What is Information System

An information system is a combination of software, hardware, and telecommunication networks to

collect useful data, especially in an organisation. Many businesses use information technology to
complete and manage their operations, interact with their consumers, and stay ahead of their
competition. Some companies today are completely built on information technology, like eBay,
Amazon, Alibaba, and Google.

Typical components of information systems

Now that you know what an information system is, let’s look at its components. It has five components –
hardware, software, data, and telecommunications.

1. Hardware – This is the physical component of the technology. It includes computers, hard disks,
keyboards, iPads, etc. The hardware cost has decreased rapidly while its speed and storage capacity has
increased significantly. However, the impact of the use of hardware on the environment is a huge
concern today. Nowadays, storage services are offered from the cloud, which can be accessed from
telecommunications networks.

2. Software – Software can be of two types, system software and application software. The system
software is an operating system that manages the hardware, program files, and other resources while
offering the user to control the PC using GUI. Application software is designed to manage particular
tasks by the users. In short, system software makes the hardware usable while application software
handles specific tasks.
An example of system software is Microsoft windows, and an example of application software is
Microsoft Excel.

What is Information System?

Many who come across the term information system for the first time think of it as some software
based on information storage or something like that. Well, the name does sound that way. However, an
information system is way bigger than that. So, what is an information system?

An information system is a combination of software, hardware, and telecommunication networks to

collect useful data, especially in an organisation. Many businesses use information technology to
complete and manage their operations, interact with their consumers, and stay ahead of their
competition. Some companies today are completely built on information technology, like eBay,
Amazon, Alibaba, and Google.
Typical components of information systems

Now that you know what an information system is, let’s look at its components. It has five components –
hardware, software, data, and telecommunications.

1. Hardware – This is the physical component of the technology. It includes computers, hard disks,
keyboards, iPads, etc. The hardware cost has decreased rapidly while its speed and storage capacity has
increased significantly. However, the impact of the use of hardware on the environment is a huge
concern today. Nowadays, storage services are offered from the cloud, which can be accessed from
telecommunications networks.

2. Software – Software can be of two types, system software and application software. The system
software is an operating system that manages the hardware, program files, and other resources while
offering the user to control the PC using GUI. Application software is designed to manage particular
tasks by the users. In short, system software makes the hardware usable while application software
handles specific tasks.
An example of system software is Microsoft windows, and an example of application software is
Microsoft Excel.
Large companies may use licensed applications which are developed and managed by software
development companies to handle their specific needs. The software can be proprietary and open
source, available on the web for free use.

3. Data – Data is a collection of facts and is useless by themselves, but when collected and organised
together, it can be very powerful for business operations. Businesses collect all the data and use it to
make decisions that can be analysed for the effectiveness of the business operations.

4. Telecommunications – Telecommunication is used to connect with the computer system or other

devices to disseminate information. The network can be established using wired or wireless modes.
Wired technologies include fiber optics and coaxial cable, while wireless technologies include radio
waves and microwaves.

Examples of information systems

Information systems have gained immense popularity in business operations over the years. The future
of information systems and their importance depends on automation and the implementation of AI
technology.

Information technology can be used for specialised and generalised purposes. A generalised
information system provides a general service like a database management system where software
helps organise the general form of data. For example, various data sets are obtained using a formula,
providing insights into the buying trends in a certain time frame.
On the contrary, a specialised information system is built to perform a specific function for a business.
For example, an expert system that solves complex problems. These problems are focused on a specific
area of study like the medical system. The main aim is to offer faster and more accurate service than an
individual might be able to do on his own.

Types of information systems

There are various information systems, and the type of information system a business uses depends on
its goal and objective. Here are the four main types of information systems:

1. Operations support systems – The first type of information system is the operation support
system. Such type of information system mainly supports a specific type of operation in a
business. An example is the transaction processing system used in all banks worldwide. This type
of information system enables the service provider to assess a specific process of business.

2. Management information systems – This is the second category of information systems,

consisting of hardware and software integration allowing the organisation to perform its core
functions. They help in obtaining data from various online systems. The data thus obtained is
not stored by the system; rather, it is analysed in a productive manner to help in the
management of an organisation.

3. Decision support systems – An organisation can make an informed decision about its operations
using decision support systems. It analyses the rapidly changing information that cannot be
determined in advance. It can be used in completely automated systems and human-operated
systems. However, for maximum efficiency combination of human and computer-operated
systems is recommended.

4 Executive information systems – EIS or executive support system is the last category
that serves as management support systems. They help in making senior-level decisions
for an organisation.

Facts of information systems

The products of information technology are part of our daily lives. Here are some of the facts about
information systems.

• Necessary for businesses to grow

Every organisation has computer-related operations that are critical to getting the job done. In a
business, there may be a need for computer software, implementation of network architecture to
achieve the company’s objectives or designing apps, websites, or games. So, any company that is looking
to secure its future needs to integrate a well-designed information system.
• Better data storage and access

Such a system is also useful for storing operational data, documents, communication records, and
histories. As manual data may cost a lot of time, information systems can be very helpful in it.
Information system stores data in a sophisticated manner, making the process of finding the data much
eBetter decision making
Information system helps a business in its decision-making process. With an information system,
delivering all the important information is easier to make better decisions. In addition, an information
system allows employees to communicate effectively. As the documents are stored in folders, it is easier
to share and access them with the employees.

Since you have been reading about information systems, a career in information technology (IT) could
interest you. We have collated some information to give you an idea about the field of IT.

Building a career in IT

It should be no surprise that a career in IT will help one grow significantly in the coming years. It is
considered one of the most highly paid industries. There’s a constant need for skilled and qualified
professionals to meet the IT industry requirement, a great opportunity for ambitious and hard-working
people.

But ambition and hard work alone is not enough. Having strong fundamentals, a creative mindset, and
the ability to communicate effectively is highly important to become successful in such a technical field.

What is Data Modeling?

Data Modeling in software engineering is the process of simplifying the diagram or data model of a
software system by applying certain formal techniques. It involves expressing data and information
through text and symbols. The data model provides the blueprint for building a new database or
reengineering legacy applications.

In the light of the above, it is the first critical step in defining the structure of available data. Data
Modeling is the process of creating data models by which data associations and constraints are
described and eventually coded to reuse. It conceptually represents data with diagrams, symbols, or text
to visualize the interrelation.

Data Modeling thus helps to increase consistency in naming, rules, semantics, and security. This, in turn,
improves data analytics. The emphasis is on the need for availability and organization of data,
independent of the manner of its application

Data Modeling Process

Data modeling is a process of creating a conceptual representation of data objects and their
relationships to one another. The process of data modeling typically involves several steps, including
requirements gathering, conceptual design, logical design, physical design, and implementation. During
each step of the process, data modelers work with stakeholders to understand the data requirements,
define the entities and attributes, establish the relationships between the data objects, and create a
model that accurately represents the data in a way that can be used by application developers, database
administrators, and other stakeholders.

Data Modeling Examples

The best way to picture a data model is to think about a building plan of an architect. An architectural
building plan assists in putting up all subsequent conceptual models, and so does a data model.

These data modeling examples will clarify how data models and the process of data modeling highlights
essential data and the way to arrange it.

1. ER (Entity-Relationship) Model

This model is based on the notion of real-world entities and relationships among them. It creates an
entity set, relationship set, general attributes, and constraints.

Here, an entity is a real-world object; for instance, an employee is an entity in an employee database. An
attribute is a property with value, and entity sets share attributes of identical value. Finally, there is the
relationship between entities.

2. Hierarchical Model

This data model arranges the data in the form of a tree with one root, to which other data is connected.
The hierarchy begins with the root and extends like a tree. This model effectively explains several real-
time relationships with a single one-to-many relationship between two different kinds of data.

For example, one supermarket can have different departments and many aisles. Thus, the ‘root’ node
supermarket will have two ‘child’ nodes of (1) Pantry, (2) Packaged Food.

3. Network Model

This database model enables many-to-many relationships among the connected nodes. The data is
arranged in a graph-like structure, and here ‘child’ nodes can have multiple ‘parent’ nodes. The parent
nodes are known as owners, and the child nodes are called members.

4. Relational Model

This popular data model example arranges the data into tables. The tables have columns and rows, each
cataloging an attribute present in the entity. It makes relationships between data points easy to
identify.

For example, e-commerce websites can process purchases and track inventory using the relational
model.

What Is a Process Model?

Creating a visual representation of business processes can lead to a better understanding of the
company's operations. Process models use elements like arrows and connectors to visually represent
the flow of business processes. If you want to streamline a company's processes, creating a process
model can help.

What is a process model?

A process model is a visual depiction of the flow of work and tasks for specific goals. Often, process
models take graphical forms, and they typically depict workflows that companies complete repeatedly.
They usually include different activities related to a goal and potential results based on decisions made
by the company. Process modeling can make it easier to analyze and understand workflows by dividing
the process into smaller and manageable steps.

Process model components

You can use software or websites to create a process model, and many people enjoy manually creating a
process model on a whiteboard. Your process model can be as flexible or strict as you would like. Some
of the essential components of process models include:

Arrows

In a process model, you can draw arrows to show the order in which your process's activities take place.
Arrows should connect different activities and decisions to indicate the influence and direction of each
step. As your process evolves, you can erase and redraw the arrows to more accurately reflect the flow
of work.

Connectors

Connectors can help you visualize jumping ahead to a later part of your process. You can draw
connectors in place of long arrows when you want to skip to another part of your process. You may use
connectors to evaluate whether you can eliminate steps or condense certain steps in the plan.

Start and end indicators

You can also draw start and end indicators in your process model. Near your indicators, you can also
note conditions that trigger the beginning and signify the end of the process. These elements can
provide additional clarity and organization, especially for a process model with multiple steps, goals or
methods.
Activity indicators

You can use sticky notes or text blocks to indicate activities. Each activity depicts specific tasks you can
complete to reach your intended outcome. You can briefly describe each activity on its sticky note
using action items

Decision indicators

You can also use sticky notes or text blocks to indicate decisions. In process models, decisions determine
which course of action a process can follow. Each decision may lead to different paths and you can use
the flow of the process model to visualize the potential effects of every decision

Uses for process models

You can use and implement process models in a variety of situations that require streamlined sequences
of activities. Process models can be especially useful to:

 Visualize different processes that your team is brainstorming

 Come up with ways to improve existing processes

 Design a new business process

 Create a process for recurring business functions

METHODS OF STUDING AN EXISTING

INFORMATION SYSTEM
Information Systems studies involve the present and the future.
Although data can be obtained on the present, the future can only be
estimated. In Information Systems, a rapidly changing intellectual and
technological field, simply extrapolating the present to the future is
likely to be wrong. This paper presents and explains three proven
research methods for studying the IS future and describes the role of
Futures Research methods as a tool for academic research.
Evaluation of success is concerned with judgments about the
achievements of an endeavor , and appropriate methods should be
adopted for evaluating projects . The success of projects has been
traditionally related to the Iron Triangle, i.e., to the accomplishment of
scope, cost and time. More recently, other important criteria have been
considered in the evaluation of success, such as stakeholders'
satisfaction or business impact

The rapid advance in IT has boosted IS project development in

organizations for reorganizing businesses and improving services. Such
projects help organizations create and maintain competitive
advantages through fast business transactions, increasingly automated
business processes, improved customer service, and adequate decision
support. Considering that any organization’s sustainable success is
strongly associated with IS success and, consequently, with the success
of IS projects, evaluating these projects assumes critical importance in
modern organizations

Although there are several models, methods, and techniques to

evaluate projects' success, the lack of structured information about
them (e.g., characteristics, context, or results achieved in practice) may
hinder their use by practitioners. Without such information, it can be
quite difficult to identify which models or methods are adequate to
evaluate a project’s success, considering the implementation feasibility,
benefits, and limitations of each alternative. It also makes it difficult for
researchers to identify opportunities for new contributions.

