PROJECT PLANNING AND DESIGN

PHASE
MODULE 3

3.1 PLANNING PHASE

 The software project management process begins with set of activities called
project planning.
 It is the heart of project life cycle, and informs all involved where to go and
how to go.
 It helps to manage time, cost, quality, changes, risk and related issues.

3.1.1 Purpose of Project Planning Phase

i. Establish business requirements.

ii. Establish cost, schedule, list of deliverables and delivery dates.
iii. Establish resource plans.
iv. Obtain management approval and proceed to next phase.

3.1.2 Basic process of Project Planning

(a) Software planning: specify in-scope requirement for project to facilitate

creating work break down structure.

(b) Preparation of work breakdown structure: Breakdown the project

into tasks and sub-tasks.

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 (c) Project schedule development: Listing the entire schedule of activities
and sequence of implementation.

(d) Resource planning: It specifies who will do what, at which time and
any special skill needed.

(e) Budget planning: It specifies cost to be incurred at completion of the

project.

(f) Procurement planning: It focuses on vendors outside your company and

subcontracting.

(g) Risk management: It includes possible risks and solutions for them.

(h) Quality planning: It is assessing quality criteria to be used.

(i) Communication planning: It includes designing communication

strategy with stakeholders.

3.1.3 Software Scope

 It is the first step in project planning.

 It should have function and performance details which is unambiguous and
understandable at management and technical levels.
 It describes data and control to be processed, function, performance,
constraints, interfaces and reliability.
 It addresses the following:
(i) Function: Actions and information transformations performed
by the system.
(ii) Performance: Processing and response time required.

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 (iii) Constraints: Limits placed over software like memory
restriction.
(iv) Interfaces: Interaction with user and other system.
(v) Reliability: Quantitative requirements for functional
performance like mean time between failures, acceptable error
rates.

3.1.4 Resources

 The second stage in planning is estimation of resources requires.

 There are three types of resources in project planning and they are as
follows:

(i) Human Resources:

 Here both organizational position and specialty are
considered.
 This need to identify: (i) skill set; and (ii) development
effort.

(ii) Reusable Software Resources:

 Component Based Software Engineering (CBSE) emphasizes
reusability- creation and reuse of software building blocks.
 Such building blocks are called components.
 It can be categorized as:
(a) Off-the-shelf components: It aims at the use of existing
software from third party.

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 (b) Full-experience components: It focus on use of in house
software already developed which requires less
modification, All the team members will be experienced
with the software.
(c) Partial-experience components: It focuses on use of in
house software already developed which requires major
modification. All the team members will be experienced
with the software.
(d) New Components: It focuses on building new softwares.

(iii) Environmental Resources:

 Hardware provides the platform to support the softwares
required to produce the work.

3.1.5 Empirical Cost Estimation Model: COCOMO Model

 The Constructive Cost Model (COCOMO) is a procedural software cost

estimation model developed by Barry W Boehm.
 COCOMO is used to estimate size, effort and duration based on the cost of
the software
 COCOMO consists of a hierarchy of three increasingly detailed and accurate
forms.
 The first level, Basic COCOMO is good for quick, early, rough order of
magnitude estimates of software costs.
 But its accuracy is limited due to its lack of factors to account for difference
in project attributes (Cost Drivers). 
 Intermediate COCOMO takes these Cost Drivers into account.
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  Detailed COCOMO additionally accounts for the influence of individual
project phases.

Basic COCOMO

 Basic COCOMO computes software development effort (and cost) as a

function of program size.
 Program size is expressed in estimated thousands of source lines of code
(SLOC, KLOC).
 COCOMO applies to three classes of software projects:

 Organic projects - "small" teams with "good" experience working with

"less than rigid" requirements
 Semi-detached projects - "medium" teams with mixed experience
working with a mix of rigid and less than rigid requirements
 Embedded projects - developed within a set of "tight" constraints. It is
also combination of organic and semi-detached projects.(hardware,
software, operational, ...)
 The basic COCOMO equations take the form

Effort Applied (E) = ab(KLOC)bb 

Development Time (D) = cb(Effort Applied)db 

People required (P) = Effort Applied / Development Time

where, KLOC is the estimated number of delivered lines

(expressed in thousands ) of code for project.

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Software
ab bb cb db
project

Organic 2.4 1.05 2.5 0.38

Semi-
3.0 1.12 2.5 0.35
detached

Embedded 3.6 1.20 2.5 0.32

 The coefficients ab, bb, cb and db are given in the following table:

 Basic COCOMO is good for quick estimate of software costs.

