Implementation Plan: Feature 1 – Survey Management (Admin)

Context

This document describes the implementation plan for the “Survey Management” feature in the online survey backend.

Project context: Spring Boot 3.x, Java 17, Spring Data JPA, H2 (Dev), jqwik (Property-Based Testing)

Reference documents:

• Feature specification: /docs/features/feature-1-survey-management.md
• Semantic data model: /docs/semantic_data_model.md
• Architecture documentation: /docs/architecture.md

Decisions

• Layer order: Bottom-up: persistence model first, followed by data access, business logic, and API; each step is verified before the next one begins
• Test design: Automated tests are created together with the corresponding layer; property-based tests then complement them for the critical validation invariants
• Data access: Prefer Spring Data naming conventions; explicit queries are allowed when a use case cannot be expressed clearly with them
• Error handling: Consistent HTTP error responses via a central exception handler

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Step 1: Persistence Model According to the Data Model

Goal: Create the persistence model for surveys, questions, and answer options according to the semantic data model.

Scope:

• Map the entities and enumeration types from the data model
• Validation rules and cascading behavior according to the feature specification
• Schema generation for the development database

Out of scope: Repositories, business logic, API

Acceptance criteria:

• Persistence model matches the semantic data model
• The application starts without errors and the schema is created correctly

Verification:

• Run the existing Maven test suite with mvn test
• Start the application with the development profile and check the schema generation for errors

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Step 2: Data Access Layer

Goal: Provide data access for surveys, questions, and answer options.

Scope:

• Repository interfaces for the persistence objects from step 1
• Queries required by the feature use cases (e.g. questions of a survey in order)
• Integration tests for the required queries and cascading rules

Out of scope: Business logic, API

Acceptance criteria:

• Data access follows existing project conventions
• Required queries and cascading rules work for the relevant success and failure cases

Verification:

• Run the Maven test suite with mvn test
• Confirm that the new data access tests pass independently

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Step 3: Business Logic and API Contracts

Goal: Implement the business rules for survey management and the related request/response contracts.

Scope:

• Create and read surveys
• Add and delete questions, including validation rules from the feature specification
• Delete surveys, including dependent data
• Map between the persistence model and API contracts
• Domain error cases (not found, validation, conflicts)
• Unit tests for the business logic covering success and failure cases

Out of scope: REST controllers, API integration tests, property-based tests

Acceptance criteria:

• All business rules from the feature specification are implemented
• Validation and conflict cases produce clear error messages
• Unit tests cover the relevant success and failure cases

Verification:

• Run the Maven test suite with mvn test
• Confirm that every business rule has at least one positive or negative test case

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Step 4: REST API

Goal: Expose survey management through REST endpoints.

Scope:

• Endpoints for the use cases from step 3
• Consistent error handling and request validation
• Alignment with the project’s existing REST conventions
• API integration tests for the central success and failure cases

Out of scope: Property-based tests, end-to-end/UI tests, load tests

Acceptance criteria:

• Endpoints cover the feature use cases
• Error responses use a consistent format
• API integration tests cover the central success and failure cases

Verification:

• Run the Maven test suite with mvn test
• Start the application with the development profile and manually exercise the central use cases against the REST API

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Step 5: Property-Based Test Coverage

Goal: Automatically protect the critical validation invariants with generated inputs.

Scope:

• Property-based tests for the central validation invariants
• Custom generators for valid and invalid survey and question data where needed
• Execution as part of the existing Maven test suite

Out of scope: Additional API endpoints, end-to-end/UI tests, load tests

Acceptance criteria:

• Critical invariants from the feature specification are covered by properties
• Property-based tests check invariants rather than individual examples
• The full test suite is deterministically reproducible or reports the seed required to repeat a run

Verification:

• Run the full Maven test suite with mvn test
• Be able to reproduce a failed property test locally using its seed

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Usage Notes

1. Sequential execution: Steps build on each other. Step N assumes step N-1 is complete.
2. Bootstrap first: Before the first step, run the bootstrap prompt so the agent understands the project context.
3. Review gates: Review the result and documented verification after each step before starting the next one. Closely related partial results may be bundled into one review gate.
4. Scope discipline: The agent implements only the defined scope. Concrete type and method names are chosen during implementation based on the feature specification, data model, and existing patterns.
5. Living plan: Justify material deviations from the plan, update the plan, and re-approve larger scope changes.
6. Context management: For long sessions, a fresh session with another bootstrap can help.