A Specification Method for Interactive Medical Information Systems
Anthony I. Wasserman, Susan Stinson · PubMed Central · 1980
This paper presents the User Software Engineering (USE) approach for developing specifications for an interactive information system (IIS) and shows how the method is applied to the specification of a Perinatal Data Registry system. Two linked views of the system are developed: a user view suitable for computer-naive users, and a design/verification view, suitable for computer-knowledgeable users. The user view is intended to facilitate user participation in the analysis task and in the definition of the user/system dialogue. The verification view is intended to facilitate design and testing of the resulting system. The two notations share their notations for data base definition and for specification of the user/system dialogue; however, the user view may utilize narrative text for describing the operations, while the design/verification view relies on a more formal specification method. The specification method encourages effective communication between users and developers and permits refinement of the specification in order to ensure that the resulting specification is as complete, consistent, and accurate as possible before proceeding with design and implementation.