requirements.

Source:

Domain Verification Activity

Response:

Modify the Product Design to be consistent with the Product Requirements.

Contingency:

The Product Design for a work product family is incomplete, ambiguous, or inconsistent.

Source:

Product Implementation Activity

Response:

Refine the Product Design to correct inadequacies.