Use case and actor driven requirements engineering: An evaluation of modifications to Prometheus

This paper describes modifications to the System Specificaton Phase of the Prometheus agent development methodology. The modifications include introduction of actors, and provision of additional structure to the System Specification Phase of Prometheus. The introduction of actors and additional structure leads to better understanding of the system and its environment, and allows the intended users of the system to be directly involved in the system specification process. Also, the proposed approach is use-case driven, thus conforming to the approach prescribed by Rational Unified Process (RUP). The refined methodology has been evaluated by volunteering RMIT students taking a class on `Agent-Oriented Programming and Design¿. Results indicate that the refined methodology is more systematic, produces a more balanced set of design artifacts and is perceived by users to be less complex.