UNIVERSITY OF MAURITIUS

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING

PAPER NO EXAMINATION DATE

Second Semester 2003/2004

BScCSE/03S/3 BSc (Hons) Computer Science & Wednesday

Engineering – Level 2 5 May 2004

BScCSM/03S/3 BSc (Hons) Computer Science with

Multimedia – Level 2

BScECS/03S/3 BSc (Hons) Electronics and Computer

Science - Level 2

BScICT/03S/3 BSc (Hons) Information &

Communication Technologies
Level 2

BScIS/03S/5 BSc (Hons) Information Systems

Level 2

BEEEE/ECE/03S/4 BEng (Hons) Electrical & Electronic/

Communication Engineering - Level 3

BEM/03S/5 BEng (Hons) Mechatronics - Level 3

SERIES PAPER TIME

Software Engineering
May 2004 9.30 – 11.30
(CSE 2212 / CSE 3110 / CSE 4101)

This paper contains FOUR (4) Questions.

Candidates are requested to answer ALL questions.
Each Question carries 25 marks
Question 1

(a) The following text is taken from a statement of requirements. Distinguish

between the functional requirements and non-functional requirements by listing
each sep arately:

“The system which is to be constructed is designed to be resident in 50 K of

memory. Its main function is to monitor the temperature and pressure of a series
of chemical reactors which are on-line to the company’s mainframe computer.
The system should also provide a warning facility which should be activated
when the temperature or pressure becomes critical. The warning that occurs
should be sounded within 0.5 seconds of monitoring the critical temperature or
pressure.”
[6 marks]

(b) Non-functional requirements may be classified as product, organizational or

external requirements. Using suitable examples, explain the difference between
these classifications.
[6 marks]

(c) About 60% of software failures are caused by incomplete or erroneous

specifications. As a software manager, explain how you can avoid this type of
failures.
[4 marks]

(d) Differentiate between a goal and a verifiable non-functional requirement. Why

should a non-functional requirement be verifiable? Give examples of measures
for verifying particular non-functional requirements.
[4 marks]

(e) One of the software process models discussed in this subject was the spiral
model.

(i) Draw a typical model representation for the Spiral Model.

[2 marks]

(ii) What is the most basic difference between the Spiral Model and the
Prototyping Model?
[3 marks]

Page 1 of 4
Question 2

(a) A print software company’s project manager wants you to prepare a project
network. His assistant has collected the following information for the color
printer drivers software project.

Time
Task Description Predecessor
(weeks)
A External specifications None 8
B Review design features A 2
C Document new features A 3
D Write software A 60
E Program & test B 60
F Edit & publish notes C 2
G Review manual D 2
H Alpha Testing E,F 20
I Print Manual G 10
J Beta Testing H,I 10
K Manufacture J 12
L Release & ship K 3

Draw a network diagram for the problem outlined above and determine the
critical path.
[5 marks]

(b) Software project management is an umbrella activity within software

engineering. It begins before any activity is initiated and continues throughout
the definition, development and maintenance of software. Explain briefly how
each of the following influences this management activity.

(i) Staff
(ii) Product (Software)
[4 marks]

(c) Briefly explain the difference between milestones and deliverables.

[3 marks]

(continued on next page)

Page 2 of 4
Question 2 (continued)

(d) (i) With the help of a diagram, briefly explain the Risk Management process.
[5 marks]

(ii) You are the project manager for a major software company. You have
been asked to lead a team that is developing the “next generation” word-
processing software. Give five risks that the project may face (you should
specify the category of each risk).
[5 marks]

(iii) Develop a risk mitigation strategy for any of the risks identified in d(ii).
[3 marks]

Question 3

(a) AutoRecon Ltd is a Reconditioned car selling company that allows customers to
reserve vehicles that they wish to buy such as cars, vans, minibuses etc. All
customers are registered before they can reserve a vehicle. When a customer
makes a request to AutoRecon Ltd, the sales staff checks his customer file to
confirm that he is registered. If he is not, the sales-staff records the customer
details. The sales-staff check the list of available cars for one that most closely
matches the need of the customer. AutoRecon Ltd has several garages over the
country where the vehicles are stored. The sales staff discuss with the garage
staff to ascertain the availability of the cars. If the nearest match is not available,
a different car is suggested to the customer. When the customer is satisfied with
the available car, a deposit is requested from him. All customer payments are
composed of a deposit and one or more instalments. Vehicles are delivered only
after full payment is effected.

(i) Draw a sequence diagram to model the above scenario. [5 marks]

(ii) Represent the objects identified through a class diagram. [5 marks]

(b) One of the activities in architectural design process is system structuring

whereby the system is structured into a number of interacting sub-systems.
Explain how system structuring is performed from the following models and
give an appropriate example for each model:

(i) repository model [4 marks]

(ii) client-server model [5 marks]

(continued on next page)

Page 3 of 4
Question 3 (continued)

(c) Software design is usually regarded as solely the job and the responsibility of
technical people like software designers. Explain how the users of the system
can help in this phase of the software development process.
[3 marks]

(d) List three characteristics that can serve as a guide to evaluate design quality.
[3 marks]

Question 4

(a) (i) The Constructive Cost Model (COCOMO) is often used by software
engineers to estimate software projects. Describe how COCOMO classifies
software into different categories and explain the parameters involved.
[4 marks]

(ii) Explain why a specification is needed in order to perform testing.

[2 marks]

(b) Briefly explain what is “stress testing”.

[3 marks]

(c) Give three reasons why interface testing is a necessary testing step given that
individual units have been extensively validated through unit testing and
program inspections.
[6 marks]

(d) Derive a set of test cases for a routine that takes a line of text as input and counts
the number of non-blank characters in that line.
[5 marks]

(e) A payro ll program will calculate the weekly gross pay given an input of the
number of hours worked and current wages. A worker may not work more than
60 hours per week and the maximum wage is Rs 300 per hour. Construct
functional tests for the program.
[5 marks]

END OF QUESTION PAPER

/nr

Page 4 of 4