 However it does not account for differences in hardware constraints,
personnel quality and experience, use of modern tools and techniques, etc

Intermediate COCOMO

 Intermediate COCOMO computes software development effort as function

of program size and a set of "cost drivers" that include subjective assessment
of product, hardware, personnel and project attributes.
 This extension considers a set of four "cost drivers", each with a number of
subsidiary attributes:-
(a) Product attributes

Required software reliability extent

Size of application database

Complexity of the product

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 (b) Hardware attributes
Run-time performance constraints
Memory constraints
Volatility of the virtual machine environment
Required turnabout time

(c) Personnel attributes

Analyst capability
Software engineering capability
Applications experience
Virtual machine experience
Programming language experience

(d) Project attributes

Use of software tools
Application of software engineering methods
Required development schedule

 Each of the 15 attributes receives a rating on a six-point scale that ranges

from "very low" to "extra high" (in importance or value).
 The product of all effort multipliers results is an effort adjustment factor
(EAF).
 Typical values for EAF range from 0.9 to 1.4.

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 The Intermediate Cocomo formula now takes the form:

E=ai(KLoC)(bi)(EAF)

where E is the effort applied in person months, 

KLoC is the estimated number of thousands of delivered lines

of code for the project,

EAF is the factor calculated above.

 The coefficient ai and the exponent bi are given in the next table:

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  The Development time D calculation uses E in the same way as in the Basic
COCOMO.

Detailed COCOMO
Software projec
ai bi
 t Detailed
COCOMO
Organic 3.2 1.05
incorporates
all Semi-detached 3.0 1.12

Embedded 2.8 1.20

characteristics of the intermediate version with an assessment of the cost

driver's impact on each step (analysis, design, etc.) of the software
engineering process.
 The detailed model uses different effort multipliers for each cost driver
attribute.
 These Phase Sensitive effort multipliers are each to determine the amount of
effort required to complete each phase.
 In detailed COCOMO, the whole software is divided into different modules
and then we apply COCOMO in different modules to estimate effort and
then sum the effort.
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  The effort is calculated as a function of program size and a set of cost drivers
are given according to each phase of the software life cycle.
 The Six phases of detailed COCOMO are:-
a) planning and requirements
b) system design
c) detailed design
d) module code and test
e) integration and test
f) Cost Constructive model

3.1.6 STAFFING AND PERSONAL PLANNING

 Staffing is the practice of finding, evaluating, and establishing a working

relationship with future colleagues on a project and firing them when they
are no longer needed.
 Staffing involves finding people, who may be hired or already working for
the company (organization) or may be working for competing companies.
 In knowledge economies, where talent becomes the new capital, this
discipline takes on added significance to help organizations achieve a
competitive advantage in each of their marketplaces.
 "Staffing" can also refer to the industry and/or type of company that
provides the functions described in the previous definition for a price.
 A staffing company may offer a variety of services, including temporary
help, permanent placement, managed services, training, etc.

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Staffing a Software Project

 Staffing must be done in a way that maximizes the creation of some value to
a project.
 In this sense, the semantics of value must be addressed regarding project and
organizational characteristics.
 Some projects are schedule driven: to create value for such project could
mean to act in a way that reduces its schedule or risks associated to it.
 Other projects may be driven by budget, resource allocation, and so on.
 Staff allocation optimizer cannot be fixed by a single utility function, but
several such functions should be available for the manager to decide which
best fit the project under analysis.
 In our approach, we consider that a characteristic may be a skill, a
capability, an experience, some knowledge, a role in the organization or in
the project, and others.
 Each characteristic is associated with a rating scale, with the intensity levels
the characteristic may assume. 
 Staffing is performed according to the following rules:

(a) A person can only be allocated to an activity if he or she possesses at

least all the characteristics demanded by the activity, in an intensity level
greater or equal to the demanded level of the activity.

(b) A person can only be allocated to an activity if he or she is available

to perform the activity in the period it needs to be performed.

Personal Planning

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  This includes estimation or allocation of right persons or individuals for the
right type of tasks of which they are capable.
 The capability of the individuals should always match with the overall
objective of the project.
 In software Engineering, personnel planning should be in accordance to the
final development of the project.

