There's several terms that cause confusion in analysis and sometimes they come in pairs. The two are preconditions / post-conditions and assertions / assumptions.
It's not that people get them mixed up, it 's just that they use them however they like. It's so much better when you know what you are saying and know why you are using the term appropriately. A clear term used properly is the beginning of analysis understanding.
It's not that I blame any particular reason for not using terms well because I know I had no clue when I was suppose to write up a project document and the people I was learning from had bad habits. It's like when my wife regretting doing something said she "felt like an eel." It's an obvious thing if you know the real use of the term but can cause confusion in those that don't have that experience.
Many people shortcut writing the full scenario by avoiding the repetitious log-in tasks and declaring that the user must be logged in as their precondition. So if logging on has changed the state of the system to a different state, that use case must be a complete use case that leads to value for that changed state. The log-in, no matter how many people log in, will not provide the business any value whatsoever. It's not a separate value-driven use case. Ever.
The precondition is a state of the system that must be true in order for the use case to progress to the first step that is unique to this use case. In the classic ATM use case example, you are prevented from doing a Withdraw Cash use case when the machine has no money and the menu option for withdrawing cash is disabled. That means that the precondition for the Withdraw Cash use case is that the ATM can pass the rule of allowing a user to withdraw up to their maximum daily limit or some other rule. The state was changed by a previous Withdraw Cash use case which did have value.
In a business use case where the user first drives to the bank's outside ATM to get cash, the precondition has to change some. The scope of the business system must include the full bank property and building. The system precondition is that of the machine having enough cash but business way to prevent a person from using the ATM is to put a traffic cone in the ATM lane or turn the system off. It's anything a manager would do that doesn't involve the software itself.
You can understand what your stakeholders want in a sign-up site for your insurance and you know that they want something that follows and takes advantage of the current laws. But there's an uncertainty that is measured through a risk assessment process of whether or not the bill will pass. The project manager will be the one to assess the risk and make that bet on the value that could be gained or lost.
If the choice to take the risk is a good one, then the design team starts working on the system and while they are designing screens and systems, the assumption must be made that there will be a replacement for ObamaCare. Not all the risks that you assume in your design will happen but the choices you make may allow for you to reduce your time to market increasing the value of the system on the ones that do pan out.
It's not that people get them mixed up, it 's just that they use them however they like. It's so much better when you know what you are saying and know why you are using the term appropriately. A clear term used properly is the beginning of analysis understanding.
It's not that I blame any particular reason for not using terms well because I know I had no clue when I was suppose to write up a project document and the people I was learning from had bad habits. It's like when my wife regretting doing something said she "felt like an eel." It's an obvious thing if you know the real use of the term but can cause confusion in those that don't have that experience.
Preconditions prevent functionality
In a use case, there is a particular section of preconditions which never is fully explained and ends up being a convenient way to start a use case from the middle of the scenario. My favorite example of this is when a use case requires the credentials of a user to be checked as part of the process. A log-on process is always part of a secure use case. It should be modeled as a part of a goal-driven use case.
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Many people shortcut writing the full scenario by avoiding the repetitious log-in tasks and declaring that the user must be logged in as their precondition. So if logging on has changed the state of the system to a different state, that use case must be a complete use case that leads to value for that changed state. The log-in, no matter how many people log in, will not provide the business any value whatsoever. It's not a separate value-driven use case. Ever.
The precondition is a state of the system that must be true in order for the use case to progress to the first step that is unique to this use case. In the classic ATM use case example, you are prevented from doing a Withdraw Cash use case when the machine has no money and the menu option for withdrawing cash is disabled. That means that the precondition for the Withdraw Cash use case is that the ATM can pass the rule of allowing a user to withdraw up to their maximum daily limit or some other rule. The state was changed by a previous Withdraw Cash use case which did have value.
In a business use case where the user first drives to the bank's outside ATM to get cash, the precondition has to change some. The scope of the business system must include the full bank property and building. The system precondition is that of the machine having enough cash but business way to prevent a person from using the ATM is to put a traffic cone in the ATM lane or turn the system off. It's anything a manager would do that doesn't involve the software itself.
Post-conditions repeat important tasks
Use case post-conditions are usually defined as important things that need to be affirmed at the end of the use case tasks. That usually means repeating the important changes noted in the use case narrative. For instance, in the classic ATM example, a post-condition will be to make sure that the bank got the message of a withdrawal transaction at the end. But it doesn't have to be a state change. In fact, the state of the machine should return back to the way it was before the use case started if we are to follow the rule of being able to run a use case multiple times.
The post-condition of the bank transaction is that a message was confirmed to be sent to the bank by some means. In the design stage, this could be a callback function to the ATM or a log provided by the bank. Either way, it should be a task that could be audited.
Assertions are conditions too
Assertions are more of a programmatic style of pre or post-condition when the condition involves only that code. You assert that inputs matched your data rules, a technical precondition. You assert that outputs match your data rules or the state of something changes, a technical post-condition. The code for assertions is removed when deployed.Assumptions occur after analysis
Assumptions however are not preconditions. You don't get to assume that your users are logged in. They are important decisions taken at design time when we need to guess and take a bet on the chances that something will occur. You assume that a health care system you manage will be affected by a possible repeal or replacement of ObamaCare.You can understand what your stakeholders want in a sign-up site for your insurance and you know that they want something that follows and takes advantage of the current laws. But there's an uncertainty that is measured through a risk assessment process of whether or not the bill will pass. The project manager will be the one to assess the risk and make that bet on the value that could be gained or lost.
If the choice to take the risk is a good one, then the design team starts working on the system and while they are designing screens and systems, the assumption must be made that there will be a replacement for ObamaCare. Not all the risks that you assume in your design will happen but the choices you make may allow for you to reduce your time to market increasing the value of the system on the ones that do pan out.