The evaluation of project success seems to be currently an informal and

rudimentary process based on perceptions, mainly focused on project
management’s success and not concerned with the success of the
projects' outputs . In other words, many times, success is not formally
evaluated, and even when the evaluation is carried out, it is based on
an incomplete set of criteria or limited evaluation models. The
consequences of not formally evaluating the success of a project may
result in the waste of efforts and resources and misperception of
results

Success of projects

One of the problems that show up frequently concerning the project’s

success has its roots in the definition of “success”. The success of a
project can be understood in diverse ways according to different
stakeholders. On the one hand, time, costs and scope compliance are
essential elements for a project’s success; on the other hand, the
stakeholders' satisfaction or the achievement of business benefits play
a prominent role. Therefore, the main concern should be meeting the
client’s real needs since projects are typically designed to obtain
benefits for the organization according to business objectives and value
concerns .

In project management and over the years, the concept of success has
undergone some significant changes. In the 1970’s, the success of a
project was mainly focused on the operational dimension; the focus on
the customer was practically non-existent. Since project management
began to be a body of knowledge in the mid-twentieth century, many
processes, techniques, and tools have been developed . Today, they
cover various aspects of the project lifecycle and have made it possible
to increase its efficiency and effectiveness

Evaluation of success
Different meanings of assessment have also been presented
throughout the years. For instance, characterized assessment as “the
process of determining the value or amount of success in achieving a
predetermined objective”. defines assessment as “the process of
determining the merit, worth or value of something”. has characterized
assessment as “a precise and target appraisal of a continuous or
finished task, program or approach, its plan, execution, and
results”. describes program assessment as “the systematic collection of
information about the activities, characteristics, and outcomes of
programs for use by specific people to reduce uncertainties, improve
effectiveness, and make decisions concerning what those programs are
doing and affecting”. These definitions reflect ex-ante, observing, mid-
term, and final assessments.

QUALITY CRITERIAS OF AN
INFORMATION SYSTEM
Functional Characteristics

• Adopts/conforms to industry best practices

• Reduces data burden on users • Promotes evidence-based decision

making – Reports, indicators/KPIs • Cost effective

Usability Characteristics

• Correctness: The software should meet all the stated specifications.

• Usability/learnability: The amount of effort or time required to learn

how to use the software; how user-friendly the software is.

• Integrity: Software should not have/create any adverse side effects.

Operational Characteristics

• Reliability: Software should be defect-free. It should not fail during

execution.

• Efficiency: Software should make effective use of resources.

• Security: Software should not cause ill effects on data and hardware.
The data should be kept secure from external threats.

Revision Characteristics

• Maintainability: Software maintenance should be easy for any kind of

user.

• Flexibility: Changes in software should be easy to make.

• Testability: Testing the software should be easy.

Scalable Characteristics

• Scalability: Easily upgradeable for more work or for larger number of

users

• Extensibility : Accessible across multiple platforms/devices

• Modularity: Separate independent units/modules that can be

modified and tested independently

Critiquing a system gives a programmer good grounding for some of the

overlooked engineering principles such as, trade offs, why the system
works the way it does and what the opportunity cost was for designing
it that way. In reality, most systems don’t have everything at 100%.
Map reduce for instance is a simple programming model but trades off
the fact that some problems can’t be solved using the map -reduce
model simply because the shoe doesn’t fit.

Career Opportunities in Information Systems

The field of information systems is expanding and there are career

opportunities in business, government, non-profit organizations, and
education. A major in information systems provides you with a wide
range of career opportunities. Career choices range from very technical
positions in network administration or programming to more
communication-oriented employment in training or help desk support.
A few of the possibilities are described below:

Network Administration

Network administrators are responsible for the technical support of an

organization’s network infrastructure. This profession includes such
tasks as designing the network structure, establishing and maintaining
servers, designing cabling, validating users, providing security, and
ensuring the ongoing day-to-day operations of the network.

Network Support Personnel

Networks come in many variations and network systems and data

communications analysts analyze, design, test, and evaluate systems
such as local area networks (LAN), wide area networks (WAN), Internet,
Intranets, and other data communications systems. These analysts
perform network modeling, analysis and planning; they also may
research related products and make necessary hardware and software
recommendations. Telecommunications specialists focus on the
interaction between computer and communications equipment.

Systems Analysts

Systems analysts identify opportunities for improvement in business

processes and design computer and systems related solutions. Those in
this profession help their clients define technology-related needs and
design a system that is most appropriate for them. They help an
organization realize the maximum benefit from its investment in
equipment, personnel, and business processes. This may include
planning and developing new computer systems or devising ways to
apply existing systems' resources to additional operations.

Consultants

Many companies, such as Accenture, Deloitte-Touche, IBM and Unisys,

provide advice to their clients that are attempting to use information
technology more effectively. These companies hire information systems
majors to serve as consultants for their clients. Consultants act as
systems analysts, programmers, database administrators, and
troubleshooters for their clients. Consultants work on short and long-
term projects frequently reengineering processes or instituting
continuous quality improvement methods.

Computer Programmers

Computer programmers design, write, test, and maintain the detailed

instructions, called programs, that computers must follow to perform
their functions. Many technical innovations in programming—advanced
computing technologies and sophisticated new languages and
programming tools—have redefined the role of a programmer and
elevated much of the programming work done today.

Database Support Personnel

With the Internet and electronic business creating tremendous volumes

of data, there is growing need to be able to store, manage, and extract
data effectively. Database administrators work with database
management systems software and determine ways to organize and
store data. They set up computer databases and test and coordinate
changes. It is the responsibility of a database administrator to ensure
performance, security, accuracy and integrity of the organization’s
database. A data analyst works with database administrators, systems
analysts and programmers to identify the best method of storing data
for an organization. A data analyst is usually responsible for designing
the underlying data structures for an organization. With the volume of
sensitive data generated every second growing rapidly, data integrity,
backup, and keeping databases secure have become an increasingly
important aspect for organizations. Some organizations have created a
special position, a data security specialist to handle the increasingly
difficult job of maintaining data security.

Computer Support Specialists

Computer support specialists provide technical assistance, support, and

advice to customers and other users. This group includes technical
support specialists and help-desk technicians. These troubleshooters
interpret problems and provide technical support for hardware,
software, and systems. They answer phone calls, analyze problems
using automated diagnostic programs, and resolve recurrent
difficulties. Support specialists may work either within a company that
uses computer systems or directly for a computer hardware or software
vendor. Increasingly, these specialists work for help-desk or support
services firms, where they provide computer support on a contract
basis to clients. Computer support specialists and systems
administrators are projected by the U.S. Department of Labor to be
among the fastest growing occupations over the year 2000-2010
period.

Web/Internet Support Specialists

The growth of the Internet and expansion of the World Wide Web, the
graphical portion of the Internet, have generated a variety of
occupations related to design, development, and maintenance of Web
sites and their servers. For example, webmasters are responsible for all
technical aspects of a website, including performance issues such as
speed of access, and for approving site content. Internet developers or
web developers, also called web designers, are responsible for day-to-
day site design and creation.

Training

Ubiquitous information systems have created a growing need for

education about the most effective use of the technology. Training
personnel are needed to help users on a one-to-one basis, in small
groups and in large classroom formats.

Technical Sales and Support

Computer hardware, software and networking vendors such as IBM,

Unisys, Hewlett-Packard, Oracle, Microsoft, and Sun Microsystems
required competent sales and support personnel. Many vendors prefer
to hire personnel who understand the technology and are comfortable
selling to technical professionals. This is a high-paying career option for
those people who combine good communication skills, technical
knowledge, with the ability to speak comfortably and easily with others

Information systems audit

The effectiveness of an information system’s controls is evaluated

through an information systems audit. An audit aims to establish
whether information systems are safeguarding corporate assets,
maintaining the integrity of stored and communicated data, supporting
corporate objectives effectively, and operating efficiently. It is a part of
a more general financial audit that verifies an organization’s
accounting records and financial statements. Information systems are
designed so that every financial transaction can be traced. In other
words, an audit trail must exist that can establish where each
transaction originated and how it was processed. Aside from financial
audits, operational audits are used to evaluate the effectiveness
and efficiency of information systems operations, and technological
audits verify that information technologies are appropriately chosen,
configured, and implemented.

Impacts of information systems

Computerized information systems, particularly since the arrival of

the Web and mobile computing, have had a profound effect on
organizations, economies, and societies, as well as on individuals whose
lives and activities are conducted in these social aggregates.

Conceptual Data Model

A Conceptual data model is the most abstract form of data model. It is

helpful for communicating idea to a wide range of stakeholders
because of its simplicity. Therefore platform-specific information, such
as data types, indexes and keys, is omitted from a Conceptual data
model. Other implementation details, such as procedures and interface
definitions, are also excluded.

This is an example of a Conceptual data model, rendered using two of

the notations supported by Enterprise Architect.

Using Entity-Relationship (ER) notation, we represent the data concepts

'Customers' and 'Customers Addresses' as Entities with a 1-to-many
relationship between them. We can represent exactly the same
semantic information using UML Classes and Associations.

between them. We can represent exactly the same semantic

information using UML Classes and Associations.

Whether you use UML or ER notation to represent data concepts in

your project depends on the experience and preferences of the
stakeholders involved. The detailed structure of the data concepts
illustrated in a Conceptual data model is defined by the Logical data
model.
3 examples of conceptual data models for data and analytics
How to create a conceptual data model

Demonstrate the essential components as they relate to each other

Figure 1 - Transactional CDM with only entities and relationships

The simple diagram in Figure 1 demonstrates the essential components

of a hotel reservation system including people (customers and guests),
physical buildings (hotel), sub-divisions of the property (rooms), and
the intersection of room and guest (reservation).

The cardinality of the relationships between entities is not defined in

Figure 1. It only defines the direction of the relationships. Some
relationships are bidirectional, meaning many-to-many. While
cardinality is important, it is usually not a detail or complexity that
impacts the conceptual models. The fact that the relationship is present
is the essential aspect.

The goal of a CDM is to capture the essence of the business and

communicate that with a broad audience. So, a technical audience may
not object to a CDM that aligns closely with formal data diagramming.
In contrast, a non-technical business-oriented audience may want
images of hotels, stick figures for customers, and stories about
relationships.

The main takeaways are that:

1. The audience matters

2. There is no single best format for diagram

3. The diagram should capture the birds-eye of the business, the

essentials.

Examples of conceptual data models for data and analytics

The business object will dictate how the conceptual data modeling
process is conducted. Are you building a transactional model for a
mobile application? How about an analytics model for a line of
business? Or a warehouse model meant to serve as an enterprise data
warehouse?

Remember, the conceptual data model is independent of the

underlying data platform technology, but its use varies greatly and will
impact the modeling process. Here are a few types of conceptual model
examples.

Transactional

Developing a CDM for a transactional system usually requires

understanding the unique requirements for speed, transaction
integrity, customer experience, scalability, and ease of use. These types
of systems are very common in online retail, reservations, inventory,
and even financial services. See Figure 1 and Figure 2 for an example of
a hotel.

It’s crucial to understand that all conceptual data models focus on the
entities like customer, room, and reservation. It also identifies key
attributes like customer id and confirmation number. Lastly, it
identifies the business interactions between the entities. It doesn’t
focus on actual tables, column names, data types, or the PK/FK
relationships. All of which are defined in business definitions.

Figure 4 - CDM for analytics

The CDM for an analytical use case often focuses on measuring the
business process with quantitative and qualitative measures. The
entities that we are focusing on here are aggregates and categories. For
this reason, it is common for the analytical CDM to look like a star
schema with facts and dimensions.

Recall, the business purpose defines the activities and the output of the
model. It is common for analytical scenarios to develop a matrix of facts
and qualifiers, unsurprisingly called a Fact Qualifier Matrix (FQM). The
FQM defines three concepts:

 Measure - the aggregate that our business needs to understand

the business process

 Qualifier - the categories, grouping, and criteria for the measures

 Intersection - the connection that shows which qualifiers apply to

which measure

Enterprise
Enterprise CDMs introduce additional challenges due to the increased
number of stakeholders, lines of business, and the complexity of larger
organizations. But that’s not a problem because we have “subject
areas.”

