Software

Development Life
Cycle (SDLC)
 Software Development Life Cycle

Maintenance Planning
.

Testing Analysis
. SDLC

Implementation Design
.
SDLC Model

A framework that describes the

activities performed at each stage of
a software development project.
Waterfall Model

 Requirements – defines
needed information,
function, behavior,
performance and interfaces.
 Design – data structures,
software architecture,
interface representations,
algorithmic details.
 Implementation – source
code, database, user
documentation, testing.
Waterfall Strengths

 Easy to understand, easy to use

 Provides structure to inexperienced
staff
 Milestones are well understood
 Sets requirements stability
 Good for management control (plan,
staff, track)
 Works well when quality is more
important than cost or schedule
 Waterfall Deficiencies

 All requirements must be known upfront

 Deliverables created for each phase are
considered frozen – inhibits flexibility
 Can give a false impression of progress
 Does not reflect problem-solving nature of
software development – iterations of
phases
 Integration is one big bang at the end
 Little opportunity for customer to preview
When to use the
Waterfall Model
 Requirements are very well known
 Product definition is stable
 Technology is understood
 New version of an existing product
 Porting an existing product to a new
platform.
V-Shaped SDLC Model

 A variant of the
Waterfall that
emphasizes the
verification and
validation of the
product.
 Testing of the product
is planned in parallel
with a corresponding
phase of development
 V-Shaped Steps

 Project and Requirements  Production, operation and

Planning – allocate resources maintenance – provide for
enhancement and corrections
 System and acceptance testing
 Product Requirements and – check the entire software
Specification Analysis – system in its environment
complete specification of the
software system

 Architecture or High-Level  Integration and Testing – check

Design – defines how software that modules interconnect
functions fulfill the design correctly

 Detailed Design – develop  Unit testing – check that each

algorithms for each module acts as expected
architectural component
 Coding – transform algorithms
into software
V-Shaped Strengths

 Emphasize planning for verification and

validation of the product in early stages of
product development

 Each deliverable must be testable

 Project management can track progress

by milestones
 Easy to use
V-Shaped Weaknesses

 Doesnot easily handle concurrent

events
 Does not handle iterations or phases
 Doesnot easily handle dynamic
changes in requirements
 Does not contain risk analysis
activities
When to use the V-
Shaped Model
 Excellent choice for systems requiring
high reliability – hospital patient control
applications
 All requirements are known up-front
 When it can be modified to handle
changing requirements beyond analysis
phase
 Solution and technology are known
Structured Evolutionary
Prototyping Model
 Developers build a prototype during the
requirements phase
 Prototype is evaluated by end users
 Users give corrective feedback
 Developers further refine the prototype
 When the user is satisfied, the prototype code is
brought up to the standards needed for a final
product.
Structured Evolutionary
Prototyping Steps
 A preliminary project plan is developed
 An partial high-level paper model is created
 The model is source for a partial requirements specification
 A prototype is built with basic and critical attributes
 The designer builds
 the database
 user interface
 algorithmic functions
 The designer demonstrates the prototype, the user evaluates for
problems and suggests improvements.
 This loop continues until the user is satisfied
Structured Evolutionary
Prototyping Strengths
 Customers can “see” the system
requirements as they are being gathered
 Developers learn from customers
 A more accurate end product
 Unexpected requirements accommodated
 Allows for flexible design and development
 Steady, visible signs of progress produced
 Interaction with the prototype stimulates
awareness of additional needed
functionality
Structured Evolutionary
Prototyping
Weaknesses
 Tendency to abandon structured program
development for “code-and-fix”
development
 Bad reputation for “quick-and-dirty”
methods
 Overall maintainability may be overlooked
 The customer may want the prototype
delivered.
 Process may continue forever (scope
creep)
When to use
Structured Evolutionary
Prototyping
 Requirements are unstable or have to be
clarified
 As the requirements clarification stage of a
waterfall model
 Develop user interfaces
 Short-lived demonstrations
 New, original development
 With the analysis and design portions of
object-oriented development.
Rapid Application Model
(RAD)

 Requirements planning phase (a

workshop utilizing structured discussion of
business problems)
 User description phase – automated tools
capture information from users
 Construction phase – productivity tools,
such as code generators, screen generators,
etc. inside a time-box. (“Do until done”)
 Cutover phase -- installation of the system,
user acceptance testing and user training
RAD Strengths

 Reduced cycle time and improved

productivity with fewer people means
lower costs
 Time-box approach mitigates cost and
schedule risk
 Customer involved throughout the
complete cycle minimizes risk of not
achieving customer satisfaction and
business needs
 Focus moves from documentation to code
 Uses modeling concepts to capture
information about business, data, and
processes.
RAD Weaknesses

