The other prototyping tool is the "Large-grain Prototyping Tool", now
dubbed the "Process Manager". The Process Manager enables a design process
that can include multiple passes through the process (at varying levels
of applicable pre- and post-conditions). Each pass through the process
will be archived for later review, while future passes (though not the
current one) can be altered as events warrant. The Process Manager is encountered
before Virgil (where the user goes after setting up the current pass),
but shares its general look-and-feel to make navigation easier and more
consistent for users. The user can add or delete a pass, or traverse the
process to move to the point(s) where they wish to alter the pre- and post-conditions
on that particular pass. There are four basic functions for altering the
conditions - Deactivate/Reactivate, and Relax/Strengthen.
The Process Manager Rationale:
During development, it was decided that to faciliate prototyping a second tool would be helpful. This tool would be geared to a different process - one that involved multiple iterations through the process, each one producing a more refined prototype. The "large-grain" prototyping involves working through the entire process more than once, whereas "small-grain" is centered around storyboarding. Given the gulf between these two types of tasks, the second prototyping tool, initially called the "Large-grain Prototyping Tool", was born.
As the "large-grain" tool's role and functionality were discussed, a number of questions and ideas arose about how the tool would be utilized. One realization was that the "small-grain" tool would provide the capabilities for building successive functional prototypes, so not only were the "building" aspects of the "large" tool left to the original, "small" prototyping tool, but also "Prototyping" the process step was re-inserted into its familiar place in the middle of the process. Initially the new "large" process was based on all process steps (save Prototyping) being substeps of a master Prototyping step, but now the process is started by a new step called "Manage Process", equal to the primary five (Analyze, Specify, Prototype, Design, and Implement) in scope.
With the addition of this new step, it was suggested that this tool
be renamed "Process Manager", not only for easy association with its related
process step, but also to identify its new role in guiding the user through
the multiple passes through this alternative design process. The
process is repeatedly traversed until the developer deems the most recent
prototype "done". If it is not considered "done" after the planned
number of passes, additional passes can always be added.
Following an overview of the fine-grain user interface and an overview of the large-grain user interface functional requirements are presented in the following scenarios:
Fine-grain Prototyping: