Towards an information model and mechanisms for design rationale capture and use

Abstract

Every year the Department of Defense's (DoD) expenditures on software alone amount to almost ten billion dollars, with maintenance costs comprising the majority of this figure. Recent studies have indicated that an effective solution to help curtail the large maintenance cost is by capturing the rationale which was used to create the systems requirements and designs, and using this information throughout the life cycle. However, various models proposed by current research for capture of design rationale address only some specific aspects of the design process rather than the entire design process. This thesis identifies the important components of a comprehensive design rationale information model, proposes mechanisms to facilitate their capture, and identifies the generic functionalities of a design rationale management tool to use the rationale in various systems development activities.