BUSINESS DESIGNER 2.0

Rating:
Summary: Terrific features for requirements management
Review: This is a standalone product that is also bundled with Webgain Studio. It's designed to be a team-oriented requirements management package, as well as an integral part of a process-oriented software engineering approach that can align to the Rational Unified Process or similar iterative development life cycles.

What makes this program shine is the fact that it will integrate with Rational's ClearCase SCM product, as well as CVS and Microsoft's SourceSafe. Moreover, it can be configured to support project and development methodologies and team management. I especially like the role-based access control feature for managing content and code, because this adds a level of security that I have not seen in similar products (Rational's Requisite Pro, for example). The benefit is that you can keep company-sensitive information contained to only those who have a need to know. Considering the fact that many development projects employ consultants and contractors, many of whom are added to the team without extensive background checks, I think this feature sets Business Designer apart from the very few applications in its class.

I especially like the UML based workflow diagrams for business logic, which produce swimlane diagrams and the fact that you can attach files and annotations to them. This is a powerful feature that makes this a team-based requirements tool that captures and displays requirements based on business processes. More importantly, the swimlane diagrams mean something to business users who are major stakeholders, where the UML diagrams will be more meaningful to the developers. This separation of views, which caters to major stakeholder groups, is a major plus in my opinion. The fact that you can also capture business logic means that you can use this tool for business rules management.