A RADical Departure from the V-Model

One of the hats I wear these days is that of AE Safety Report Designer / Developer. In this role, I take the user requirements for the reports, mock them up and code them in whichever reporting tool is appropriate. This is fairly standard stuff, but I’ve found that moving away from my beloved V-model methodology for small activities pays big rewards. I’m talking about an iterative design/prototype/build loop that much more closely resembles Rapid Application Development (RAD). Is this a deviation from my beloved “Flying V”? Not really. This is just a unique approach to gathering and locking down user requirements that happens to work very well in report design. I use the final prototype as part of the design documentation, and the whole process is wrapped in the overall traceability of the V Methodology.


We start the process off with a standardized request form that the users / requestors will fill out to capture the basic business functionality and data requirements. I take this form and create a SQL version of the report (using TOAD) and export the results into a pre-formatted Excel template. I’ll adjust the formatting of the spreadsheet to get a preliminary “look and feel”, and send it off the requestor for feedback. They are responsible for making sure that the prototype meets their expectations, that the data is as they expect it, and that the layout works for them. Their feedback is incorporated into a subsequent prototype. Sometimes, it makes sense to actually sit down side by side with the requestor in the beginning to understand what they need, especially if the report is not of the standard AE Listing or Summary Tabulation variety. The end result is a set of SQL code and a report mockup in a spreadsheet that can be used when developing the report in whichever robust reporting tool is used to deliver these standardized, user-driven reports, such as Cognos or Business Objects. If you are wondering about the waves in the middle of the graphic, those are harmonic waves, hopefully spreading their soothing harmony to all involved in the process.