At the dawn of the second Toyota project we are looking to strengthen our reporting side. For the second project, Jasper Reports will be integrated and we will present reports as pdf files.
Also we will use incremental prototyping. we will agree upon two-three weeks of screens on prototypes and move forward.
For big projects model driven development can be needed, but when a small project comes up it is probably better to keep paperwork minimum and delve into prototyping(assuming you have a framework to build upon). Generally a well studied use-case and activity diagrams of a few key scenarios and state diagram of a few key entities would suffice. Key to success is test driven development i believe. For me any project scope larger than 6 months is doomed to fail. Even a big project can be scheduled to give fruits in 6 months cycle.
