Integrated support for systems design

This paper describes a design support system which goes beyond the support facilities offered by the current generation of CASE tools. We have examined the entire design process, and we propose that the early stages of conceptual design need a more flexible system than is currently offered by existing design methods. Our toollthe Designer's Notepad (DNp)) allorvs rough designs to be created and design optiois explored. The design can be assessed, evaluated and automatically converted to the less flexible notation used in design methods for detailed development. The system is not restricted to any particular method; it allows methods to be defined and, wlere appropriate, to be used in parallel. Although originally built to support software design, the DNp is also suited to supporting the systems design process where functionality is split between hardware and software components.