Computer Science 684 – Spring 2012

Group Assignment #2

Due: Thursday, April 12, 2012

Consider the requirements specification for the problem your group is considering and perform the following tasks:

1. Using functional decomposition to identify the atomic design elements of the system and create a Design Structure Matrix (DSM) for the application to be built.

2. Try to reorder the elements to better cluster the dependencies.

3. Split design elements where possible to solve dependencies.

4. Use the resulting DSM to identify the design rules and modules of the system.

5. After completing steps 1 through 4 to identify the design rules and modules of your system, go back to square one and attempt to design the architecture of the system based on the top-down approach outlined in Chapter 7 of our text (show only the module decomposition view).

6. Compare the results of the two attempts toward modularization (architectural design) and identify any inconsistencies between them. If there are differences, does one approach suggest a better modularization than the other? If so, explain why.