Software engineering with analysis patterns

The purpose of this article is twofold, first to promote the use of patterns in the analysis phase of the software life-cycle by proposing an outline template for analysis patterns that strongly supports the whole analysis process from the requirements analysis to the analysis model and further on to its transformation into a flexible design. Second we present, as an example, a family of analysis patterns that deal with a series of pressing problems in cooperative work, collaborative information filtering and sharing, and knowledge management. We present the step-by-step evolution of the analysis pattern virtual library with active agents starting with a simple pinboard. In this paper we propose that using patterns in the analysis phase has the potential to reducing development time by introducing reuse already at the analysis stage and by improving the interface between analysis and design phase. To quantify our proposal we present results from the Virtual University project of the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration, where the analysis patterns developed in this paper were used to implement several information systems.