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New Post 10/17/2008 2:13 AM
User is offline KJ
243 posts
6th Level Poster


Re: BPMN Flow Diagram 

Greetings Tankfish,

First, May I suggest that you get one of the free community BPMN versions or download Bizagi (www.bizagi.com). They also have a few tutorials that would help.

Check with Vinnie, he used another piece of software to draw his diagrams. This will save you time drawing these diagrams.

 Your diagram appears to be an implementation of sorts.

 I've created an abstract process for the logger bit only. I've elaborated slighltly on the 2- minute timeout and retry. I'm providing this purely so that you get an idea of the BPMN objects. Secondly, the diagram captures the end-to-end process (the experience) of the logger(human or otherwise) . Normally I would not worry too much about the timeout and signon detail activities in this kind of diagram.

The message flows provide the interfaces in the abstract diagram. You can implement them in many  ways.

Als van die beste!

K

 

 
New Post 10/17/2008 2:44 AM
User is offline TankFish
25 posts
www.store.co.za
9th Level Poster


Re: BPMN Flow Diagram 

Downloading BizAgi as we speak. What a awesome website as well.

Thanks a lot for the info.Really helpful as well.

Dankie Mnr,

 
New Post 10/17/2008 11:32 AM
User is offline vinny
66 posts
8th Level Poster


Re: BPMN Flow Diagram 

 kmajoos wrote

Check with Vinnie, he used another piece of software to draw his diagrams. This will save you time drawing these diagrams.

I use Altova UModel Enterprise, which cost us 249USD.  Altova has many other products that we use as well, so we just stuck with them.

 
New Post 10/17/2008 12:57 PM
User is offline vinny
66 posts
8th Level Poster


Re: BPMN Flow Diagram 

 TankFish wrote

Ok, so I see this diagram as maybe being the middle tier then. Based on the diagram we would have something like this.

Business Requiremenst (1st)

We need a web based system that our customers can logon to and view/download the data transmitted by their loggers in the field. Each customer must only be able to see their site and its data.

System Requirement (2nd)

See diagram.

Functional Requirements (3rd)

  1. The logger needs to transmit to the server by secure GPRS
    1. Logger ID
    2. SIM number
    3. PIN
  2. Date transmitted will be as follows
    1. Date: YYYY-MM-DD
    2. Time: HH:mm:ss
    3. LoggerID
      1. 6 character unique numeral
    4. Channel 1 Value(CH1)
      1. 10 Character numeral with decimal point
    5. Channel 2 Value(CH2)
      1. 10 Character numeral with decimal point
    6. Channel 3 Value(CH3)
      1. 10 Character numeral with decimal point
  3. Data string will be transmitted in the following format
    1. DDDD-MM-YY|HH:mm:ss|LoggerID|CH1|CH2|CH3
  4. etc
  5. etc
  6. Data file must be available in PDF
    1. Format as follows
      1. Header
        1. Logger ID
        2. Date Period Report Run for
        3. User who ran report
      2. Body
        1. Line Graph plotting data
          1. Formar: JPEG
          2. All channels on one graph
          3. X & Y Axis must auto scale to range of values
            1. X = Date Range
            2. Y = Data Points
        2. Data in Table format
          1. Table Header Rows (Bold)
            1. Date
            2. Time
            3. CH1
            4. CH2
            5. CH3
          2. Table Data Rows (1 for each data point)
            1. Date
            2. Time
            3. CH1
            4. CH2
            5. CH3
      3. Footer
        1. Company Information
          1. Company Name
          2. Contact Number
          3. Website Address
            1. Must be link to company website
  7. etc
  8. etc

Is that correct? Will the BRD almost always be shorter than the FRD?

I have some comments:

a)  I encourage stakeholders to provide separate business requirements to distinguish one from another.  It helps me organize things better, personally.  For example:

  • Allow customers to view the data transmitted by their loggers in the field;
  • A customer must only be able to see information that pertains to them;
  • Provide our customers with transmission information upon request.

b)  It appears that perhaps a tech influenced the business requirements documentation more than the stakeholders.  There are solutions mixed in with requirements.  For instance, it's not necessary up-front to require that the system be Web-based --even if that's the popular route these days.  Who knows, perhaps a developer would devise a more advantageous stand-alone solution (not likely, I know, but just consider the point that I'm trying to make)?  I also removed the requirement for "downloading" the data; perhaps another transmission solution would be proposed by a member of another team other than the stakeholder's.  Perhaps even an automated process would be devised?  The bottom line is that customers need to view and receive transmission information pertinent to them.  That simple, and that could even have been the complete business requirement.

c)  Functional requirements 1 and 6 include system solutions.  Bullets 3 through 6 of functional requirement 2 do not seem to pertain to dates.  Point 1 is purely a system solution; security is a measure that must always be expected and the technical staff must determine the solution.  In point 6, who decided that the file "must" be available in .pdf format (seems more like a tech solution)?

Regards,

vinny

 
New Post 10/20/2008 12:01 AM
User is offline TankFish
25 posts
www.store.co.za
9th Level Poster


Re: BPMN Flow Diagram 

Hi Vinny,

Thanks a lot for the input. I see that I made a typo in point 2. It is meant to be Data and not Dates.
I think I see what you are saying, but I am still a little confused about the key difference between a functional requirement and a system requirement.
Would functional req be “This is what the system must do” and a system req is “This is how it should do it” For example;

Functional Requirement:
Application must allow the user to login using a username and password.

System Requirement:
1. Each users username must be unique.
2. The Password must be min 6 characters and alpha numeric.

My next question would be as BA’s, is it then our responsibility to define the System Requirements as well? Or is that for the Solution Architect?

Thanks once again,

Regards
Justin

 
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