Structured analysis and system specification

• Authors: T. DeMarco
• Venue: Classics in software engineering
• Year: 1979

DeMarco's "Structured Analysis and System Specification" is the final paper chosen for inclusion in this book of classic articles on the structured revolution. It is last of three on the subject of analysis, and, together with Ross/Schoman [Paper 22] and Teichroew/Hershey [Paper 23], provides a good idea of the direction that structured analysis will be taking in the next few years. Any competent systems analyst undoubtedly could produce a five-page essay on "What's Wrong with Conventional Analysis." DeMarco, being an ex-analyst, does so with pithy remarks, describing conventional analysis as follows" "Instead of a meaningful interaction between analyst and user, there is often a period of fencing followed by the two parties' studiously ignoring each other... The cost-benefit study is performed backwards by deriving the development budget as a function of expected savings. (Expected savings were calculated by prorating cost reduction targets handed down from On High.)" In addition to providing refreshing prose, DeMarco's approach differs somewhat --- in terms of emphasis --- from that of Teichroew/Hershey and of Ross/Schoman. Unlike his colleagues, DeMarco stresses the importance of the maintainability of the specification. Take, for instance, the case of one system consisting of six million lines of COBOL and written over a period of ten years by employees no longer with the organization. Today, nobody knows what the system does.t Not only have the program listings and source code been lost --- a relatively minor disaster that we all have seen too often --- but the specifications are completely out of date. Moreover, the system has grown so large that neither the users nor the data processing people have the faintest idea of what the system is supposed to be doing, let alone how the mysterious job is being accomplished! The example is far from hypothetical, for this is the fate that all large systems eventually will suffer, unless steps are taken to keep the specifications both current and understandable across generations of users. The approach that DeMarco suggests --- an approach generally known today as structured analysis --- is similar in form to that proposed by Ross and Schoman, and emphasizes a top-down, partitioned, graphic model of the system-to-be. However, in contrast to Ross and Schoman, DeMarco also stresses the important role of a data dictionary and the role of scaled-down specifications, or minispecs, to be written in a rigorous subset of the English language known as Structured English. DeMarco also explains carefully how the analyst proceeds lrom a physical description of the user's current system, through a logical description of that same system, and eventually into a logical description of the new system that the user wants. Interestingly, DeMarco uses top-down, partitioned dataflow diagrams to illustrate this part of the so-called Project Life Cycle --- thus confirming that such a graphic model can be used to portray virtually any system. As in other short papers on the subject, the details necessary for carrying out DeMarco's approach are missing or are dealt with in a superficial manner. Fortunately, the details can be found: Listed at the end of the paper are references to three full-length books and one videotape training course, all dealing with the kind of analysis approach recommended by DeMarco.