Subject areas enable you to subdivide your model into separate logical
groups or domains. Data modeling is an iterative process—even more
so when using subject areas. To effectively use subject areas:

 Engage the business leaders and stakeholders to identify common

subject areas.

 Prioritize which subject areas should be addressed and when.

 For each subject area, repeat the process of identifying entities,

attributes, and relationships.

Once the CDM for a specific subject area is complete, logical and
physical modeling can start. It is not necessary to complete the entire
enterprise model before moving on to logical and physical modeling.

Key takeaways about conceptual models

If you are the type of human that reads the ending of a book first, then
this section is for you. Here are some key takeaways:

 Conceptual Data Models provide the big-picture view of an

organization's data requirements without diving into technical
details—maintain your scope.

 CDMs capture the essence of the business problem and will align
with future logical and physical data models.
  The primary goal of the CDM is to create a shared understanding
between technology and the business team, enabling clear
communications and fostering debate on the essential concepts.

 Definitions of entities, relationships, and core concepts are part of

the conceptual data model. The model is not just another
diagram.

 Represent the CDM visually and convey its contents to your

stakeholders using the communication methods and style that
they find most engaging.

Normalization

What is data normalization?

Data normalization is generally considered the development of clean

data. Diving deeper, however, the meaning or goal of data
normalization is twofold:

1. Data normalization is the organization of data to appear similar

across all records and fields.

2. It increases the cohesion of entry types leading to cleansing, lead

generation, segmentation, and higher quality data.

Simply put, this process includes eliminating unstructured data and

redundancy (duplicates) in order to ensure logical data storage. When
data normalization is done correctly, you will end up with standardized
information entry. For example, this process applies to how URLs,
contact names, street addresses, phone numbers, and even codes are
recorded. These standardized information fields can then be grouped
and read swiftly.

Who needs data normalization?

Every business that wishes to run successfully and grow needs to

regularly perform data normalization. It is one of the most important
things you can do to get rid of errors that make running information
analysis complicated and difficult. Such errors often sneak up when
changing, adding, or removing system information. When data input
error is removed, an organization will be left with a well-functioning
system that is full of usable, beneficial data.

How data normalization works

Now is the moment to note that, depending on your specific type of

data, your normalization will look differently.

Beyond basic formatting, experts agree that there are five general rules
or “normal forms” to performing data normalization. Each rule focuses
on putting entity types into number categories depending on the level
of complexity. Considered to be guidelines to normalization, there are
instances when variations from the form need to take place. In the case
of variations, it is important to consider consequences and anomalies.

For the purposes of complexity, in this article, the first and three most
common forms are discussed at a top-level and all data is considered in
ta1. First Normal Form (1NF)

The most basic form of data normalization is 1NFm which ensures there
are no repeating entries in a group. To be considered 1NF, each entry
must have only one single value for each cell and each record must be
unique.

For example, you are recording the name, address, gender of a person,
and if they bought cookies.

2. Second Normal Form (2NF)

Again working to ensure no repeating entries, to be in the 2NF rule, the

data must first apply to all the 1NF requirements. Following that, data
must have only one primary key. To separate data to only have one
primary key, all subsets of data that can be placed in multiple rows
should be placed in separate tables. Then, relationships can be created
through new foreign key labels.

For example, you are recording the name, address, gender of a person,
if they bought cookies, as well as the cookie types. The cookie types are
placed into a different table with a corresponding foreign key to each
person’s name.

3. Third Normal Form (3NF)

For data to be in this rule, it must first comply with all the 2NF
requirements. Following that, data in a table must only be dependent
on the primary key. If the primary key is changed, all data that is
impacted must be put into a new table.

For example, you are recording the name, address, and gender of a
person but go back and change the name of a person. When you do
this, the gender may then change as well. To avoid this, in 3NF gender
is given a foreign key and a new table to store gender.
As you begin to better understand the normalization forms, the rules
will become more clear while separating your data into tables and
levels will become effortless. These tables will then make it simple for
anyone within an organization to gather information and ensure they
collect correct data that is not duplicated.

Benefits of data normalization

As mentioned above, the most important part of data normalization is

better analysis leading to growth; however, there are a few more
incredible benefits of this process:

More space

With databases crammed with information, organization and

elimination of duplicates frees up much-needed gigabyte and terabyte
space. When a system is loaded with unnecessary things, the
processing performance decreases. After cleaning digital memory, your
systems will run faster and load quicker, meaning data analysis is done
at a more efficient rate.

Faster question answering

Speaking of faster processes, after normalization becomes a simple

task, you can organize your data without any need to further modify.
This helps various teams within a company save valuable time instead
of trying to translate crazy data that hasn’t been stored properly.

Better segmentation

One of the best ways to grow a business is to ensure lead

segmentation. With data normalization, groups can be rapidly split into
categories based on titles, industries—you name it. Creating lists based
on what is valuable to a specific lead is a process that no longer causes
a headache.

PROCESSING CONCEPTUAL DIAGRAM

In broad terms, conceptual modelling is the process of developing a
graphical representation (or model) from the real world. In the context of
collaborative problem-solving it provides an easily understood
representation of the system for the different stakeholders involved. The
process of conceptual modelling requires decisions to be taken regarding
the scope and level of detail of the model. These decisions should
generally be a joint agreement between the modeller and the problem
owners i.e. the stakeholders who require the model to aid decision-
making. It also requires assumptions to be made about the situation
concerned. The conceptual modeller has to determine what aspects of the
real world to include, and exclude, from the model, and at what level of
detail to model each aspect. The conceptual models talked about below
can also be thought of as non-software specific descriptions of the situation
under inquiry – describing the objectives, inputs, outputs, content,
assumptions and appropriate simplifications required. In this wider sense
those making conceptual models may be facilitators helping groups of
stakeholders better understand their situation.
Conceptual models also provide a useful starting point for participatory
or collaborative modeling efforts. They help different stakeholder
groups establish a common language that facilitates more
innovative planning and evaluation. A number of pages cover related
approaches to problem structuring and framing, especially systems
thinking, systemic design and systems thinking tools. Conceptual
models have a number of uses in collaborative decision making. However,
the following links lead to resources looking at how these approaches can
support the development of more detailed computer models and decision
support systems.

As you work through the business process documentation, you should keep an
ongoing list of entities (people and things) and relationships among the entities
(usually derived by understanding the actions that occur among the entities). I
generally include these items when reviewing the business processes:

 Entity: Person or thing to be modeled.

 Relationship type: Relationship to another entity (one-to-one,
one-to-many, many-to-many).
 Related entity: Other entity related to the first entity.
 Action: Short, descriptive text of relationship.
 Source: Person or department that provided the information.
 System: System (HR, order, finance, and so on). Entities are
part of this higher system.

One key idea is to keep your conceptual model simple, but thorough. The goal is
to produce a quick, easy-to-use overview. It is better to have several smaller
conceptual models than one large model that quickly becomes difficult to follow.

It is also a good idea to know where the information came from. The warehouse
model starts with the order, and while at the warehouse they know the order is
associated with a customer, they most likely are not familiar with any credit
checking that gets done before the order is placed. Just as likely, the finance
department generally does not know the details of the warehouse and shipping
department.

Use cases

A use case is a written description of actors and actions they perform. It often
includes a name, description, and diagram. It includes the actor (role acting),
any necessary preconditions, and the workflow. For example, a customer
placing an order might look like
From this diagram, we can extract entities (people and things). We see a
customer, some employees, an order, stock, and invoice entity. Not all entities
need to be modeled; for example, we might not need employees, but rather
departments.
We can determine a relationship between the customer and the order, the order
and both the warehouse (worker) and shipping department (shipping). There is
also a relationship between the invoice and the accounting department.

Note that what doesn’t appear in the diagram, but might be implied, is a
relationship between the invoice and the customer (or the invoice and the order
itself, depending upon whether an invoice can cover multiple orders).

ARCHITECTURAL DIAGRAM
An architectural diagram is a visual representation that maps out
the physical implementation for components of a software system. It
shows the general structure of the software system and the
associations, limitations, and boundaries between each element.

Software environments are complex, and they aren’t static.

New features are frequently added to accommodate growing
customer needs and demands. Your team, even those team
members who aren’t immersed in the code every day, needs
to understand your organization’s software architecture so it
can scale seamlessly.

This is where software architecture diagrams come in. They

give the entire development team a visual overview making it
easier to communicate ideas and key concepts in terms
everyone can understand.

Benefits of using software

architecture diagrams
In addition to the general fact that visuals help people to
retain and recall information longer, software system
architecture diagrams offer the following benefits:
 Increase understanding: The diagrams provide an overview
of the system, so everybody understands how the different
components work together when determining what kind of
impact updates and new features will have on the system.
 Improve communication: Software architecture diagrams
visualize the game plan for everyone—aligning project goals
across all teams, departments, and stakeholders. They also
keep stakeholders informed of the project’s overall
progress.
 Encourage collaboration and identify areas for
improvement: Visualizing the application system structure
makes it easier for your team members to discuss the
design.

What a well-crafted software

architecture diagram should
include
The purpose of the software architecture diagram is to give
team members and stakeholders context. A well-crafted
diagram should:

 Show system interactions: Use simple shapes and lines to

indicate process flows and the ways different elements
interact with each other. Highlighting these relationships
makes it easier to assess how changes can impact the
entire system.
 Include useful annotations: Add helpful explanations to
critical pieces of your diagram giving teammates and
stakeholders important context and information. It should
provide more nuanced details not easily conveyed in the
diagram.
 Be visible and accessible: Your diagrams aren’t useful if
nobody sees them. Attach your diagram to Confluence and
wiki pages, so they are accessible across your organization.
Even share important diagrams across your chat platforms
and reference them during standup meetings.
Tips to create an application architecture diagram

 Use simple shapes and lines to represent components,

relationships, layers, etc.
 Group application layers into logical categories such as
business layer, data layer, service layer, etc.
 Indicate the architecture’s purpose and the intended
outcomes.
 Identify the application’s dependencies and interactions.
 Add text annotations to incorporate details about the
structure, groupings, security concerns, types of
applications included, application organization, and so on.
Dynamic Digital Representations in Architecture

Graphic communication in architecture has made a dramatic shift from

traditional drafting practices to dynamic and hyper-medial
representations. This book provides a concise and practical introduction
to new ways of architectural representation. It conveys principles and
guidelines for producing in-depth dynamic representations for design
projects and illustrates them with examples of studio work. Advanced
digital media techniques and dynamic representations are introduced
as primary emerging modes of architectural representation, with
techniques such as 3D modelling, animations, montage, virtual and
augmented realities and other digitally based techniques discussed.

