Design Methodology › Step Two: Developing the Design › External/Functional Specifications › Identifying the Application Components

Identifying the Application Components

The following list suggests a few of the questions that need to be answered to establish relationships within and between the functions and responses that make up an application:

• What online transactions need to be performed by the terminal user? For example, in the sample application, the user needs to be able to update the address, phone number, job code, or skill level of an employee.
• What information or processing is needed before a given function can be implemented? For example, the appropriate employee record needs to be obtained from the database and displayed online before the record can be modified by the terminal user.
• What are the possible results of a given function? For example, when the user chooses to update a record, will it be possible to delete the displayed record or can the record only be modified and stored?
• After completing a function, what should be the next step? For example, will the application return to the menu screen after the employee record has been updated or will a new employee record be displayed? What response will the user have to make to effect either of these actions?
• What relationships can be established between functions? For example, can the same map be used for both the update and browse functions?
• How do these parts relate to the available or planned database entities? For example, is there a record in the database that provides information on the skill of an employee? If an employee has more than one skill or many employees have the same skill, will the application be able to access this information?