Staffing Activities for a Software Project

a) Fill organizational positions

Select, recruit, or promote qualified people for each project position
b) Assimilate newly assigned software personnel
Orient and familiarize new people with the organization, facilities, and tasks
to be done on the project
c) Educate or train personnel as necessary
Make up deficiencies in position qualifications through training and
education
d) Provide for general development of the project staff
Improve knowledge, attitudes, and skills of project personnel
e) Evaluate and appraise project personnel
Record and analyze the quantity and quality of project work as the basis for
personnel evaluations; set performance goals and appraise personnel
periodically
f) Compensate the project personnel
Provide wages, bonuses, benefits, or other financial remuneration
commensurate with project responsibilities and performance

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 g) Terminate project assignments
Transfer or separate project personnel as necessary
h) Document project staffing decisions
Record staffing plans, training plans and achievements, appraisal records,
and compensations recommendations.

3.2 DESIGN PHASE

 Software design is an iterative process through which requirements are

translated into a “blueprint” for constructing the software.
 Initially, the blueprint depicts a holistic view of software.
 That is, the design is represented at a high level of abstraction—a level that
can be directly traced to the specific system objective and more detailed
data, functional, and behavioral requirements.
 As design iterations occur, subsequent refinement leads to design
representations at much lower levels of abstraction.

3.2.1 Software Quality Guidelines and Attributes

 There are three characteristics that serve as a guide for the evaluation of a
good design:
a) The design should implement all of the explicit requirements contained in
the requirements model, and it must accommodate all of the implicit
requirements desired by stakeholders.
b) The design should be a readable, understandable guide for those who
generate code and for those who test and subsequently support the
software.

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 c) The design should provide a complete picture of the software, addressing
the data, functional, and behavioral domains from an implementation
perspective.
 In order to evaluate the quality of a design representation, the software team
must establish technical criteria for good design and few of the guidelines
are as follows:
a) A design should exhibit an architecture that (1) has been created using
recognizable architectural styles or patterns, (2) is composed of
components that exhibit good design, and (3) can be implemented in
an evolutionary fashion.
b) A design should be modular; that is, the software should be logically
partitioned into elements or subsystems.
c) A design should contain distinct representations of data, architecture,
interfaces, and components.
d) A design should lead to data structures that are appropriate for the
classes to be implemented and are drawn from recognizable data
patterns.
e) A design should lead to components that exhibit independent
functional characteristics.
f) A design should lead to interfaces that reduce the complexity of
connections between components and with the external environment.
g) A design should be derived using a repeatable method that is driven
by information obtained during software requirements analysis.
h) A design should be represented using a notation that effectively
communicates its meaning.

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  The quality attributes represent a target for all software design and few of
them are as follows:
a) Functionality is assessed by evaluating the feature set and capabilities of
the program, the generality of the functions that are delivered, and the
security of the overall system.
b) Usability is assessed by considering human factors, overall aesthetics,
consistency, and documentation.
c) Reliability is evaluated by measuring the frequency and severity of
failure, the accuracy of output results, the mean-time-to-failure (MTTF),
the ability to recover from failure, and the predictability of the program.
d) Performance is measured using processing speed, response time,
resource consumption, throughput, and efficiency.
e) Supportability combines extensibility, adaptability, and serviceability.

3.2.2 Design Principles

 Software design is both a process and a model. The design process is a

sequence of steps that enable the designer to describe all aspects of the
software to be built.
 The design model begins by representing the totality of the thing to be built
and slowly refines the thing to provide guidance for constructing each detail.
 Basic design principles enable the software engineer to navigate the design
process and following are the list of principles:
(i) The design process should not suffer from “tunnel vision.”
(ii) The design should be traceable to the analysis model.
(iii) The design should not reinvent the wheel

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 (iv) The design should “minimize the intellectual distance” between the
software and the problem as it exists in the real world.
(v) The design should exhibit uniformity and integration.
(vi) The design should be structured to accommodate change.
(vii) The design should be structured to degrade gently, even when
aberrant data, events, or operating conditions are encountered.
(viii) Design is not coding, coding is not design.
(ix) The design should be assessed for quality as it is being created, not
after the fact.
(x) The design should be reviewed to minimize conceptual (semantic)
errors.

3.2.3 Design Concepts

 A set of fundamental software design concepts has evolved over the history
of software engineering.
 Each provides the software designer with a foundation from which more
sophisticated design methods can be applied.
 Each helps you define criteria that can be used to partition software into
individual components, separate or data structure detail from a conceptual
representation of the software, and establish uniform criteria that define the
technical quality of a software design.

(a) Abstraction:
 At the highest level of abstraction, a solution is stated in broad terms
using the language of the problem environment.

