Scribd
Upload
104 views

Chapter 2 - Software Process

The document discusses different software process models including waterfall, incremental development, and integration and configuration. The waterfall model involves separate sequential phases but is inflexible to change, while incremental development allows for more flexibility but can degrade system structure over time. Integration and configuration focuses on software reuse, configuring existing components to meet requirements. Overall the key aspects of any software process are specification, design & implementation, validation, and evolution in response to changing needs.

Uploaded by

intensity
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
104 views

Chapter 2 - Software Process

The document discusses different software process models including waterfall, incremental development, and integration and configuration. The waterfall model involves separate sequential phases but is inflexible to change, while incremental development allows for more flexibility but can degrade system structure over time. Integration and configuration focuses on software reuse, configuring existing components to meet requirements. Overall the key aspects of any software process are specification, design & implementation, validation, and evolution in response to changing needs.

Uploaded by

intensity
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 18

Chapter 2 – Software Processes

30/10/2014 Chapter 2 Software Processes 1


Topics covered

 Software process models

30/10/2014 Chapter 2 Software Processes 2


The software process

 A structured set of activities required to develop a


software system.
 Many different software processes but all involve:
 Specification – defining what the system should do;
 Design and implementation – defining the organization of the
system and implementing the system;
 Validation – checking that it does what the customer wants;
 Evolution – changing the system in response to changing
customer needs.
 A software process model is an abstract representation
of a process. It presents a description of a process from
some particular perspective.
30/10/2014 Chapter 2 Software Processes 3
Software process descriptions

 When we describe and discuss processes, we usually


talk about the activities in these processes such as
specifying a data model, designing a user interface, etc.
and the ordering of these activities.
 Process descriptions may also include:
 Products, which are the outcomes of a process activity;
 Roles, which reflect the responsibilities of the people involved in
the process;
 Pre- and post-conditions, which are statements that are true
before and after a process activity has been enacted or a
product produced.

30/10/2014 Chapter 2 Software Processes 4


Plan-driven and agile processes

 Plan-driven processes are processes where all of the


process activities are planned in advance and progress
is measured against this plan.
 In agile processes, planning is incremental and it is
easier to change the process to reflect changing
customer requirements.
 In practice, most practical processes include elements of
both plan-driven and agile approaches.
 There are no right or wrong software processes.

30/10/2014 Chapter 2 Software Processes 5


Software process models

30/10/2014 Chapter 2 Software Processes 6


Software process models

 The waterfall model


 Plan-driven model. Separate and distinct phases of specification
and development.
 Incremental development
 Specification, development and validation are interleaved. May
be plan-driven or agile.
 Integration and configuration
 The system is assembled from existing configurable
components. May be plan-driven or agile.
 In practice, most large systems are developed using a
process that incorporates elements from all of these
models.
30/10/2014 Chapter 2 Software Processes 7
The waterfall model

30/10/2014 Chapter 2 Software Processes 8


Waterfall model phases

 There are separate identified phases in the waterfall


model:
 Requirements analysis and definition
 System and software design
 Implementation and unit testing
 Integration and system testing
 Operation and maintenance
 The main drawback of the waterfall model is the difficulty
of accommodating change after the process is
underway. In principle, a phase has to be complete
before moving onto the next phase.

30/10/2014 Chapter 2 Software Processes 9


Waterfall model problems

 Inflexible partitioning of the project into distinct stages


makes it difficult to respond to changing customer
requirements.
 Therefore, this model is only appropriate when the requirements
are well-understood and changes will be fairly limited during the
design process.
 Few business systems have stable requirements.
 The waterfall model is mostly used for large systems
engineering projects where a system is developed at
several sites.
 In those circumstances, the plan-driven nature of the waterfall
model helps coordinate the work.

30/10/2014 Chapter 2 Software Processes 10


Incremental development

30/10/2014 Chapter 2 Software Processes 11


Incremental development benefits

 The cost of accommodating changing customer


requirements is reduced.
 The amount of analysis and documentation that has to be
redone is much less than is required with the waterfall model.
 It is easier to get customer feedback on the development
work that has been done.
 Customers can comment on demonstrations of the software and
see how much has been implemented.
 More rapid delivery and deployment of useful software to
the customer is possible.
 Customers are able to use and gain value from the software
earlier than is possible with a waterfall process.
30/10/2014 Chapter 2 Software Processes 12
Incremental development problems

 The process is not visible.


 Managers need regular deliverables to measure progress. If
systems are developed quickly, it is not cost-effective to produce
documents that reflect every version of the system.
 System structure tends to degrade as new increments
are added.
 Unless time and money is spent on refactoring to improve the
software, regular change tends to corrupt its structure.
Incorporating further software changes becomes increasingly
difficult and costly.

30/10/2014 Chapter 2 Software Processes 13


Integration and configuration

 Based on software reuse where systems are integrated


from existing components or application systems
(sometimes called COTS -Commercial-off-the-shelf)
systems).
 Reused elements may be configured to adapt their
behaviour and functionality to a user’s requirements
 Reuse is now the standard approach for building many
types of business system
 Reuse covered in more depth in Chapter 15.

30/10/2014 Chapter 2 Software Processes 14


Types of reusable software

 Stand-alone application systems (sometimes called


COTS) that are configured for use in a particular
environment.
 Collections of objects that are developed as a package
to be integrated with a component framework such as
.NET or J2EE.
 Web services that are developed according to service
standards and which are available for remote invocation.

30/10/2014 Chapter 2 Software Processes 15


Reuse-oriented software engineering

30/10/2014 Chapter 2 Software Processes 16


Key process stages

 Requirements specification
 Software discovery and evaluation
 Requirements refinement
 Application system configuration
 Component adaptation and integration

30/10/2014 Chapter 2 Software Processes 17


Advantages and disadvantages

 Reduced costs and risks as less software is developed


from scratch
 Faster delivery and deployment of system
 But requirements compromises are inevitable so system
may not meet real needs of users
 Loss of control over evolution of reused system elements

30/10/2014 Chapter 2 Software Processes 18

You might also like