Lecture tw0

SDLC and Software

Process Models
Nana Kwabena Sarpong
(J-Prompt Professional Institute of Technology)
naksarpong@gmail.com

Software Development Life

Cycle
A

software development life cycle is

a set of stages which indicates how
we could develop software. It usually
shows either a descriptive or
prescriptive characterization of how
software is or should be developed.
Also called SDLC

What is SDLC?
SDLC

is a process followed for a

software project, within a software
organization. It consists of a detailed
plan describing how to develop,
maintain, replace and alter or
enhance specific software.

Typical SDLC Stages

A

typical Software Development life

cycle consists of the following stages:
Stage 1: Feasibility Study
Stage 2: Requirements Analysis
Stage 3: System Design
Stage 4: Development
Stage 5: Testing
Stage 6: Implementation
Stage 7: Maintenance

WHY SDLC?
Ensure

delivery of high quality

systems
Provide strong management controls
Maximize productivity

Software Process Model

There

are various software development life

cycle models defined and designed which are
followed during software development
process. The are also called Software process
Models
Water Fall Model *
Spiral Model
V Model
Iterative Model
Prototyping *
RAD(Rapid Application Development) *

Waterfall Model
The

Waterfall Model was first Process Model

to be introduced. It is also referred to as a
linear-sequential life cycle model or
classic software life cycle or
sequential model or traditional
waterfall process model .It is very simple
to understand and use. In a waterfall
model, each phase must be completed
before the next phase can beg in and there
is no overlapping in the phases

Waterfall Model

Waterfall Model-Feasibility
study
A

feasibility study establishes

whether or not the project is to
proceed. It may be that the system
is unnecessary, too expensive or too
risky. One approach to a feasibility
study is to perform cost-benefit
analysis

Waterfall - Analysis
-Phase
All

possible requirements of the

system to be developed are captured
in this phase and documented in a
requirement specification doc. the
developer finds out what the user
(client or customer) wants the
software to do and records the
requirements as clearly as possible.
The product of this stage is a
requirements specification.

Waterfall Design Phase

The

requirement specifications from

first phase are studied in this phase
and system
design is prepared.

Waterfall-Coding phase
The

detailed designs are converted

into instructions written in the
programming language. If system is
large it is developed into small
programs or modules called units .
There may be a choice of
programming languages, from which
one must be selected. The product is
the code

Waterfall-Testing phase
All

units of the system coded are

tested separately for errors and
failures (unit testing). The overall
system is also tested(system
testing).

WaterfallImplementation phase
Once

all testing is done, the product

is deployed in the customer
environment or released into the
market. At this phase the system is
put to use.

Waterfall-Maintenance &
Review
When

the software is in use, sooner

or later it will almost certainly need
fixing or enhancing. Making these
changes constitutes maintenance.
Software maintenance often
goes on for years after the software
is first constructed. The product of
this activity is
the modified software

Waterfall-Advantages
Organized

approach with specific stages

Reflects common engineering practices
It is documentation driven, that is,
documentation is produced at every
stage
Simple and easy to understand and use
Clearly defined stages.
Provides structure to inexperienced staf

Waterfall-Disadvantages
Doesnt

cope well with changes required

by the client
Development teams might wait for each
other
The customer only sees a working
version of the product after it has been
coded. This may result in disaster if any
undetected problems are precipitated to
this stage.
All requirements must be known upfront

Prototyping
Prototyping

is the practice of building

an early version of a system which
does not necessarily reflect all the
features of the final system, but
rather those which are of interest.

Prototyping
In

prototyping, the customer is presented at a

very early stage with a working version of the
system. (It may not be a complete system, but
it is at least part of the system and it works.)
They can check that it does what they want,
or specify modifications. The developer amends
the system and demonstrates it again
and again until it does what the customer
wants. Thus the main purpose of prototyping
is ensuring that the users needs are satisfied

Types of Prototype
Throwaway

Prototyping
Evolutionary Prototyping

Throwaway Prototype
In

throwaway prototyping the various

versions of the system are
constructed and then thrown away.
(The final system is implemented in
some diferent way.)
A throwaway prototype implements
only those requirements that are
poorly understood. It is discarded
after the desired information is
learned

Throwaway Prototyping
Throwaway

prototyping is sometimes
called rapid prototyping and as the
name suggests, a rapid prototype
should cost very little and take very
little time to develop.

