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Figure 2: Simplifi ed procedure for determining method and technique fi tness
The strategy that we will follow to examine method and technique fi tness is to establish
a criterion of correspondence between PM and CM, based on the comparison of the generic
conceptual model of each problem P and the conceptual models used by the methods and
techniques. This correspondence to be established between PM and CM is precisely what
stipulates that the set PM should not be constructed on the basis of classical conceptual
models, like the class diagram or the data fl ow diagram. If this were the case, the problem P
modeled in PM would be biased towards the conceptual model used, which means that the
correspondence between PM and CM would be predetermined by the modeling process; that
is, PM and CM would be the same set. On the other hand, the generic conceptual model can
be used to compare, as will be shown in section 3.1, the characteristics of the problems mod-
eled in PM with the models in CM that can express these characteristics, thus establishing,
therefore, the correspondence between PM and CM and, ultimately, between P and M.
Accordingly, it is possible to come up with a method for determining the fi tness of
conceptual models and, ultimately, methods and techniques for a given problem. This method,
called problem-oriented analysis method (POAM), uses a generic conceptual model to map
the set P to the set PM, as well as to compare the sets PM and CM. The use of the generic
conceptual model has been formalized in a well-defi ned procedure, which can be used to
systematically determine conceptual model fi tness
.
The association of methods and techniques
and conceptual models, which can be used to pass from the set M to the set CM.