 Accelerated development process

must give quick responses to the
user
 Risk of never achieving closure
 Hard to use with legacy systems
 Requires a system that can be
modularized
 Developers and customers must
be committed to rapid-fire
activities in an abbreviated time
frame.
When to use RAD

 Reasonably well-known requirements

 User involved throughout the life cycle
 Project can be time-boxed
 Functionality delivered in increments
 High performance not required
 Low technical risks
 System can be modularized
Incremental SDLC Model
 Construct a partial
implementation of a total
system
 Then slowly add increased
functionality
 The incremental model
prioritizes requirements of
the system and then
implements them in groups.
 Each subsequent release of
the system adds function to
the previous release, until
all designed functionality
has been implemented.
Incremental Model Strengths

 Develop high-risk or major functions first

 Each release delivers an operational product
 Customer can respond to each build
 Uses “divide and conquer” breakdown of
tasks
 Lowers initial delivery cost
 Initial product delivery is faster
 Customers get important functionality early
 Risk of changing requirements is reduced
Incremental Model
Weaknesses

 Requires good planning and design

 Requires early definition of a complete and fully
functional system to allow for the definition of
increments
 Well-defined module interfaces are required
(some will be developed long before others)
 Total cost of the complete system is not lower
 When to use the
Incremental
 Risk, Model
funding, schedule, program
complexity, or need for early realization of
benefits.
 Mostof the requirements are known up-front
but are expected to evolve over time
Aneed to get basic functionality to the
market early
 Onprojects which have lengthy
development schedules
 On a project with new technology
Spiral SDLC Model
 Addsrisk analysis,
and 4gl RAD
prototyping to the
waterfall model
 Each cycle involves
the same sequence
of steps as the
waterfall process
model
 Spiral Quadrant
Determine objectives, alternatives
and constraints
 Objectives: functionality, performance,
hardware/software interface, critical success
factors, etc.
 Alternatives: build, reuse, buy, sub-contract, etc.
 Constraints: cost, schedule, interface, etc.
Spiral Quadrant
Evaluate alternatives, identify
and resolve risks

 Study alternatives relative to

objectives and constraints
 Identify risks (lack of experience, new
technology, tight schedules, poor
process, etc.
 Resolve risks (evaluate if money
could be lost by continuing system
development
Spiral Quadrant
Develop next-level product

 Typical activites:
 Create a design
 Review design
 Develop code
 Inspect code
 Test product
Spiral Quadrant
Plan next phase

 Typical activities
 Develop project plan
 Develop
configuration
management plan
 Develop a test plan
 Develop an installation plan
Spiral Model Strengths

 Provides early indication of insurmountable

risks, without much cost
 Users see the system early because of rapid
prototyping tools
 Critical high-risk functions are developed first
 The design does not have to be perfect
 Users can be closely tied to all lifecycle steps
 Early and frequent feedback from users
 Cumulative costs assessed frequently

Spiral Model Weaknesses
Time spent for evaluating risks too large for small
or low-risk projects
 Time spent planning, resetting objectives, doing
risk analysis and prototyping may be excessive
 The model is complex
 Risk assessment expertise is required
 Spiral may continue indefinitely
 Developers must be reassigned during non-
development phase activities
 May be hard to define objective, verifiable
milestones that indicate readiness to proceed
through the next iteration
When to use Spiral Model

 When creation of a prototype is

appropriate
 When costs and risk evaluation is
important
 For medium to high-risk projects
 Long-term project commitment unwise
because of potential changes to
economic priorities
 Users are unsure of their needs
 Requirements are complex
 New product line
 Significant changes are expected
(research and exploration)
Agile SDLC’s

 Speed up or bypass one or more life cycle phases

 Usually less formal and reduced scope
 Used for time-critical applications
 Used in organizations that employ disciplined
methods
Some Agile Methods

 Adaptive Software Development

(ASD)
 Feature Driven Development (FDD)
 Crystal Clear
 Dynamic Software Development
Method (DSDM)
 Rapid Application Development (RAD)
 Scrum
 Extreme Programming (XP)
 Rational Unify Process (RUP)
Extreme Programming - XP