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  At lower levels of abstraction, a more detailed description of the
solution is provided.
 As different levels of abstraction are developed, you work to create
both procedural and data abstractions.
 A procedural abstraction refers to a sequence of instructions that have
a specific and limited function.
 The name of a procedural abstraction implies these functions, but
specific details are suppressed.
 A data abstraction is a named collection of data that describes a data
object.

(b) Architecture
 Software architecture aims to the overall structure of the software and
the ways in which that structure provides conceptual integrity for a
system.

 Architecture is the structure or organization of program components

(modules), the manner in which these components interact, and the
structure of data that are used by the components.

 One goal of software design is to derive an architectural rendering of a

system.

 Structural properties define the components of a system (e.g.,

modules, objects, filters) and the manner in which those components
are packaged and interact with one another.

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  Given the specification of these properties, the architectural design
can be represented using one or more of a number of different models.

 Structural models represent architecture as an organized collection of

program components.

 Framework models increase the level of design abstraction by

attempting to identify repeatable architectural design frameworks
(patterns) that are encountered in similar types of applications.

 Dynamic models address the behavioral aspects of the program

architecture, indicating how the structure or system configuration may
change as a function of external events.

 Process models focus on the design of the business or technical

process that the system must accommodate.

 Finally, functional models can be used to represent the functional

hierarchy of a system.

 A number of different architectural description languages (ADLs)

have been developed to represent these models.

 Although many different ADLs have been proposed, the majority

provide mechanisms for describing system components and the
manner in which they are connected to one another.

(c) Pattern

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  A pattern is a named nugget of insight which conveys the essence of a
proven solution to a recurring problem within a certain context amidst
competing concerns.
 The intent of each design pattern is to provide a description that
enables a designer to determine:
(1) Whether the pattern is applicable to the current work,
(2) Whether the pattern can be reused, and
(3) Whether the pattern can serve as a guide for developing a
similar, but functionally or structurally different
pattern.
(d)Separation of concerns
 Separation of concerns is a design concept that suggests that any complex
problem can be more easily handled if it is subdivided into pieces that
can each be solved and/or optimized independently.
 A concern is a feature or behavior that is specified as part of the
requirements model for the software.
 By separating concerns into smaller and therefore more manageable
pieces, a problem takes less effort and time to solve.
 This leads to a divide-and-conquer strategy where it is easier to solve a
complex problem when you break it into manageable pieces.
 Separation of concerns is manifested in other related design concepts:
modularity, aspects, functional independence, and refinement.

(e) Modularity
 Modularity is the most common manifestation of separation of concerns.

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  Software is divided into separately named and addressable components,
sometimes called modules that are integrated to satisfy problem
requirements.
 Modularity is the single attribute of software that allows a program to be
intellectually manageable.
 You modularize a design (and the resulting program) so that:
i. Development can be more easily planned;
ii. Software increments can be defined and delivered;
iii. Changes can be more easily accommodated;
iv. Testing and debugging can be conducted more efficiently, and
v. Long-term maintenance can be conducted without serious side
effects.

(f) Information Hiding

 Hiding implies that effective modularity can be achieved by defining a
set of independent modules that communicate with one another only
that information necessary to achieve software function.
 The use of information hiding as a design criterion for modular
systems provides the greatest benefits when modifications are
required during testing and later during software maintenance.
 Because most data and procedural detail are hidden from other parts
of the software, errors introduced during modification are less likely
to propagate to other locations within the software.

(g) Functional Independence

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  Software with effective modularity, that is, independent modules, is
easier to develop because function can be compartmentalized and
interfaces are simplified.
 Independent modules are easier to maintain (and test) because
secondary effects caused by design or code modification are limited,
error propagation is reduced, and reusable modules are possible.
 Functional independence is a key to good design, and design is the
key to software quality.
 Independence is assessed using two qualitative criteria: cohesion and
coupling.
 Cohesion is an indication of the relative functional strength of a
module.
 Cohesive module performs a single task, requiring little interaction
with other components in other parts of a program.
 Coupling is an indication of the relative interdependence among
modules.
 Coupling is an indication of interconnection among modules in a
software structure.
 Coupling depends on the interface complexity between modules, the
point at which entry or reference is made to a module, and what data
pass across the interface.

(h)Refinement
 Stepwise refinement is a top-down design strategy originally proposed
by Niklaus Wirth.

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  An application is developed by successively refining levels of
procedural detail.
 Abstraction enables you to specify procedure and data internally but
suppress the need for outsiders to have knowledge of low-level
details.
 Refinement helps you to reveal low-level details as design progresses.

