Tool

Definition

Tool

a direct producer that is a software application that is used by one or more persons playing one or more roles to create, modify, evaluate, or manage versions of work products

Classification

As illustrated in the preceding figure, Tool is part of the following inheritance hierarchy:

• Type: Abstract
• Superclass: Direct Producer
• Subclasses:
  • Business Process Reengineering Tool
  • CASE Tool:
    • UpperCASE Tool
    • LowerCASE Tool
  • Configuration Management Tool
  • Content Management System
  • Database Management System
  • Documentation Tool
  • Management Tool
  • Metrics Tool
  • Multimedia Tool
  • Performance Tool
  • Process Engineering Tool
  • Quality Tool
  • Requirements Tool
  • Security Tool
  • Storage Management Tool
  • System Administration Tool
  • Test Tool

Responsibilities

The typical responsibilities of a Tool are to:

• Automate work that cannot be performed manually.
• Automate work that is normally performed manually by a person to:
  • Improve the quality of the resulting work.
  • Improve productivity.

Guidelines

• The tools should support the process, not the other way around. First select the project-specific process, then pick the best tools to support the process.
• Look for tools that interface to produce an Integrated Development Environment (IDE).
• Do due diligance to determine the actual capabilities and limitations of the tools instead of relying totally on the tool vendor’s marketing.