As you review customer requirements, one of the first things you need to ascertain is what information is the application expected to produce? This is referred to as the output and can take many forms and encompass many different technologies. Some examples of the output include the following:
- Printed reports
- Charts and graphs
- A list of products on a web page
- Data produced in response to a representational state transfer (REST) request
- Output appearing on the screen of an app running on a smart device (for example, a tablet, or mobile phone)
The data required to satisfy these various forms of response will often be grouped in a certain logical manner, which will lead you to the database document structures definition. Different groups of users have different requirements for output:
Group | Desired Output |
Casual website visitors | Ability to search lists of products Purchase confirmation |
Members | Purchase history with totals Product... |