Selection of an

appropriate project
approach


Presented By:
Shubham Aggarwal


 Introduction:


 Development of software in-house:

 The project team & the users of same
organization;


 The application being considered slot into a

portfolio of existing computer-based systems;

 The methodologies & technologies to be used are
not selected by the project manager, but are
dictated by local standards.
Choosing Technologies
 An outcome of project analysis will be
selection of the most appropriate
methodologies & technologies.
 Methodologies include techniques like OO
development, SSADM and JSP.
 Technologies might include an appropriate
application-building and automated testing
environment.

Conti…
The products and activities ,the chosen
technology will influence:
1.The training requirement for development
staff;
2.The types of staff to be recruited;
3.The development environment-both
hardware and software;
4.System maintenance arrangement.

Steps of Project Analysis
1.Identify project as either objective
driven or product driven:
 Often a product driven project will
have been preceded by an objective driven
project which choose the general software
solution that is to be implemented.

Steps of project analysis
 2. Analyse other project characteristics
 i. Is a data-oriented or process-oriented

 system to be implemented?
 ii. Will the software that is to be produced
 be a general tool or application specific?
 iii. Is the application to be implemented of a
 perticulartype for which specific tools
have
 been developed?

Conti…
- Does it involve concurrent processing?
- Will the system to be created be knowledge
based?
- Will the system to be produced make heavy
use of computer graphics?
-
iv. Is the system to be created safety critical?

v. What is the nature of the hardware/software

 environment in which the system will

 operate?

 Steps of project analysis
conti…
 3. Identify high level project risks:
 Uncertainty can be associated with
 a. Product: How well the requirements are

 understood? Some environments change so

quickly that a seemingly precise and valid
statement of requirements rapidly becomes out of
date.
 b. Process: A new application building tool might

be used. Any change in the way that the systems

are developed introduces uncertainty.
 c. Resource: The larger the number of resources
needed or the longer the duration of the project,
the more inherently risky it will be.

Conti…
 Some factors increase uncertainty, e.g.
continually changing requirements, while
other increase complexity, e.g. software size.
Different strategies are needed to deal with
the two distinct types of risks.
4. Take into account user requirements

concerning implementation:
 Unnecessary assumptions or constraints
are not imposed on the way that a project’s
objectives are to be met.
Steps of project analysis
conti…
 5. Select general life-cycle approach
üControl systems
üInformation systems
üGeneral tools
üSpecialized techniques
üHardware environment
üSafety-critical systems
üImprecise requirements.
 Technical plan contents
list
 Technical plan is likely to have following
contents:-
ØIntroduction and summary of contents
a)Character of the system to be developed
b)Risk and uncertainties of the project
c)User requirements concerning
implementation
ØRecommended approach
a)Selected methodology or process model
b)Development methods
c)Required software tools
d)Target hardware/software environment
◦
a)
ØImplementations
a)Required development environment
b)Required maintenance environment
c)Required training
Ø
ØImplications
a)Project products and activities
b)Financial
Choice of process models
 In order to achieve an outcome, the system will
have to execute one or more activities, that is
its process.
 To create a final product there are number of
activities. These can be organized in different
ways and we call these process models.
 A major part of planning will be choosing
development methods and slotting them into
an overall process model.
 Planner needs not only to select methods, but
also to specify how each method is to be
applied.


Structure vs Speed of
delivery
 Structure methods are made up of set of steps
and rules to produce a final product.
 Each of these products is documented, which is
time consuming and implies some additional
cost.
 A response to this has been rapid application
development(RAD).
 RAD put emphasize on quickly producing
prototypes of the software for users to
evaluate.


 In RAD we use some structured methods and
some other methods like joint application
development(JAD).
 In these workshops, developers and users work
together for 3-5 days and identify and agree to
business requirements.
 These can speed up communication and
negotiation.


 What are
“models”…????
  Software process models are general
 approaches for organizing a project into
 activities.


◦ Help the project manager and his or her team

to decide:
 What work should be done;
In what sequence to perform the work.
◦ The models should be seen as aids to thinking,
not rigid prescriptions of the way to do
things.
◦ Each project ends up with its own unique plan.
The waterfall model
 Also known as one-shot or once-through.


 There are sequence of activities working

from top to bottom.


 The classic way of looking at S.E. that

accounts for the importance of
requirements, design and quality
assurance.



 ◦ The model suggests that software engineers
should work in a series of stages.
◦
◦
◦ Before completing each stage, they should
perform quality assurance (verification and
validation).
◦


◦ The waterfall model also recognizes, to a limited

extent, that you sometimes have to step back
to earlier stages.

 The two key advantages of the waterfall model:

 Identifying system requirements long before programming begins

 It minimizes changes to the requirements as the project proceeds

 The key disadvantages:
 The design must be completely specified on paper before programming begins

 A long time elapses between the completion of the system proposal in the
analysis phase and the delivery of the system (usually many months or years).

 Users rarely are prepared for their introduction to the new system, which occurs
long after the initial idea for the system was introduced.

 If the project team misses important requirements, expensive post-
implementation programming may be needed.

 A system may require significant rework because of changes in business
 environment since the time the analysis phase occurred. It means going back to
 the initial phases and following the changes through each of the subsequent
 phases in turn.
V-process model
 It is the extension of waterfall model


 The V-Model demonstrates the relationships

between each phase of the development
life cycle and its associated phase of
testing.


 The V-model deploys a well-structured

method in which each phase can be
implemented by the detailed
documentation of the previous phase.
Advantages
 verification and validation performed
simultaneously.


 save the time duration.



 cost will be lesser.




Disadvantages
 The customer is involved after end product
is finished.


