Application of use case maps to system design with tool support.

The specification of complex software systems is one that often overwhelms designers with low level detail and does not provide a high level system view. Numerous software engineering methodologies exist for describing designs at the level of inter-object messages, data, and detailed class relationships, all of which is necessary for the detailed design stage but does not describe a high level system picture at an early stage of design. This thesis describes the design, implementation and applicability of the UCM Navigator, a prototype graphical editor to support the Use Case Map methodology, a methodology aimed at providing a high level system view where implementation details can be deferred. The UCM Navigator provides support for complex multilevel designs through support for the concept of stubbing in UCMs where symbols along a causal flow path may refer to separate submaps, to any level of complexity. The UCM Navigator also generates a linear textual form of entered designs, allowing it to be used as a front end for other soft- ware engineering tools as well as provides extensions to describe the execution character- istics of systems for its use as a front end for performance prediction simulations.