. Architectural Representations 2. Vision and Motion 3. Motion Paths

in Architecture Part 2 4. Basics of Digital Media 5. Motion-Graphics 6.
Synthetic Media Environments Part 3 7. Computer Models in Practice
and Education 8. Historical Inquiries 9. Design Inquiries
Conceptual Model for Communication

Communication is typically defined as a process of sending and

receiving. Such a communication process can be found in many
disciplines, ranging from psychology and sociology to engineering,
technology, and artificial intelligence. Consequently, great interest has
been shown in finding an idealized communication model that provides
“both general perspective and particular vantage points from which to
ask questions and to interpret the raw stuff of observation” [8]. A
communication model is an idealized systematic representation of the
communication process. Such models serve as standardization tools,
and they provide the means to 1) question and interpret actual
communication systems that are diverse in their nature and purpose,

2) furnish order and structure to multifaceted communication events,

and 3) lead to insights into hypothetical ideas and relationships
involved in communication. A variety of communication systems
models exist, and “perhaps they all [have] something in common” [12].
Shannon’s model of communication and its variations are the most
common models adopted in many fields. The seven-layer OSI model is
well known as a reference model for describing networks and network
applications. It is a reference model for the five-layer TCP/IP model. The
OSI model can also be extended to include a human perspective, as will
be described in this paper. The need for a general communication
model can be seen in the evolution of the original Shannon’s model
based on efforts of engineers to find the most efficient way of
transmitting electrical signals. Nevertheless, the model has been
enhanced to interpret all instances of communication, that is, to
organize biological communication systems along the same lines as
telecommunications systems, with the notion of interactivity
overcoming the linearity of the original model. Modeling
communication is an evolutionary process in which new concepts
enhance and complement earlier communication models. This paper
presents one more step in the evolutionary process of models with a
proposal to base modeling of communication on the notion of flow. It
ties communication models together through a flow model of
communication that focuses on abstract description without involving
details of the communication environment. This flow-based model
contributes to building an idealized communication model through
enhancing and integrating

different conceptualizations of the communication process. It is

different from other models in three main aspects: • Most current
communication models treat participants (e.g., nodes) in the
communicative act as a send/receive system. In the flow-based model,
the interior anatomy of the participants in the communication process
includes stages of receiving, processing, creating, release, and transfer
of information. This provides many advantages, such as the ability to
identify the participant’s role in communication acts. For example, the
sender may be just a mere receive-and-send agent (e.g., dumb
terminal), or a source (creator) of the transferred information, and so
forth. • Most current communication models do not explicitly
distinguish among different types of flow (e.g., information, messages,
and signals). Such a conceptualization is analogous to representing the
gas, water, and electricity lines in the design of a building by one type
of arrow in the design blueprint. In the flow-based model, each type of
thing that flows has its own map of flow that can trigger other types of
flow. • Most current idealized communication models do not grant the
channel of communication full status as a participant in the
communication process. In contrast, in our model, the channel
incorporates full functionality equal to that of other participants; that
is, it receives, processes, creates, releases, and transfers information, as
will be described.

What is a Communication System?

The communication system is a system model that describes a
communication exchange between two stations, transmitter, and
receiver. Signals or information passes from source to destination
through a channel. It represents a way in which the signal uses it to
move from a source toward its destination. To transmit signals in a
communication system, it should first be processed by beginning from
signal representation, to signal shaping until encoding and modulation.
After the transmitted signal is prepared, it is passed to the transmission
line of the channel. Due to signal crossing this media, it is faced with
many impairments like noise, attenuation, and distortion.

The process of transferring the information between two points is

called communication. The main elements needed to communicate are
the transmitter to send the information, the medium to send the
information and the receiver to receive the information on the other
end.

Types of Communication Systems

Based on physical infrastructure:

Based on physical infrastructure there are two types of communication

systems:

 Line communication systems: Uses the existing infrastructure of

power lines to transfer data from one point to another point.

 Radio Communication systems: uses the infrastructure of radio

waves to transfer the information from one point to another
point.
There is a physical link, called a hardwire channel between the
transmitter and the receiver inline communication systems

Further, communication systems are divided into:

 Analog communication systems: The Analog system conveys the

information from the audio, video and pictures between two
points using the analogue signals. A sinusoidal signal is an
example of an analogue communication system.

 Digital communication systems: Digital communication has

become very important in the age of the internet. It is a physical
exchange of information between two points discreetly. The
information exchange happens through digital signals.

 Baseband communication system: Baseband communication is

the transfer of signals that are not amplified to higher
frequencies. They help in transferring signals with near-zero
frequency.

 Carrier communication system: Carrier communication systems

transfer the information especially voice messages and calls by
improving the frequency much higher than the actual rate.
Out of four, a minimum of two types is needed to specify any
communication system. Thus, two groups are formed consisting of
each of the two types such that at least one of the types from each
group is necessarily required to specify a communication system.
These groups can be formed as:

 Analog/digital communication systems

 Baseband/carrier communication systems
To completely define any communication system, four out of the eight
types are required. If any type is missing, then the description of the
communication system will be incomplete.
Wireless and Wired communication system

Wireless communication systems use radio waves, electromagnetic

waves and infrared waves to communicate from one point to another
point and the wire communication system uses wire, optical fibre which
works on the phenomenon of total internal reflection to communicate
from one point to another point.

Wireless communication is further divided into satellite

communication, ground wave communication, skywave and space
wave communication. The satellite communication receives the signals
from the earth and resends them back to another point on the earth
with the help of a transponder. Wired communication is further divided
into parallel wire, twisted wire, optical fibre and coaxial wired
communication.

Elements of a communication system

Terms Used in Communication Systems

1. Signal

A signal is that information that has been converted into a digital

format. Analog signals (such as human voice) or digital signals (binary
data) are inputted to the system, processed within the electronic
circuits for transmission, then decoded by the receiver. The system is
claimed to be reliable and effective; only errors are minimized within
the process.
2. Communication Channel

A communication channel is a medium by which a signal travels.

3. Transducer

The device used to convert one form of energy into another form is a
transducer.

4. Receiver

A receiver is a device that receives the signals sent/ transmitted by the

senders and decodes them into a form that is understandable by
humans.

5. Attenuation

Attenuation is the reduction in the strength of analog or digital signal as

it is transmitted over a communication medium.

6. Amplitude

An amplitude of the signal refers to the strength of the signal.

7. Amplification

Amplification is the process to strengthen the amplitude of the signals

using an electronic circuit.

8. Bandwidth

Bandwidth explains the range of frequency over which a signal has

been transmitted.

9. Modulation
As the original message signal can't be transmitted over an outsized
distance due to their low frequency and amplitude, they're
superimposed with high frequency and amplitude waves called carrier
waves. This phenomenon of superimposing a message signal with a
carrier wave is called modulation. And the resultant wave is a
modulated wave which is to be transmitted.

Different Types of Modulation.

 Amplitude Modulation (AM)

 Frequency Modulation (FM)

 Phase Modulation (PM)

10. Demodulation

Demodulation takes a modulated signal and then extracts the original

message from it.

11. Repeater

The repeater extends the range of communication systems by

amplifying the signals.

12. Noise

Any electrical signal which interferes with an information signal is called

noise.

Conceptual Model

Once we’ve some use cases or user stories, the next thing we can do is
create a conceptual model of our system. It simply means you’re
identifying the most important objects.
You shouldn’t be worried about software object right now, but more
generically what are the things in the application that we need to be
aware of.

Things like product, item, shopping cart, order, invoice, customer, that’s
what we’re identifying here. Some of them will become actual classes
and software object, but not all of them.

The Process

So, we’re going to identify those objects, start to refine them, and then
draw them in a simple diagram. And we can also show the relationship
and interactions between them.

An Advice

Creating a simple conceptual model for most applications is not and

should not be a long process. A few hours spent on this is usually more
than enough.

Don’t worry about perfection. First time through it will be incomplete,

and that’s absolutely normal to miss out even important objects, things
that you will discover later on during programming.

1. Identifying Objects

What we do is to start collecting our use cases, user stories, and any
other written requirements together.

Now, we are going to identify the most important parts of our software;
the most important things, or objects.

Refining Objects
After underlying your candidate objects, you start refining them, you
start choosing your actual objects that will be in the system

 Remove any duplicates. We may find same objects with different

names, but they actually mean the same thing.

 You may need to combine some objects, or, even splitting them
into some other objects.

 You may identify an attribute as an object instead.

 You may identify a behavior as an object instead.

3. Drawing Objects

What you need to do now is using your pencil and paper, just draw the
conceptual model by box all objects.

There are some tools you may use, but for now, a pencil, and piece of
paper are more than enough.

3. Identifying Object Relationships

You start indicate the relationships between your objects.

It’s very obvious that these objects will interact with each other. For
example, a customer can place an order, a student can enroll in a
course, an admin can update a post, and so on

4. Identifying Object Behaviors

Behaviors are the things (verbs) the object can do, or, in other words,
the responsibilities of an object, that will become the methods in our
object class
What is the System Development Life Cycle?

The system development life cycle or SDLC is a project management model used to outline, design,
develop, test, and deploy an information system or software product. In other words, it defines the
necessary steps needed to take a project from the idea or concept stage to the actual deployment and
further maintenance.

SDLC represents a multitude of complex models used in software development. On a practical level,
SDLC is a general methodology that covers different step-by-step processes needed to create a high-
quality software product.

7 Stages of the System Development Life Cycle

There are seven separate SDLC stages. Each of them requires different specialists and diverse skills for
successful project completion. Modern SDLC processes have become increasingly complex and
interdisciplinary.

Planning Stage – What Are the Existing Problems?

Planning is one of the core phases of SDLC. It acts as the foundation of the whole SDLC scheme and
paves the way for the successful execution of upcoming steps and, ultimately, a successful project
launch.
In this stage, the problem or pain the software targets is clearly defined. First, developers and other
team members outline objectives for the system and draw a rough plan of how the system will work.
Then, they may make use of predictive analysis and AI simulation tools at this stage to test the early-
stage validity of an idea. This analysis helps project managers build a picture of the long-term resources
required to develop a solution, potential market uptake, and which obstacles might arise.

At its core, the planning process helps identify how a specific problem can be solved with a certain
software solution. Crucially, the planning stage involves analysis of the resources and costs needed to
complete the project, as well as estimating the overall price of the software developed.

Finally, the planning process clearly defines the outline of system development. The project manager
will set deadlines and time frames for each phase of the software development life cycle, ensuring the
product is presented to the market in time.

2. Analysis Stage – What Do We Want?

Once the planning is done, it’s time to switch to the research and analysis stage.

In this step, you incorporate more specific data for your new system. This includes the first system
prototype drafts, market research, and an evaluation of competitors.

To successfully complete the analysis and put together all the critical information for a certain project,
developers should do the following:

 Generate the system requirements. A Software Requirement Specification (SRS) document will
be created at this stage. Your DevOps team should have a high degree of input in determining
the functional and network requirements of the upcoming project.

 Evaluate existing prototypes. Different prototypes should be evaluated to identify those with
the greatest potential.

 Conduct market research. Market research is essential to define the pains and needs of end-
consumers. In recent years, automated NLP (natural language processing) research has been
undertaken to glean insights from customer reviews and feedback at scale.

 Set concrete goals. Goals are set and allocated to the stages of the system development life
cycle. Often, these will correspond to the implementation of specific features.

Design Stage – What Will the Finished Project Look Like?

The next stage of a system development project is design and prototyping.

This process is an essential precursor to development. It is often incorrectly equated with the actual
development process but is rather an extensive prototyping stage.

This step of the system development life cycle can significantly eliminate the time needed to develop
the software. It involves outlining the following:
  The system interface

 Databases

 Core software features (including architecture like microservices)

 User interface and usability

 Network and its requirement

As a rule, these features help to finalize the SRS document as well as create the first prototype of the
software to get the overall idea of how it should look like.

Prototyping tools, which now offer extensive automation and AI features, significantly streamline this
stage. They are used for the fast creation of multiple early-stage working prototypes, which can then be
evaluated. AI monitoring tools ensure that best practices are rigorously adhered to.

Development Stage – Let’s Create the System

In the development stage of SDLC, the system creation process produces a working solution. Developers
write code and build the app according to the finalized requirements and specification documents.

This stage includes both front and back-end development. DevOps engineers are essential for allocating
self-service resources to developers to streamline the process of testing and rollout, for which CI/CD is
typically employed.

This phase of the system development life cycle is often split into different sub-stages, especially if a
microservice or miniservice architecture, in which development is broken into separate modules, is
chosen.

Developers will typically use multiple tools, programming environments, and languages (C++, PHP,
Python, and others), all of which will comply with the project specifications and requirements outlined in
the SRS documen

5. Testing Stage – Is It the Exact One We Needed?

The testing stage ensures the application’s features work correctly and coherently and fulfill user
objectives and expectations.

This process involves detecting the possible bugs, defects, and errors, searching for vulnerabilities, etc.,
and can sometimes take up even more time compared to the app-building stage.

There are various approaches to testing, and you will likely adopt a mix of methods during this phase.
Behavior-driven development, which uses testing outcomes based on plain language to include non-
developers in the process, has become increasingly popular.

Integration and Implementation Stage – How Will We Use It?

Once the product is ready to go, it’s time to make it available to its end users and deploy it to the
production environment.

At this stage, the software undergoes final testing through the training or pre-production environment,
after which it’s ready for presentation on the market.