(i) Refactoring
 Refactoring is a reorganization technique that simplifies the design (or
code) of a component without changing its function or behavior.
 Although the intent of refactoring is to modify the code in a manner
that does not alter its external behavior, inadvertent side effects can
and do occur.
 As a consequence, refactoring tools are used to analyze changes
automatically and to generate a test suite suitable for detecting
behavioral changes.

(j) Object Oriented Design Concepts

 The object-oriented (OO) paradigm is widely used in modern software
engineering.
 OO design concepts such as classes and objects, inheritance,
messages, and polymorphism, among others are employed.

3.3 EFFECTIVE MODULAR DESIGN

 Modularity has become an accepted approach in all engineering disciplines.

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  A modular design reduces complexity, facilitates change, and results in
easier implementation by encouraging parallel development of different
parts of a system.
 The concept of functional independence is a direct outgrowth of modularity
and the concepts of abstraction and information hiding.
 Software with effective modularity, that is, independent modules, is easier to
develop because function may be compartmentalized and interfaces are
simplified.
 Functional independence is a key to good design, and design is the key to
software quality.
 Independence is measured using two qualitative criteria: cohesion and
coupling.
 Cohesion is a measure of the relative functional strength of a module.
 Coupling is a measure of the relative interdependence among modules.

3.3.1 Cohesion

 Cohesion is a natural extension of the information hiding concept.

 A cohesive module performs a single task within a software procedure,
requiring little interaction with procedures being performed in other parts of
a program.
 Cohesion may be represented as a "spectrum.“ and it can have:
a. Modules that perform a set of tasks that relate to each other loosely
are termed coincidentally cohesive.
b. A module that performs tasks that are related logically is logically
cohesive.

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 c. When a module contains tasks that are related by the fact that all must
be executed with the same span of time, the module exhibits temporal
cohesion.
 When processing elements of a module are related and must be executed in a
specific order, procedural cohesion exists.
 When all processing elements concentrate on one area of a data structure,
communicational cohesion is present.

3.3.2 Coupling

 Coupling is a measure of interconnection among modules in a software

structure.
 Coupling depends on the interface complexity between modules, the point at
which entry or reference is made to a module, and what data pass across the
interface.
 Simple connectivity among modules results in software that is easier to
understand and less prone to a "ripple effect", caused when errors occur at
one location and propagates through a system.
 Figure below shows the different types of module coupling:

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 Fig: Types of Coupling

 As long as a simple argument list is present, i.e, simple data are passed low
coupling or data coupling is exhibited.
 A variation of data coupling, called stamp coupling is found when a portion
of a data structure is passed via a module interface. This occurs between
modules b and a.
 Control coupling is very common in most software designs where a
“control flag” is passed between modules like d and e.

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  High coupling occurs when a number of modules reference a global data
area and is called Common coupling like Modules c, g, and k each access a
data item in a global data area.
 The highest degree of coupling, content coupling, occurs when one module
makes use of data or control information maintained within the boundary of
another module.

3.4 TOP DOWN DESIGN

 Top-down design is a term used to describe how a complex problem is

broken down into modules.
 Those modules are then broken down into sub-modules.
 Each sub-module is then broken down further and further, until the sub-
modules do just one task and are simple enough to program.
 Instead of writing one big program, the program is split into self-contained
‘modules’ of code. Modules are sometimes called ‘procedures‘ or
‘functions’.

3.4.1 Advantages of Top down Design

(i) It helps get the job done more efficiently because modules of code can be
worked on at the same time by different programmers

(ii) It helps a team of programmers work more efficiently

because easier modules can be given to less experienced programmers while the
harder ones can be given to more experienced ones.

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 (iii) It helps program testing because it is easier to debug lots of smaller self-
contained modules than one big program.

(iv) It helps program readability because it is easier to follow what is going on

in smaller modules than a big program.

(v) It improves a company’s efficiency because self-contained modules can be

re-used.

(vi) It improves a Project Manager’s ability to monitor the progress of a

program.

(vii) It is good for future program maintenance. If a program needs to be

changed for any reason, it may be possible simply to remove one module of
code and replace it with another.

3.5 TOP DOWN DESIGN

 In a bottom-up approach, the individual base elements of the system are first
specified in great detail.
 These elements are then linked together to form larger subsystems, which
then in turn are linked, until a complete top-level system is formed.
 This strategy often resembles a "seed" model, by which the beginnings are
small, but eventually grow in complexity and completeness.

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