For small-to-medium-sized teams developing

software with vague or rapidly changing
requirements
Coding is the key activity throughout a software
project
 Communication among teammates is done with
code
 Life cycle and behavior of complex objects
defined in test cases – again in code
 XP Practices (1-6)
1. Planning game – determine scope of the next release
by combining business priorities and technical
estimates
2. Small releases – put a simple system into production,
then release new versions in very short cycle
3. Metaphor – all development is guided by a simple
shared story of how the whole system works
4. Simple design – system is designed as simply as
possible (extra complexity removed as soon as found)
5. Testing – programmers continuously write unit tests;
customers write tests for features
6. Refactoring – programmers continuously restructure
the system without changing its behavior to remove
duplication and simplify
XP Practices (7 – 12)
7. Pair-programming -- all production code is
written with two programmers at one machine
8. Collective ownership – anyone can change any
code anywhere in the system at any time.
9. Continuous integration – integrate and build the
system many times a day – every time a task is
completed.
10. 40-hour week – work no more than 40 hours a
week as a rule
11. On-site customer – a user is on the team and
available full-time to answer questions
12. Coding standards – programmers write all code
in accordance with rules emphasizing
communication through the code
 XP is “extreme” because
Commonsense practices taken to extreme
levels

 If code reviews are good, review code all the time (pair
programming)
 If testing is good, everybody will test all the time
 If simplicity is good, keep the system in the simplest design
that supports its current functionality. (simplest thing that
works)
 If design is good, everybody will design daily (refactoring)
 If architecture is important, everybody will work at defining and
refining the architecture (metaphor)
 If integration testing is important, build and integrate test
several times a day (continuous integration)
 If short iterations are good, make iterations really, really short
(hours rather than weeks)
XP References

Online references to XP at

 http://www.extremeprogramming.org
/

 http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?ExtremeProgra
mmingRoadmap

 http://www.xprogramming.com/
Feature Driven Design (FDD)

Five FDD process activities

1. Develop an overall model – Produce class and sequence
diagrams from chief architect meeting with domain experts
and developers.
2. Build a features list – Identify all the features that support
requirements. The features are functionally decomposed into
Business Activities steps within Subject Areas.
Features are functions that can be developed in two weeks and expressed
in client terms with the template: <action> <result> <object>

i.e. Calculate the total of a sale

3. Plan by feature -- the development staff plans the
development sequence of features
4. Design by feature -- the team produces sequence diagrams
for the selected features
5. Build by feature – the team writes and tests the code

http://www.nebulon.com/articles/index.html
Dynamic Systems
Development Method (DSDM)

Applies a framework for RAD and short time frames

Paradigm is the 80/20 rule

– majority of the requirements can be delivered in
a relatively short amount of time.
DSDM Principles

1. Active user involvement imperative (Ambassador

users)
2. DSDM teams empowered to make decisions
3. Focus on frequent product delivery
4. Product acceptance is fitness for business purpose
5. Iterative and incremental development - to
converge on a solution
6. Requirements initially agreed at a high level
7. All changes made during development are
reversible
8. Testing is integrated throughout the life cycle
9. Collaborative and co-operative approach among
all stakeholders essential
DSDM Lifecycle

 Feasibility study
 Business study – prioritized requirements
 Functional model iteration
 risk analysis
 Time-box plan
 Design and build iteration
 Implementation
Adaptive SDLC

Combines RAD with software engineering best

practices
 Project initiation
 Adaptive cycle planning
 Concurrent component engineering
 Quality review
 Final QA and release
Adaptive Steps

1. Project initialization – determine intent of

project
2. Determine the project time-box
(estimation duration of the project)
3. Determine the optimal number of cycles
and the time-box for each
4. Write an objective statement for each
cycle
5. Assign primary components to each cycle
6. Develop a project task list
7. Review the success of a cycle
8. Plan the next cycle
Tailored SDLC Models

 Any one model does not fit all projects

 If there is nothing that fits a particular
project, pick a model that comes close
and modify it for your needs.
 Project should consider risk but
complete spiral too much – start with
spiral & pare it done
 Project delivered in increments but
there are serious reliability issues –
combine incremental model with the
V-shaped model
 Each team must pick or customize a
SDLC model to fit its project
Agile Web references

DePaul web site has links to many Agile

references

http://se.cs.depaul.edu/ise/agile.htm
Quality – the degree to which the
software satisfies stated and implied
requirements
 Absence of system crashes
 Correspondence between the software and the
users’ expectations
 Performance to specified requirements

Quality must be controlled because it lowers

production speed, increases maintenance costs
and can adversely affect business
Quality Assurance Plan

 The plan for quality assurance activities

should be in writing
 Decide if a separate group should
perform the quality assurance activities
 Some elements that should be
considered by the plan are: defect
tracking, unit testing, source-code
tracking, technical reviews, integration
testing and system testing.
Quality Assurance Plan

 Defect tracing – keeps track of each defect

found, its source, when it was detected, when
it was resolved, how it was resolved, etc
 Unit testing – each individual module is tested
 Source code tracing – step through source
code line by line
 Technical reviews – completed work is
reviewed by peers
 Integration testing -- exercise new code in
combination with code that already has been
integrated
 System testing – execution of the software for
the purpose of finding defects.