It is important that you have contingencies in place when the product is first released to market should
any unforeseen issues arise. Microservices architecture, for example, makes it easy to toggle features on
and off. And you will likely have multiple rollback protocols. A canary release (to a limited number of
users) may be utilized if necessary.

Maintenance Stage – Let’s Make the Improvements

The last but not least important stage of the SDLC process is the maintenance stage, where the software
is already being used by end-users.

During the first couple of months, developers might face problems that weren’t detected during initial
testing, so they should immediately react to the reported issues and implement the changes needed for
the software’s stable and convenient usage.

This is particularly important for large systems, which usually are more difficult to test in the debugging
stage.

Automated monitoring tools, which continuously evaluate performance and uptime and detect errors,
can assist developers with ongoing quality assurance. This is also known as “instrumentation.”

Basic 6 SDLC Methodologies

Now that you know the basic SDLC phases and why each of them is important, it’s time to dive into the
core methodologies of the system development life cycle.

These are the approaches that can help you to deliver a specific software model with unique
characteristics and features. Most developers and project managers opt for one of these 6 approaches.
Hybrid models are also popular.

Let’s discuss the major differences and similarities of each.

Waterfall Model
This approach implies a linear type of project phase completion, where each stage has its separate
project plan and is strictly related to the previous and next steps of system development.

Typically, each stage must be completed before the next one can begin, and extensive documentation is
required to ensure that all tasks are completed before moving on to the next stage. This is to ensure
effective communication between teams working apart at different stages.

While a Waterfall model allows for a high degree of structure and clarity, it can be somewhat rigid. It is
difficult to go back and make changes at a later stage.

Iterative Model
The Iterative model incorporates a series of smaller “waterfalls,” where manageable portions of code
are carefully analyzed, tested, and delivered through repeating development cycles. Getting early
feedback from an end user enables the elimination of issues and bugs in the early stages of software
creation.

The Iterative model is often favored because it is adaptable, and changes are comparatively easier to
accommodate.

Spiral Model
The Spiral model best fits large projects where the risk of issues arising is high. Changes are passed
through the different SDLC phases again and again in a so-called “spiral” motion.

It enables regular incorporation of feedback, which significantly reduces the time and costs required to
implement changes.

V-Model
Verification and validation methodology requires a rigorous timeline and large amounts of resources. It
is similar to the Waterfall model with the addition of comprehensive parallel testing during the early
stages of the SDLC process.

The verification and validation model tends to be resource-intensive and inflexible. For projects with
clear requirements where testing is important, it can be useful.

Agile Model

The Agile model prioritizes collaboration and the implementation of small changes based on regular
feedback. The Agile model accounts for shifting project requirements, which may become apparent over
the course of SDLC.

The Scrum model, which is a type of time-constrained Agile model, is popular among developers. Often
developers will also use a hybrid of the Agile and Waterfall model, referred to as an “Agile-Waterfall
hybrid.”

As you can see, different methodologies are used depending on the specific vision, characteristics, and
requirements of individual projects. Knowing the structure and nuances of each model can help to pick
the one that best fits your project.
Benefits of SDLC

Having covered the major SDLC methodologies offered by software development companies, let’s now
review whether they are actually worth employing.

Here are the benefits that the system development life cycle provides:

 Comprehensive overview of system specifications, resources, timeline, and the project goals

 Clear guidelines for developers

 Each stage of the development process is tested and monitored

 Control over large and complex projects

 Detailed software testing

 Process flexibility

 Lower costs and strict time frames for product delivery

 Enhanced teamwork, collaboration, and shared understanding

Possible Drawbacks of SDLC

Just like any other software development approach, each SDLC model has its drawbacks:

 Increased time and costs for the project development if a complex model is required

 All details need to be specified in advance

  SDLC models can be restrictive

 A high volume of documentation which can slow down projects

 Requires many different specialists

 Client involvement is usually high

 Testing might be too complicated for certain development teams

While there are some drawbacks, SDLC has proven to be one of the most effective ways for successfully
launching software products.

Alternative development paradigms, such as rapid application development (RAD), may be suitable for
some projects but typically carry limitations and should be considered carefully.

WHAT IS SOFTWARE QUALITY?

Software quality assurance (SQA)

Software quality is defined as a field of study and practice that describes the desirable attributes of
software products. There are two main approaches to software quality: defect management and quality
attributes.

SOFTWARE QUALITY DEFECT MANAGEMENT APPROACH

A software defect can be regarded as any failure to address end-user requirements. Common defects
include missed or misunderstood requirements and errors in design, functional logic, data relationships,
process timing, validity checking, and coding errors.

The software defect management approach is based on counting and managing defects. Defects are
commonly categorized by severity, and the numbers in each category are used for planning. More
mature software development organizations use tools, such as defect leakage matrices (for counting the
numbers of defects that pass through development phases prior to detection) and control charts, to
measure and improve development process capability.

SOFTWARE QUALITY ATTRIBUTES APPROACH

This approach to software quality is best exemplified by fixed quality models, such as ISO/IEC
25010:2011. This standard describes a hierarchy of eight quality characteristics, each composed of sub-
characteristics:

1. Functional suitability

2. Reliability
 3. Operability

4. Performance efficiency

5. Security

6. Compatibility

7. Maintainability

8. Transferability

In order to make sure the released software is safe and functions as expected, the concept of software
quality was introduced. It is often defined as “the degree of conformance to explicit or implicit
requirements and expectations”. These so-called explicit and implicit expectations correspond to the two
basic levels of software quality:

 Functional – the product’s compliance with functional (explicit) requirements and design
specifications. This aspect focuses on the practical use of software, from the point of view of the
user: its features, performance, ease of use, absence of defects.

 Non-Functional – system’s inner characteristics and architecture, i.e. structural (implicit)

requirements. This includes the code maintainability, understandability, efficiency, and security.

The structural quality of the software is usually hard to manage: It relies mostly on the expertise of the
engineering team and can be assured through code review, analysis and refactoring. At the same time,
functional aspect can be assured through a set of dedicated quality management activities, which
includes quality assurance, quality control, and testing.

Often used interchangeably, the three terms refer to slightly different aspects of software quality
management. Despite a common goal of delivering a product of the best possible quality, both
structurally and functionally, they use different approaches to this task.

Quality Assurance is a broad term, explained on the Google Testing Blog as “the continuous and
consistent improvement and maintenance of process that enables the QC job”. As follows from the
definition, QA focuses more on organizational aspects of quality management, monitoring the
consistency of the production process.

Through Quality Control the team verifies the product’s compliance with the functional requirements.
As defined by Investopedia, it is a “process through which a business seeks to ensure that product quality
is maintained or improved and manufacturing errors are reduced or eliminated”. This activity is applied
to the finished product and performed before the product release. In terms of manufacturing industry, it
is similar to pulling a random item from an assembly line to see if it complies with the technical specs.

Testing is the basic activity aimed at detecting and solving technical issues in the software source code
and assessing the overall product usability, performance, security, and compatibility. It has a very
narrow focus and is performed by the test engineers in parallel with the development process or at the
dedicated testing stage (depending on the methodological approach to the software development
cycle).

Quality control can be compared to having a senior manager walk into a production department and
pick a random car for an examination and test drive. Testing activities, in this case, refer to the process
of checking every joint, every mechanism separately, as well as the whole product, whether manually or
automatically, conducting crash tests, performance tests, and actual or simulated test drives.

Due to its hands-on approach, software testing activities remain a subject of heated discussion. That is
why we will focus primarily on this aspect of software quality management in this paper. But before we
get into the details, let’s define the main principles of software testing.

software requirements specification (SRS)

software requirements specification (SRS) is a comprehensive description of the intended purpose and
environment for software under development. The SRS fully describes what the software will do and
how it will be expected to perform.

An SRS minimizes the time and effort required by developers to achieve desired goals and also
minimizes the development cost. A good SRS defines how an application will interact with
system hardware, other programs and human users in a wide variety of real-world situations.
Parameters such as operating speed, response time, availability, portability, maintainability, footprint,
security and speed of recovery from adverse events are evaluated. Methods of defining an SRS are
described by the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) specification 830-1998.

Key components of an SRS

The main sections of a software requirements specification are:

 Business drivers – this section describes the reasons the customer is looking to build the system,
including problems with the currently system and opportunities the new system will provide.

 Business model – this section describes the business model of the customer that the system has
to support, including organizational, business context, main business functions and process flow
diagrams.

 Business/functional and system requirements -- this section typically consists of requirements

that are organized in a hierarchical structure. The business/functional requirements are at the
top level and the detailed system requirements are listed as child items.

 Business and system use cases -- this section consists of a Unified Modeling Language (UML)
use case diagram depicting the key external entities that will be interacting with the system and
the different use cases that they’ll have to perform.
  Technical requirements -- this section lists the non-functional requirements that make up the
technical environment where software needs to operate and the technical restrictions under
which it needs to operate.

 System qualities -- this section is used to describe the non-functional requirements that define
the quality attributes of the system, such as reliability, serviceability, security, scalability,
availability and maintainability.

 Constraints and assumptions -- this section includes any constraints that the customer has
imposed on the system design. It also includes the requirements engineering team’s
assumptions about what is expected to happen during the project.

 Acceptance criteria -- this section details the conditions that must be met for the customer to
accept the final system.

Purpose of an SRS

An SRS forms the basis of an organization’s entire project. It sets out the framework that all the
development teams will follow. It provides critical information to all the teams, including development,
operations, quality assurance (QA) and maintenance, ensuring the teams are in agreement

What Does an SRS Include?

Software requirements specification is a blueprint for the development team, providing all the
information they need to build the tool according to your requirements. But it also should outline your
product’s purpose, describing what the application is supposed to do and how it should perform.

An SRS can vary in format and length depending on how complex the project is and the selected
development methodology. However, there are essential elements every good SRS document must
contain:

 Purpose of the digital product is a clear and concise statement that defines the intent of the
solution. This statement should address your needs, outlining what the app will achieve once
completed.

 Description of the product provides a high-level overview of the future tool, including intended
users, the type of environment it will operate in, and any other relevant information that could
impact the software development process.

 Functionality of the product describes the features, capabilities, and

limitations or constraints that might affect the tool’s performance.

  Performance of the product should include requirements related to its

performance in a production environment: speed, efficiency, reliability,

and scalability.

 Non-functional requirements address such factors as security,

compatibility, and maintainability.

 External interfaces include information about how the application will

interact with other systems it must connect to. So, here communication
protocols and data formats are described. Also, it outlines details of the

screen layout, logic interface, hardware interface, and design.

 Design constraints or environmental limitations that may impact the

development

The Difference Between Functional Requirements Document and Non-functional Requirements

To understand the difference, think of it this way: functional requirements are like the meat and
potatoes of a meal, while non-functional are like the seasoning.

Functional requirements document is essential to the system’s core function, describing the features
and fundamental behavior, just as meat and potatoes are the core elements of a meal. Without them,
the system won’t work as intended, just as a meal won’t be satisfying without the main course. For
example, when you register and sign in to a system, it sends you a welcome email.

On the other hand, non-functional requirements enhance the user experience and make the system
more delightful to use, just as the seasoning makes a meal more enjoyable to eat. They specify the
general characteristics impacting user experience.

How to Write a Software Requirement Specification Document

The creation of an SRS should be one of the first things to do when you plan to develop a new project.
Writing it may seem daunting, but it’s essential to building successful tool. The more elaborate and
detailed your SRS is, the fewer chances for the development team to take the wrong turns.

