OBJECT ORIENTED ANALYSIS: AN INTRODUCTIONAND COMPARISONTO TRADITIONAL SYSTEMS ENGINEERING ANALYSIS METHODS

Abstract

AbstractObject oriented analysis (OOA) is an analysis method that “examines requirements from the perspective of the classes and objects found in the … problem domain” (Korncoff, 1993). OOA allows systems engineers to analyze increasingly complex problem domains. Its methodology improves the communication between the system analyst, the problem domain experts, the managers, and the customers. Analysis results are more internally consistent through OOA methods, and commonalty of objects and functions are explicitly represented through the use of inheritance. Requirements specifications can be built that are more resilient to change, and analysis methods and results are structured for reuse. Finally, when products of the systems analysis and design processes includes software written in Ada (or another object oriented language), OOA provides a consistent underlying representation that minimizes the transition/translation problems often encountered between software and systems engineering efforts.This paper provides an introduction to OOA methods and its utility for systems engineering. A comparison between OOA and more traditional functions‐requirements‐allocations (FRA) analysis methods is discussed. A simple case study is presented to contrast traditional FRA and OOA methods.