System design and evaluation with hypertext checklists

A discussion is presented of how hypertext software can aid in the utilization of technical reference sources in system design and evaluation. Technical reference sources such as collections of guidelines and standards can contain hundreds or thousands of points to which system designers should or must conform. Important points can be used to define system specific design rules, and can later be used as checkpoints in a checklist to evaluate conformance. Hypertext access to technical reference sources can make it easier to find checkpoints that are relevant to specific system requirement areas. Hypertext can encode ratings of importance of and conformance to checkpoints. NaviText SAM implements the checklist method of system design and evaluation in a hypertext interface to a large design reference source. Experience with the method and the system indicates that checklists are useful aids to conform to checkpoints and that hypertext provides advantages over manual checklists