To make the process of writing an SRS more efficient and manageable, we recommend you follow a
structure that starts with a skeleton and general info on the project. Then it will be easier for you to
flesh out the details to create a comprehensive draft. Here’s a six-step guide to creating an SRS
document:

Step 1. Create an Outline

The first step is to create an outline that will act as a framework for the document and your guide
through the writing process. You can either create your outline or use an SRS document template as a
basis. Anyway, the outline should contain the following important elements:

 Introduction

o Purpose

o Intended use and target audience

o Product scope

o Definitions

 General description

o Business requirements

o User needs

o Product limitations and constraints

o Assumptions and dependencies

 Features and requirements

o Features

o Functional

o External interface

o Non-functional

 Supporting information

Step 2. Define what the purpose of your software is

In fact, this section is a summary of the SRS document. It allows you to write a clear picture of what you
want your product to do and how you want it to function. So, here you should include a detailed
description of the intended users, how they will interact with the product, and the value your product
will deliver. Answering the following question will help you to write the purpose:

 What problems does your product solve?

  Who are the intended users?

 Why is your product important?

Step 3. Give an Overview

Here’s the section where you clarify your idea and explain why it can be appealing to users. Describe all
features and functions and define how they will fit the user’s needs. Also, mention whether the product
is new or a replacement for the old one, is it a stand-alone app or an add-on to an existing system?
Additionally, you can highlight any assumptions about the product’s functionality.

Step 4. Describe Functional and Non-functional Requirements

Often, clients don’t have a clear idea about the intended functionality at the start of the project. In this
case, Relevant cooperates closely with you to understand the demands and assigns business analysts to
assist with it.

Step 5. Add Supplemental Details

If you have something else to add, any alternative ideas or proposals, references, or any other additional
information that could help developers finish the job, write them down here.

Step 6. Get Approval

Now it’s time to have stakeholders review the SRS report carefully and leave comments or additions if
there are any. After edits, give them to read the document again, and if everything is correct from their
perspective, they’ll approve it and accept it as a plan of action. After that, you’re ready to move toward
app or web development.

WHAT DOES COMPUTER ERGONOMICS MEAN?

Computer ergonomics addresses ways to optimise your computer workstation to reduce the specific
risks of computer vision syndrome, neck and back pain, and carpal tunnel syndrome. It also reduces the
risk of other disorders affecting the muscles, spine, and joints.

ERGONOMIC SOFTWARE

1. Home

2. Solutions

Ergonomic software offers a broad range of options to assist those conducting ergonomic evaluations,
job analyses, or biomechanical analyses of specific job tasks. Applications can include risk factor
identification, training, and job or workstation redesign.

The different types of software testing

Manual vs. Automated testing

It's important to make the distinction between manual and automated tests. Manual testing is done in
person, by clicking through the application or interacting with the software and APIs with the
appropriate tooling. This is very expensive since it requires someone to setup an environment and
execute the tests themselves, and it can be prone to human error as the tester might make typos or
omit steps in the test script.

Automated tests, on the other hand, are performed by a machine that executes a test script that was
written in advance. These tests can vary in complexity, from checking a single method in a class to
making sure that performing a sequence of complex actions in the UI leads to the same results. It's much
more robust and reliable than manual tests – but the quality of your automated tests depends on how
well your test scripts have been writte

Automated testing is a key component of continuous integration and continuous delivery and it's a great
way to scale your QA process as you add new features to your application. But there's still value in doing
some manual testing with what is called exploratory testing

The different types of tests

1. Unit tests

Unit tests are very low level and close to the source of an application. They consist in testing individual
methods and functions of the classes, components, or modules used by your software. Unit tests are
generally quite cheap to automate and can run very quickly by a continuous integration server.

2. Integration tests

Integration tests verify that different modules or services used by your application work well together.
For example, it can be testing the interaction with the database or making sure that microservices work
together as expected. These types of tests are more expensive to run as they require multiple parts of
the application to be up and running.

3. Functional tests

Functional tests focus on the business requirements of an application. They only verify the output of an
action and do not check the intermediate states of the system when performing that action.

There is sometimes a confusion between integration tests and functional tests as they both require
multiple components to interact with each other. The difference is that an integration test may simply
verify that you can query the database while a functional test would expect to get a specific value from
the database as defined by the product requirements.

4. End-to-end tests
End-to-end testing replicates a user behavior with the software in a complete application environment.
It verifies that various user flows work as expected and can be as simple as loading a web page or
logging in or much more complex scenarios verifying email notifications, online payments, etc...

End-to-end tests are very useful, but they're expensive to perform and can be hard to maintain when
they're automated. It is recommended to have a few key end-to-end tests and rely more on lower level
types of testing (unit and integration tests) to be able to quickly identify breaking changes.

Acceptance testing

Acceptance tests are formal tests that verify if a system satisfies business requirements. They require
the entire application to be running while testing and focus on replicating user behaviors. But they can
also go further and measure the performance of the system and reject changes if certain goals are not
met.

6. Performance testing

Performance tests evaluate how a system performs under a particular workload. These tests help to
measure the reliability, speed, scalability, and responsiveness of an application. For instance, a
performance test can observe response times when executing a high number of requests, or determine
how a system behaves with a significant amount of data. It can determine if an application meets
performance requirements, locate bottlenecks, measure stability during peak traffic, and more.

Smoke testing

Smoke tests are basic tests that check the basic functionality of an application. They are meant to be
quick to execute, and their goal is to give you the assurance that the major features of your system are
working as expected.

Smoke tests can be useful right after a new build is made to decide whether or not you can run more
expensive tests, or right after a deployment to make sure that the application is running properly in the
newly deployed environment.

TESTS

Software testing is the act of examining the artifacts and the behavior of the software under test by
validation and verification. Software testing can also provide an objective, independent view of the
software to allow the business to appreciate and understand the risks of software implementation. Test
techniques include, but are not necessarily limited to:

 analyzing the product requirements for completeness and correctness in various contexts like
industry perspective, business perspective, feasibility and viability of implementation, usability,
performance, security, infrastructure considerations, etc.

 reviewing the product architecture and the overall design of the product
  working with product developers on improvement in coding techniques, design patterns, tests
that can be written as part of code based on various techniques like boundary conditions, etc.

 executing a program or application with the intent of examining behavior

 reviewing the deployment infrastructure and associated scripts and automation

 take part in production activities by using monitoring and observability techniques

Software testing can provide objective, independent information about the quality of software and the
risk of its failure to users or sponsors

A primary purpose of testing is to detect software failures so that defects may be discovered and
corrected. Testing cannot establish that a product functions properly under all conditions, but only that
it does not function properly under specific conditions.[4] The scope of software testing may include the
examination of code as well as the execution of that code in various environments and conditions as
well as examining the aspects of code: does it do what it is supposed to do and do what it needs to do.
In the current culture of software development, a testing organization may be separate from the
development team. There are various roles for testing team members. Information derived from
software testing may be used to correct the process by which software is developed. [5]: 41–43

Every software product has a target audience. For example, the audience for video game software is
completely different that for banking software. Therefore, when an organization develops or otherwise
invests in a software product, it can assess whether the software product will be acceptable to its end
users, its target audience, its purchasers, and other stakeholders. Software testing assists in making this
assessment.

Static, dynamic, and passive testing[edit]

There are many approaches available in software testing. Reviews, walkthroughs, or inspections are
referred to as static testing, whereas executing programmed code with a given set of test cases is
referred to as dynamic testing.[15][16]

Static testing is often implicit, like proofreading, plus when programming tools/text editors check source
code structure or compilers (pre-compilers) check syntax and data flow as static program analysis.
Dynamic testing takes place when the program itself is run. Dynamic testing may begin before the
program is 100% complete in order to test particular sections of code and are applied to
discrete functions or modules.[15][16] Typical techniques for these are either using stubs/drivers or
execution from a debugger environment.[16]

Static testing involves verification, whereas dynamic testing also involves validation.[16]

Passive testing means verifying the system behavior without any interaction with the software product.
Contrary to active testing, testers do not provide any test data but look at system logs and traces. They
mine for patterns and specific behavior in order to make some kind of decisions.[17] This is related to
offline runtime verification and log analysis.

Exploratory approach

This section is an excerpt from Exploratory testing.[edit]

Exploratory testing is an approach to software testing that is concisely described as simultaneous

learning, test design and test execution. Cem Kaner, who coined the term in 1984,[18] defines
exploratory testing as "a style of software testing that emphasizes the personal freedom and
responsibility of the individual tester to continually optimize the quality of his/her work by treating test-
related learning, test design, test execution, and test result interpretation as mutually supportive
activities that run in parallel throughout the project."[19]

The "box" approach

Software testing methods are traditionally divided into white- and black-box testing. These two
approaches are used to describe the point of view that the tester takes when designing test cases. A
hybrid approach called grey-box testing may also be applied to software testing methodology.[20][21]
With the concept of grey-box testing—which develops tests from specific design elements—gaining
prominence, this "arbitrary distinction" between black- and white-box testing has faded somewhat.[22]

White-box testing

White-box testing (also known as clear box testing, glass box testing, transparent box testing, and
structural testing) verifies the internal structures or workings of a program, as opposed to the
functionality exposed to the end-user. In white-box testing, an internal perspective of the system (the
source code), as well as programming skills, are used to design test cases. The tester chooses inputs to
exercise paths through the code and determine the appropriate outputs.[20][21] This is analogous to
testing nodes in a circuit, e.g., in-circuit testing (ICT).

While white-box testing can be applied at the unit, integration, and system levels of the software testing
process, it is usually done at the unit level.[22] It can test paths within a unit, paths between units during
integration, and between subsystems during a system–level test. Though this method of test design can
uncover many errors or problems, it might not detect unimplemented parts of the specification or
missing requirements.

Techniques used in white-box testing include:[21][23]

 API testing – testing of the application using public and private APIs (application programming
interfaces)
  Code coverage – creating tests to satisfy some criteria of code coverage (for example, the test
designer can create tests to cause all statements in the program to be executed at least once)

 Fault injection methods – intentionally introducing faults to gauge the efficacy of testing
strategies

 Mutation testing methods

 Static testing methods

Code coverage tools can evaluate the completeness of a test suite that was created with any method,
including black-box testing. This allows the software team to examine parts of a system that are rarely
tested and ensures that the most important function points have been tested.[24] Code coverage as
a software metric can be reported as a percentage for:[20][24][25]

 Function coverage, which reports on functions executed

 Statement coverage, which reports on the number of lines executed to complete the test

 Decision coverage, which reports on whether both the True and the False branch of a given test
has been executed

100% statement coverage ensures that all code paths or branches (in terms of control flow) are
executed at least once. This is helpful in ensuring correct functionality, but not sufficient since the same
code may process different inputs correctly or incorrectly

Black-box testing[edit]

Main article: Black-box testing

Black box diagram

Black-box testing (also known as functional testing) treats the software as a "black box," examining
functionality without any knowledge of internal implementation, without seeing the source code. The
testers are only aware of what the software is supposed to do, not how it does it.[27] Black-box testing
methods include: equivalence partitioning, boundary value analysis, all-pairs testing, state transition
tables, decision table testing, fuzz testing, model-based testing, use case testing, exploratory testing,
and specification-based testing.[20][21][25]

Specification-based testing aims to test the functionality of software according to the applicable
requirements.[28] This level of testing usually requires thorough test cases to be provided to the tester,
who then can simply verify that for a given input, the output value (or behavior), either "is" or "is not"
the same as the expected value specified in the test case. Test cases are built around specifications and
requirements, i.e., what the application is supposed to do. It uses external descriptions of the software,
including specifications, requirements, and designs to derive test cases. These tests can
be functional or non-functional, though usually functional.

Specification-based testing may be necessary to assure correct functionality, but it is insufficient to

guard against complex or high-risk situations.[29]

One advantage of the black box technique is that no programming knowledge is required. Whatever
biases the programmers may have had, the tester likely has a different set and may emphasize different
areas of functionality. On the other hand, black-box testing has been said to be "like a walk in a dark
labyrinth without a flashlight."[30] Because they do not examine the source code, there are situations
when a tester writes many test cases to check something that could have been tested by only one test
case or leaves some parts of the program untested.

This method of test can be applied to all levels of software

testing: unit, integration, system and acceptance.[22] It typically comprises most if not all testing at higher
levels, but can also dominate unit testing as well.