 Any risk/contigencies are not analysed

during the v- model
The spiral model

 It explicitly embraces prototyping and an
iterative approach to software development.
◦ Start by developing a small prototype.
◦ Followed by a mini-waterfall process, primarily to
gather requirements.
◦ Then, the first prototype is reviewed.
◦ In subsequent loops, the project team performs
further requirements, design, implementation
and review.
◦ The first thing to do before embarking on each
new loop is risk analysis.
◦ Maintenance is simply a type of on-going
development.

Advantages
 It promotes reuse of existing software in
 early stages of development.

 Allows quality objectives to be formulated

 during development.

 Provides preparation for eventual evolution

of the software product.
 Eliminates errors and unattractive
 alternatives early.
Disadvantages
 Demands considerable risk-assessment
expertise
 It has not been employed as much proven
models (e.g. the WF model) and hence
may prove difficult to ‘sell’ to the client
(esp. where a contract is involved)
 that this model is controllable and efficient.
[More study needs to be done in this
regard]
The evolutionary model
 It shows software development as a series of
hills, each representing a separate loop of
the spiral.
◦ Shows that loops, or releases, tend to overlap
each other.
◦ Makes it clear that development work tends to
reach a peak, at around the time of the
deadline for completion.
◦ Shows that each prototype or release can take
 different amounts of time to deliver;
differing amounts of effort.

 Software prototyping

A prototype is a working model of one or more aspects of
the project system.it is constructed and tested quickly and
inexpensively in order to test out assumptions.

 Prototypes can be classified as throw-away or
evolutionary.

 Throw-away prototypes:- Here the prototype is used
only to test out some ideas and is then discarded when
the true development of the operational system is
commenced. The prototype could be developed using a
different software environment or even on a different
kind of hardware platform.
 Evolutionary prototypes:-The prototype is developed
and modified until it is finally in a state where it can
become the operational system.In this case the
standards that are used to devlop the software have to
be carefully considered.
Some of the reasons that have been
put forward for prototyping are the
following


 Learning by doing: When we have just done
something for the first time we can usually
look back and see where we have made
mistakes.


 Improved communication: Even if users do

read system specification,they do not get a
feel for how the system is likely to work in
practice.

 Improved user involvement: The users can
be more actively involved in design decisions
 contd….
 Clarification of partially known requirements:
. Where there is no existing system to mimic ,users
can often get a better idea of what might be
useful to them by trying out prototypes.


 Demonstration of the consistency and

completeness of a specification: Any
mechanism that attempts to implement a
specification on a computer is likely to uncover
ambiguities and omissions.
  
 Reduced need for documentation: Because a
working prototype can be examined there is less
need for detailed documentation of
requirements.

contd….
 Reduced maintenance costs: If the user is unable
to suggest modification at the prototyping stage they
are more likely to ask for changes to the operational
system .This reduction of maintenance costs is the
core of the financial case for prototypes.
  
 Feature constraint: If an application building tool is
used ,then the prototype will tend to have features
that are easily implemented by the tool.A paper
based design might suggest features that are
expensive to implement.
 


 Production of expected results: The problem with

creating test cases is generally not the creation of
the test input but the accurate calculation of the
expected results.A prototype can help here.

 .
 
Software prototyping is not
without its drawbacks and
dangers,
 Users can however.
misunderstand the role of the
prototype: For example,they might expect
the prototype to have as stringent input
validation or a fast a response as the
operational system although this was not
intended.
 


 Lack of project standards possible:

Evolutionary prototyping could just be an
excuse for a sloppy hack it out and see what
happens approach.


 Lack of control: It can be difficult to control

the prototyping cycle if the driving force is the
Contd….
 Additional expense :Building and exercising a
prototype will incur additional
expenses.However,thisshould not be
overestimated as many analysis and design tasks
have to be undertaken whatever the approach. 

 Machine efficiency: A system built through
prototyping,while sensitive to the user’s
needs,mightnot be as efficient in machine as one
developed using more conventional methods.

 Close proximity of developers: Prototyping could
mean that code developers have to be sited close
to the users.



 INCREMENTAL DELIVERY
 Approach of breaking the system into small
components which are then implemented &
delivered in sequence.


 Every iteration results in a release of a working

system. Earlier iterations have less functionality
than later ones, but the same high level of quality.


 Alternatively referred to as Time Boxing,

Evolutionary prototyping, Incremental
Development & Iterative Development.

INCREMENTAL DELIVERY WITH
ITERATIONS

A six-month delivery cycle could be composed of 10 short iterations. The

results of each iteration are not delivered to the marketplace, but the
results of an incremental delivery are.
ITERATIVE DEVELOPMENT

Iterative and Incremental development is a cyclic software

development process developed in response to the weaknesses of
the waterfall model
ADVANTAGES
 Feedback from early increments can
influence later stages.
 Shorter time between design and delivery –
possibility of change is not so great.
 User benefits earlier
 Early delivery of some useful components
improves the cash flow.
 Smaller – easy to control and manage
 Project can be temporarily abandoned if
more urgent work crops up.
 Increased job satisfaction.
DISADVANTAGES

 Software Breakage – Later increments might
require the earlier increments to be
modified.

 Developers might be more productive
working on one large system than on a
series of smaller ones.

INCREMENTAL DELIVERY
PLAN


 1.Identify system objective:



- Gives the idea of ‘big picture’.

- Individual requirement may change BUTthe
objective should not.


 2.Plan Increments



 PLANING INCREMENTS

Guidelines:


 - Steps typically should consist of 1% to 5% of

 total project.
- Non-computer function may be included.
- Each increment should deliver some benefit to
user.
- Some increments will be physically dependent on
others.
- Value to cost ratios may be used to decide
priorities.

Value to Cost Ratio
 This is used to establish order in which increments are
developed.
 Based on customer & developer feedback on value & cost
respectively.






 THANK YOU