Dependency Model

DEP0 - Use State Transition Diagrams to Model Dependency Models.

Description: The designer should use state transition diagrams to model dependency models. Supported notation elements are: Objectives with labels and transitions without labels in one direction between them. A designated start state is also essential

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DEP1 - Link every Objectives to at least one other Objective.

Description: For representing a Goal, the Designer should use a single linear sequence of Objectives. Therefore every Objective should be directly or indirectly connected to every other one.

Example: To give an impression about how a dependency model can look like, please have a look at the figure shown below.

Example_DEP1

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DEP2 - Include the Start State into the Dependency Graph.

Description: Every Goal has a so called Start State that is neither renamable nor deletable. It describes the initial situation and in order to fulfil Guideline DEP1, especially the Start State must also be included into the dependency graph.

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DEP3 - Mind Cyclic Dependencies.

Description: The Designer should make sure to only create linear sequences of Objectives to obtain clarity of their processing order.

Example: When there is a cycle in the dependency model as shown in the figure below it is not clear which Objective is the first one to be fulfilled. They're not only missing a clear semantic but also an incoming transition form the Start State. In this case we would violate both Guidelines DEP1 and DEP2.

Example_DEP3

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DEP4 - Define Meaningful Objective Labels.

Description: The designer should use meaningful names for each Objective. Objective names should also be unique within one Goal.

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