Component interface testing is a variation of black-box testing, with the focus on the data values beyond
just the related actions of a subsystem component.[31] The practice of component interface testing can
be used to check the handling of data passed between various units, or subsystem components, beyond
full integration testing between those units.[32][33] The data being passed can be considered as "message
packets" and the range or data types can be checked, for data generated from one unit, and tested for
validity before being passed into another unit. One option for interface testing is to keep a separate log
file of data items being passed, often with a timestamp logged to allow analysis of thousands of cases of
data passed between units for days or weeks. Tests can include checking the handling of some extreme
data values while other interface variables are passed as normal values.[32] Unusual data values in an
interface can help explain unexpected performance in the next unit.

Visual testing[edit]

The aim of visual testing is to provide developers with the ability to examine what was happening at the
point of software failure by presenting the data in such a way that the developer can easily find the
information he or she requires, and the information is expressed clearly.[34][35]

At the core of visual testing is the idea that showing someone a problem (or a test failure), rather than
just describing it, greatly increases clarity and understanding. Visual testing, therefore, requires the
recording of the entire test process – capturing everything that occurs on the test system in video
format. Output videos are supplemented by real-time tester input via picture-in-a-picture webcam and
audio commentary from microphones.

Grey-box testing[edit]

Main article: Gray box testing

Grey-box testing (American spelling: gray-box testing) involves having knowledge of internal data
structures and algorithms for purposes of designing tests while executing those tests at the user, or
black-box level. The tester will often have access to both "the source code and the executable
binary."[37] Grey-box testing may also include reverse engineering (using dynamic code analysis) to
determine, for instance, boundary values or error messages.[37] Manipulating input data and formatting
output do not qualify as grey-box, as the input and output are clearly outside of the "black box" that we
are calling the system under test. This distinction is particularly important when conducting integration
testing between two modules of code written by two different developers, where only the interfaces are
exposed for the test.

By knowing the underlying concepts of how the software works, the tester makes better-informed
testing choices while testing the software from outside. Typically, a grey-box tester will be permitted to
set up an isolated testing environment with activities such as seeding a database. The tester can observe
the state of the product being tested after performing certain actions such as executing SQL statements
against the database and then executing queries to ensure that the expected changes have been
reflected. Grey-box testing implements intelligent test scenarios, based on limited information. This will
particularly apply to data type handling, exception handling, and so on.

Testing levels[edit]

Broadly speaking, there are at least three levels of testing: unit testing, integration testing, and system
testing.[39][40][41][42] However, a fourth level, acceptance testing, may be included by developers. This may
be in the form of operational acceptance testing or be simple end-user (beta) testing, testing to ensure
the software meets functional expectations.[43][44][45] Based on the ISTQB Certified Test Foundation Level
syllabus, test levels includes those four levels, and the fourth level is named acceptance testing. [46] Tests
are frequently grouped into one of these levels by where they are added in the software development
process, or by the level of specificity of the test.

Unit testing[edit]

Main article: Unit testing

Unit testing refers to tests that verify the functionality of a specific section of code, usually at the
function level. In an object-oriented environment, this is usually at the class level, and the minimal unit
tests include the constructors and destructors.[47]

These types of tests are usually written by developers as they work on code (white-box style), to ensure
that the specific function is working as expected. One function might have multiple tests, to catch corner
cases or other branches in the code. Unit testing alone cannot verify the functionality of a piece of
software, but rather is used to ensure that the building blocks of the software work independently from
each other.

Unit testing is a software development process that involves a synchronized application of a broad
spectrum of defect prevention and detection strategies in order to reduce software development risks,
time, and costs. It is performed by the software developer or engineer during the construction phase of
the software development life cycle. Unit testing aims to eliminate construction errors before code is
promoted to additional testing; this strategy is intended to increase the quality of the resulting software
as well as the efficiency of the overall development process.

Depending on the organization's expectations for software development, unit testing might
include static code analysis, data-flow analysis, metrics analysis, peer code reviews, code
coverage analysis and other software testing practices.

Integration testing[edit]

Main article: Integration testing

Integration testing is any type of software testing that seeks to verify the interfaces between
components against a software design. Software components may be integrated in an iterative way or
all together ("big bang"). Normally the former is considered a better practice since it allows interface
issues to be located more quickly and fixed.

Integration testing works to expose defects in the interfaces and interaction between integrated
components (modules). Progressively larger groups of tested software components corresponding to
elements of the architectural design are integrated and tested until the software works as a system. [48]

System testing[edit]

Main article: System testing

System testing tests a completely integrated system to verify that the system meets its requirements. [6]:
74
For example, a system test might involve testing a login interface, then creating and editing an entry,
plus sending or printing results, followed by summary processing or deletion (or archiving) of entries,
then logoff.

Acceptance testing[edit]

Main article: Acceptance testing

Acceptance testing commonly includes the following four types:[46]

 User acceptance testing (UAT)

 Operational acceptance testing (OAT)

 Contractual and regulatory acceptance testing

 Alpha and beta testing

Testing types, techniques and tactics[edit]

Different labels and ways of grouping testing may be testing types, software testing tactics
Installation testing[edit]

This section is an excerpt from Installation testing.[edit]

Most software systems have installation procedures that are needed before they can be used for their
main purpose. Testing these procedures to achieve an installed software system that may be used is
known as installation testing.[51]: 139 These procedure may involve full or partial upgrades, and
install/uninstall processes.

 A user must select a variety of options.

 Dependent files and libraries must be allocated, loaded or located.

 Valid hardware configurations must be present.

 Software systems may need connectivity to connect to other software systems.[51]: 145

Compatibility testing[edit]

Main article: Compatibility testing

A common cause of software failure (real or perceived) is a lack of its compatibility with
other application software, operating systems (or operating system versions, old or new), or target
environments that differ greatly from the original (such as a terminal or GUI application intended to be
run on the desktop now being required to become a Web application, which must render in a Web
browser). For example, in the case of a lack of backward compatibility, this can occur because the
programmers develop and test software only on the latest version of the target environment, which not
all users may be running. This results in the unintended consequence that the latest work may not
function on earlier versions of the target environment, or on older hardware that earlier versions of the
target environment were capable of using. Sometimes such issues can be fixed by
proactively abstracting operating system functionality into a separate program module or library.

Smoke and sanity testing[edit]

Main article: Smoke testing (software)

Sanity testing determines whether it is reasonable to proceed with further testing.

Smoke testing consists of minimal attempts to operate the software, designed to determine whether
there are any basic problems that will prevent it from working at all. Such tests can be used as build
verification test.

Regression testing[edit]

Main article: Regression testing

Regression testing focuses on finding defects after a major code change has occurred. Specifically, it
seeks to uncover software regressions, as degraded or lost features, including old bugs that have come
back. Such regressions occur whenever software functionality that was previously working correctly,
stops working as intended. Typically, regressions occur as an unintended consequence of program
changes, when the newly developed part of the software collides with the previously existing code.
Regression testing is typically the largest test effort in commercial software development, [52] due to
checking numerous details in prior software features, and even new software can be developed while
using some old test cases to test parts of the new design to ensure prior functionality is still supported.

Common methods of regression testing include re-running previous sets of test cases and checking
whether previously fixed faults have re-emerged. The depth of testing depends on the phase in the
release process and the risk of the added features. They can either be complete, for changes added late
in the release or deemed to be risky, or be very shallow, consisting of positive tests on each feature, if
the changes are early in the release or deemed to be of low risk.

Acceptance testing[edit]

Main article: Acceptance testing

Acceptance testing can mean one of two things:

1. A smoke test is used as a build acceptance test prior to further testing, e.g.,
before integration or regression.

2. Acceptance testing performed by the customer, often in their lab environment on their own
hardware, is known as user acceptance testing (UAT). Acceptance testing may be performed as
part of the hand-off process between any two phases of development.[citation needed]

Alpha testing[edit]

Alpha testing is simulated or actual operational testing by potential users/customers or an independent

test team at the developers' site. Alpha testing is often employed for off-the-shelf software as a form of
internal acceptance testing before the software goes to beta testing

Beta testing[edit]

See also: Software release life cycle § Beta

Beta testing comes after alpha testing and can be considered a form of external user acceptance testing.
Versions of the software, known as beta versions, are released to a limited audience outside of the
programming team known as beta testers. The software is released to groups of people so that further
testing can ensure the product has few faults or bugs. Beta versions can be made available to the open
public to increase the feedback field to a maximal number of future users and to deliver value earlier,
for an extended or even indefinite period of time (perpetual beta).[54]

Functional vs non-functional testing[edit]

Functional testing refers to activities that verify a specific action or function of the code. These are
usually found in the code requirements documentation, although some development methodologies
work from use cases or user stories. Functional tests tend to answer the question of "can the user do
this" or "does this particular feature work."

Non-functional testing refers to aspects of the software that may not be related to a specific function or
user action, such as scalability or other performance, behavior under certain constraints, or security.
Testing will determine the breaking point, the point at which extremes of scalability or performance
leads to unstable execution. Non-functional requirements tend to be those that reflect the quality of the
product, particularly in the context of the suitability perspective of its users.

Continuous testing[edit]

Main article: Continuous testing

Continuous testing is the process of executing automated tests as part of the software delivery pipeline
to obtain immediate feedback on the business risks associated with a software release candidate. [55]
[56]
Continuous testing includes the validation of both functional requirements and non-functional
requirements; the scope of testing extends from validating bottom-up requirements or user stories to
assessing the system requirements associated with overarching business goals. [

Software performance testing[edit]

Main article: Software performance testing

Performance testing is generally executed to determine how a system or sub-system performs in terms
of responsiveness and stability under a particular workload. It can also serve to investigate, measure,
validate or verify other quality attributes of the system, such as scalability, reliability and resource usage.

Load testing is primarily concerned with testing that the system can continue to operate under a specific
load, whether that be large quantities of data or a large number of users. This is generally referred to as
software scalability. The related load testing activity of when performed as a non-functional activity is
often referred to as endurance testing. Volume testing is a way to test software functions even when
certain components (for example a file or database) increase radically in size. Stress testing is a way to
test reliability under unexpected or rare workloads. Stability testing (often referred to as load or
endurance testing) checks to see if the software can continuously function well in or above an
acceptable period.

There is little agreement on what the specific goals of performance testing are. The terms load testing,
performance testing, scalability testing, and volume testing, are often used interchangeably.

Real-time software systems have strict timing constraints. To test if timing constraints are met, real-time
testing is used.

Usability testing[edit]
Usability testing is to check if the user interface is easy to use and understand. It is concerned mainly
with the use of the application. This is not a kind of testing that can be automated; actual human users
are needed, being monitored by skilled UI designers.

Accessibility testing[edit]

Accessibility testing is done to ensure that the software is accessible to persons with disabilities. Some of
the common web accessibility tests are

 Ensuring that the color contrast between the font and the background color is appropriate

 Font Size

 Alternate Texts for multimedia content

 Ability to use the system using the computer keyboard in addition to the mouse.

Common Standards for compliance

 Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990

 Section 508 Amendment to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973

 Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)

Security testing[edit]

Security testing is essential for software that processes confidential data to prevent system
intrusion by hackers.

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) defines this as a "type of testing conducted to
evaluate the degree to which a test item, and associated data and information, are protected so that
unauthorised persons or systems cannot use, read or modify them, and authorized persons or systems
are not denied access to them.

MANAGEMENT OF REQUIREMENTS

How does requirements management work?

The purpose of requirements management is to ensure product development goals are successfully met.
It is a set of techniques for documenting, analyzing, prioritizing, and agreeing on requirements so that
engineering teams always have current and approved requirements. Requirements management
provides a way to avoid errors by keeping track of changes in requirements and fostering
communication with stakeholders from the start of a project throughout the engineering lifecycle.

The importance of requirements management

The Internet of Things (IoT) is changing not only the way products work, but their design and
development. Products are continuously becoming more complex with more lines of code and
additional software — some of which allow for even greater connectivity. With requirements
management, you can overcome the complexity and interdependencies that exist in today’s engineering
lifecycles to streamline product development and accelerate deployment.

Issues in requirements management are often cited as major causes of project failures.
Having inadequately defined requirements can result in scope creep, project delays, cost overruns, and
poor product quality that does not meet customer needs and safety requirements.

