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CONCEPTS
OneSpring LLC
 
www.onespring.net
March 3, 2009
Rational’s new Requirements Composer
An Introductory OverviewBy
Mark J. Sandefur
 
Executive Summary
 
In late 2008 a new entrant emerged in the expanding Requirements Definition tools arena – IBM Rational’sRequirements Composer. As Rational is correctly recognized as a thought leader in the Application LifecycleManagement (  ALM
 
 ) space, it is important to see the role this new entry can play, for enterprises.Rational Requirements Composer, hereafter referred to as RRC, is not a Requirements
 Management 
tool. It ratherattempts to exist earlier in the lifecycle, where requirements are first
defined 
. This matches the current trend, whereby business-side resources can contribute more fully on projects, using various ‘vocabularies’ to collaborate on ideas.RRC seeks to serve two audiences: Analysts (who author), and Stakeholders (who review). Ultimately, it can thusserve as a collaborative repository for organizing, creating, refining, and reviewing requirements and their relatedmaterials. This can shorten duration and increase your competitiveness in a demanding market; and also lower coststhrough better communication and less rework.
Flexible sources, of Requirement
material 
 
 A great starting point in trying to grasp RRC’s role is understanding the variety of artifacts that can be leveraged, in it. These can include:
•
 
Rich Text – either create Rich Text (including media such as images) in the editor, or leverage other richformats such as Microsoft Office documents.
Figure 1 - Rich Text document example
•
 
Multiple Glossaries – Remove ambiguity on business and technology terminology.
 
Concepts
| Rational’s new Requirements Composer
 
3/5/09 Page 2 of 13
COPYRIGHT © 2009 ONESPRING LLC ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
•
 
Models – both Business Process (BPM) and Use Case (UC) diagramming is possible in the product’s editor,using industry standard notations.
•
 
User Interface (UI) – In RRC analysts can sketch out reusable screen ‘parts’, as well as full screens. Fromthese, storyboards can be constructed, providing a low-fidelity display of how an application can flow.Note this is
not 
the same as Visualizations, which are by nature high-fidelity.[Visualization: a powerful way to define applications right – the first time, by enabling organizations to “testdrive” and fully experience systems early in the process, insuring the design looks, acts and feels like the realthing and that everyone is literally on the same page]In RRC the analyst focuses on visually designing the user interaction desired in an application, versus producing apartially “live”
version of 
the application (i.e. a prototype), as they would with a Visualization product.
Figure 2 – UI Parts, Sketches, Flows, & Storyboards
 As to the product’s usage, it has anEclipse-based interface, and leverages Rational’s Jazzplatform to enable linking, collaboration, and various other uses of the meta-data in the repository. It has role-based dashboards to help focusteam members’ work, and security controls ensure that teams and partners only have access to the appropriatecontent. Licensing price points exist for both Authoring and Reviewing, and a browser-based client is in future plans.
 
Concepts
| Rational’s new Requirements Composer
 
3/5/09 Page 3 of 13
COPYRIGHT © 2009 ONESPRING LLC ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Ok, so about linking, and the Requirements themselves…
It is from this wide variety of possible sources, where one can come to understand the power of a repository. Becausefor an organization that made use of these various mechanisms, an entire team can come to see the same vision.Consider:
•
 
From the ‘Meeting Minutes’ document above, Analysts decide that a new term has arisen that should beadded to Glossary, in order to ensure consistency should it arise again.
Figure 3 - Adding to glossary
•
 
 The team also realizes that they now have a new formal requirement, and denote it as such via right-clicking text and selecting ‘Mark as Requirement’, so that it can be managed moving forward, in the lifecycle.
Figure 4 - New requirement 
•
 
 Additionally, a process change has been ‘brainstormed’. In addition to inserting a picture of this designchange from the whiteboard into the repository, the analysts should tie that change to the appropriate designmodels.
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