Evolutionary
Prototyping
This

type of prototyping is based on

the idea of developing an initial
implementation,
exposing it to user comment and
refining it through repeated stages
until an adequate
system has been developed

Evolutionary
Prototyping
Evolutionary

Prototyping has a very

big advantage over Throwaway
Prototyping. The advantage is in the
fact that evolutionary prototypes are
functional systems. Although they
may not have all the features the
users have planned, they may be
used on an interim basis until the
final system is delivered.

Advantages of
Prototyping
Prototypes may be easily changed or even discarded.
Prototyping may improve communication between and among
developers and customers
Users may be more satisfied with systems developed using prototyping.
A prototype may provide the proof of concept necessary to attract
funding.
A prototype may serve as a marketing tool.
A prototype may serve as the basis for operational specifications.
Early visibility of the prototype may help management assess progress.
Exploratory prototyping allows productive work to proceed despite
initial uncertainties.
Prototypes may demonstrate progress at an early stage of
development.
Prototypes may provide early training for future users of the system.
Prototyping may prevent unpleasant surprises by calling attention to
incomplete or inconsistent requirements, or to missing functionality.

Disadvantages of
prototyping
Prototyping may encourage an excess of change requests.
Working prototypes may lead management and customers to believe
that the final product is almost ready for delivery.
The excellent (or disappointing) performance characteristics of
prototypes may mislead the customer.
Customers may not be prepared to provide the level or frequency of
feedback required for iterative prototyping.
Customers may not be willing to participate in the iteration cycle over
the long haul
Developers may have difficulty writing the back-end code needed to
support the slick front-end interface designed with the prototyping
tool.
Due to time and market constraints, system specifications may be
frozen before the prototyping process has reached a definitive stage.
During prototyping, the only "design specification" is the prototype
itself, which may allow uncontrolled change.
Early prototypes may be of low fidelity, dismissed as toys.

RAD(Rapid Application
Development)
RAD

is a linear sequential software

development process model that
emphasis an extremely short
development cycle using a
component based construction
approach

Rapid Application Development as

an approach to building computer
systems which combines Computer-

Phases of RAD
Business

Modeling:
Data Modeling
Process Modeling
Application Generation
Testing and Turn over

Business Modeling
In this phase, define the flow of information

within the organization, so that it covers all

the functions. Questions like what
information drives the business
process, what information is
generated, who generates it, where
does the information go, who
process it and so on.
This helps in clearly understand the nature,
type ,source and process of information

Data Modeling
In this phase, convert the component of the

information flow into a set of data objects.

Each object is referred as an Entity that are
needed to support the business. The
attributes (character of each entity)
are identified and the relation
between these data objects (entities)
is defined.

Process Modeling
The

data object defined in the data

modeling phase are transformed to
achieve the information flow
necessary to implement a business
function. In addition adding , deleting,
modifying and retrieving the data objects are
included in process modeling.

Application Generation
In

this phase, the generation of the application

and coding take place. Using fourth
generation programming languages or 4 GL
tools is the preferred choice for the software
developers

Testing and Turn Over

Many

of the programming
components have already been
tested since RAD emphasis reuse.
This reduces overall testing time. But
new components must be tested and
all interfaces must be fully exercised
Resembles the final tasks in the
SDLC implementation phase,
including data conversion, testing,
changeover to the new system, and

Advantages of RAD
Due

to emphasis on rapid development , it results

in the delivery of fully functional project in short

time period.
It

encourages the development of program

component reusable.
Can

obtain support from automated

tools and techniques.

Disadvantages of RAD
It

requires dedication and commitment on the part of the

developers as well as the client to meet the deadline. If
either party is indifferent in needs of other, the project
will run into serious problem.
Its application area is restricted to system that are
modular and reusable in nature.
It is not suitable for the applications that have a high
degree of technical risk.
It is not suitable for the large projects because they
require more manpower for creating multiple RAD
groups.