| Natural Language
Modeling is the precise statement of business requirements as
simple sentences. These sentences are formally structured but
they remain completely understandable to all of the involved
managers, business experts, and information technology professionals.
They form the basis for successful communication about information
requirements, business rules and process steps. Natural Language
Modeling allows managers and business experts (who, in most
cases, are not familiar with software development) to provide
and, moreover, to validate information requirements. The managers
and business experts can then formally approve the design and
software reliability testing can certify that the design was
implemented. All of the involved managers, business experts,
and information technology professionals fully understand these
precise requirements because they appear as natural language
sentences. The specification of the requirements in a common
language assures effective communication while minimizing implementation
efforts.
Natural Language Modeling is the first
methodology to provide a step by step procedure for going from
the usual (imperfect, inconsistent, and ill-formed) statements
supplied about a business procedure into a precise design specification.
The design specification contains all of the knowledge needed
to create a supporting application (such as a database or object
base). Properly trained information and business analysts can
be successful using this technique even if they lack previous
computer or modeling expertise because the analysis is performed
using a defined procedure and it is not based solely on the
past experience of the analyst. Future users will find these
requirements just as understandable as they were to the creators.
So reuse is not just possible, it happens. Managers and business
analysts will gain valuable insights into the knowledge and
processes that exist within a business procedure. In many cases
these insights are more valuable for understanding and/or guiding
changes in the procedures themselves than they are for the creation
of a supporting information system.
The precise statement of business requirements
in sentences using the Natural Language Modeling procedure enables
the engineering of information systems. Information technology
managers can now manage information projects using the same
quality metrics that have been successfully used in other engineering
disciplines because the requirements are precise and complete.
Furthermore, the precisely specified requirements provide the
means for assignment of individual accountability during each
phase of the project (i.e.; from design capture through compliance
testing and acceptance).
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