Having a requirements management plan is critical to the success of a project because it enables
engineering teams to control the scope and direct the product development lifecycle. Requirements
management software provides the tools for you to execute that plan, helping to reduce costs,
accelerate time to market and improve quality control.

Requirement management planning and process

Requirements management plan (RMP)

A requirements management plan (RMP) helps explain how you will receive, analyze, document and
manage all of the requirements within a project. The plan usually covers everything from initial
information gathering of the high-level project to more detailed product requirements that could be
gathered throughout the lifecycle of a project. Key items to define in a requirements management plan
are the project overview, requirements gathering process, roles and responsibilities, tools, and
traceability.

Requirements management process

When looking for requirements management tools, there are a few key features to look for.

A typical requirements management process complements the systems engineering V model through
these steps:

 Collect initial requirements from stakeholders

 Analyze requirements

 Define and record requirements

 Prioritize requirements

 Agree on and approve requirements

 Trace requirements to work items

 Query stakeholders after implementation on needed changes to requirements

 Utilize test management to verify and validate system requirements

  Assess impact of changes

 Revise requirements

 Document changes

By following these steps, engineering teams are able to harness the complexity inherent in developing
smart connected products. Using a requirements management solution helps to streamline the process
so you can optimize your speed to market and expand your opportunities while improving quality.

Requirements attributes
In order to be considered a “good” requirement, a requirement should have certain characteristics,
which include being:

 Specific

 Testable

 Clear and concise

 Accurate

 Understandable

 Feasible and realistic

 Necessary

Sets of requirements should also be evaluated and should be consistent and nonredundant.

Benefits of requirements management

Some of the benefits of requirements management include:

 Lower cost of development across the lifecycle

 Fewer defects

 Minimized risk for safety-critical products

 Faster delivery

 Reusability

 Traceability

 Requirements being tied to test cases

 Global configuration management

Who is responsible for requirements management?

The product manager is typically responsible for curating and defining requirements. However,
requirements can be generated by any stakeholder, including customers, partners, sales, support,
management, engineering, operations and product team members. Constant communication is
necessary to ensure the engineering team understands changing priorities.

Benefits of digital requirements management

Engineering requirements management software enables you to capture, trace, analyze and manage
changes to requirements in a secure, central and accessible location. This strengthens collaboration,
increases transparency and traceability, minimizes rework, and expands usability. A digital solution also
enhances project agility while making it easier to adhere to standards and maintain regulation
compliance.

There are several benefits to using digital requirements management:

 Live collaboration: Work in real time, anywhere. Your team members can share information in
and between documents, wherever they are located.

 Reuse: Use the same requirement in multiple places without having to redefine it. You can
create baselines to identify the state of a requirement in real time to reduce the occurrence of
user errors.

 Traceability: Maintain a full history of changes in requirements so you can respond quickly to
audits. Your team can see what changed, who changed it and when it changed.

Consistency: Organize relevant information logically and easily in a way your team and stakeholders
understand. You can sort requirements by priority, risk, status and category.

Best practices for requirements management

Your products are only as good as the requirements that drive them. For systems engineers to manage
the growing complexity of connected products, they need better visibility into changes, deeper insight
into data and shared tools for global collaboration.

Requirements traceability

Link individual artifacts to test cases for full visibility of changes in engineering requirements as they
happen. Capture all annotations, maintain them and make them easily accessible.

Variant management

Digitally manage the entire version and variant process while monitoring the progression of the system
through a shared dashboard. Store data in a central location and present it in document format.

Engineering compliance
Incorporate industry standards and regulations into your requirements to achieve compliance early on.
Building compliance into the end-to-end engineering lifecycle makes achieving compliance less complex.

Agile management

Streamline engineering processes to enable global collaboration and the reality of a single source of
truth. Build confidence in the teams doing the work by showing them the value of their efforts in real
time.

CONTROL OF DEVELOPMENT

There are 6 practical steps below that every engineering team should follow to take control of their
software quality. If you want to level up in managing your software quality and development efficiency,
check out the bonus section and meet the software intelligence with Oobeya.

1. Track And Visualize Coding Activities

The software development process is a black-box. If you want to see inside the box, you should try
to focus on the development activities of your team, such as code commits, pushes, pull/merge
requests, code review cycles... Visualizing these activities provides actionable insights into your
development processes, helps you to identify bottlenecks, reduce lead time and increase development
efficiency.

2. Analyze Source Code Quality

You can consider code quality as the cornerstone of software quality. Check out the action plan below
to enable continuous inspection on code quality.

 Enable on-the-fly code analysis by using IDE extensions.

 Analyze your code as a part of the CI/CD pipeline.

 Set quality gates and break the builds.

 Track all issues and make them visible.

 Encourage developers to talk about clean code principles, coding standards, etc.

 Plan code quality tasks for each sprint.

Check out the code analysis tools such as SonarQube, CAST, Fortify, etc., try to integrate them into your
CI/CD pipelines…

3. Care About Code Vulnerabilities

You probably have some security-related issues in your codebase, but you don’t care about them until
they have discovered by attackers. Employ a Static Application Security Testing (SAST) tool in order to
analyze your code, detect issues, and own them to solve.
Check out the SAST tools like SonarQube, Checkmarx, WhiteSource and Fortify, try to integrate them on
your CI/CD pipelines…

4. Test What You Code

It’s not possible to know that if your software is working properly without testing it. Consider increasing
your test coverage by enabling various test types such as unit testing, integration testing, API testing, UI
testing, and functional testing…

5. Monitor Application Performance

Application performance monitoring tools help you understand which problems your end
users are facing (customer satisfaction metrics, APDEX score, etc.) and which problems you have in
your application or system (response time, error rate, infrastructure metrics, etc.).

Check out the APM tools such as New Relic, Dynatrace, AppDynamics…

6. Make Your Issues Visible

A software development process always produces issues in all stages of the application life cycle. You
should capture, assign, and track the issues, and also you should make them visible. Keep your issues
under control, don’t let them hide from you.

Manage your issues on the tools such as Jira, Azure DevOps, GitHub, GitLab…

How to Write a Software Requirements Specification (SRS Document)

Clear, concise, and executable requirements help development teams build high quality products that
do what they are supposed to do. The best way to create, organize, and share requirements is a
Software Requirements Specification (SRS). But what is an SRS, and how do you write one?

In this blog, we'll explain what a software requirements specification is and outline how to create an SRS
document, including how to define your product's purpose, describe what you're building, detail the
requirements, and, finally, deliver it for approval. We'll also discuss the benefits of using a
dedicated requirements management tool to create your SRS vs. using Microsoft Word.

You can think of an SRS as a blueprint or roadmap for the software you're going to build. The elements
that comprise an SRS can be simply summarized into four Ds:

 Define your product's purpose.

 Describe what you're building.

 Detail the requirements.

 Deliver it for approval.

We want to DEFINE the purpose of our product, DESCRIBE what we are building, DETAIL the individual
requirements, and DELIVER it for approval. A good SRS document will define everything from how
software will interact when embedded in hardware to the expectations when connected to other
software. An even better SRS document also accounts for the needs of real-life users and human
interaction.

An SRS not only keeps your teams aligned and working toward a common vision of the product, it also
helps ensure that each requirement is met. It can ultimately help you make vital decisions on your
product’s lifecycle, such as when to retire an obsolete feature.

It takes time and careful consideration to create a proper SRS. But the effort it takes to write an SRS is
gained back in the development phase. It helps your team better understand your product, the business
needs it serves, its users, and the time it will take to complete.

Software Requirements Specification vs. System Requirements Specification

What is the difference between a software requirements specification document and

a system requirements specification document?

“Software” and “system” are sometimes used interchangeably as SRS. But, a software requirements
specification provides greater detail than a system requirements specification.

A system requirements specification (abbreviated as SyRS to differentiate from SRS) presents general
information on the requirements of a system, which may include both hardware and software, based on
an analysis of business needs.

A software requirements specification (SRS) details the specific requirements of the software that is to
be developed.

How to Write an SRS Document

Creating a clear and effective SRS document can be difficult and time-consuming. But it is critical to the
efficient development of a high quality product that meets the needs of business users.

Here are five steps you can follow to write an effective SRS document.

1. Define the Purpose With an Outline (Or Use an SRS Template)

Your first step is to create an outline for your software requirements specification. This may be
something you create yourself, or you can use an existing SRS template.

If you’re creating the outline yourself, here’s what it might look like:

1. Introduction

1.1 Purpose
 1.2 Intended Audience

1.3 Intended Use

1.4 Product Scope

1.5 Definitions and Acronyms

2. Overall Description

2.1 User Needs

2.2 Assumptions and Dependencies

3. System Features and Requirements

3.1 Functional Requirements

3.2 External Interface Requirements

3.3 System Features

3.4 Nonfunctional Requirements

This is a basic outline and yours may contain more (or fewer) items. Now that you have an outline, lets
fill in the blanks.

2. Define your Product’s Purpose

This introduction is very important as it sets expectations that we will come back to throughout the SRS.

Some items to keep in mind when defining this purpose include:

Intended Audience and Intended Use

Define who in your organization will have access to the SRS and how they should use it. This may include
developers, testers, and project managers. It could also include stakeholders in other departments,
including leadership teams, sales, and marketing. Defining this now will lead to less work in the future.

Product Scope

What are the benefits, objectives, and goals we intend to have for this product? This should relate to
overall business goals, especially if teams outside of development will have access to the SRS.

Definitions and Acronyms

Clearly define all key terms, acronyms, and abbreviations used in the SRS. This will help eliminate any
ambiguity and ensure that all parties can easily understand the document.
If your project contains a large quantity of industry-specific or ambiguous terminology or acronyms, you
may want to consider including a reference to a project glossary, to be appended to the SRS, in this
section.

3. Describe What You Will Build

Your next step is to give a description of what you’re going to build. Why is this product needed? Who is
it for? Is it a new product? Is it an add-on to a product you’ve already created? Is this going to integrate
with another product?

Understanding and getting your team aligned on the answers to these questions on the front end makes
creating the product much easier and more efficient for everyone involved.

User Needs

Describe who will use the product and how. Understanding the various users of the product and their
needs is a critical part of the SRS writing process.

Who will be using the product? Are they a primary or secondary user? What is their role within their
organization? What need does the product need to fulfill for them?

Do you need to know about the purchaser of the product as well as the end user? For the development
of medical devices and med device software, you may also need to know the needs of the patient.

Assumptions and Dependencies

What are we assuming will be true? Understating and laying out these assumptions ahead of time will
help with headaches later. Are we assuming current technology? Are we basing this on a Windows
framework? We need to take stock of these technical assumptions to better understand where our
product might fail or not operate perfectly.

Finally, you should note if your project is dependent on any external factors. Are we reusing a bit of
software from a previous project? This new project would then depend on that operating correctly and
should be included.

4. Detail Your Specific Requirements

In order for your development team to meet the requirements properly, we must include as much detail
as possible. This can feel overwhelming but becomes easier as you break down your requirements into
categories. Some common categories are functional requirements, interface requirements, system
features, and various types of nonfunctional requirements:

Functional Requirements

Functional requirements are essential to your product because, as the name implies, they provide some
sort of functionality.
Asking yourself questions such as “does this add to my tool’s functionality?” or “what function does this
provide?” can help with this process. Within medical devices especially, these functional requirements
may have a subset of domain-specific requirements.

You may also have requirements that outline how your software will interact with other tools, which
brings us to external interface requirements.

External Interface Requirements

External interface requirements are specific types of functional requirements. These are especially
important when working with embedded systems. They outline how your product will interface with
other components.

There are several types of interfaces you may have requirements for, including:

 User

 Hardware

 Software

 Communications

System Features

System features are a type of functional requirements. These are features that are required in order for
a system to function.

Nonfunctional Requirements

Nonfunctional requirements, which help ensure that a product will work the way users and other
stakeholders expect it to, can be just as important as functional ones.

These may include:

 Performance requirements

 Safety requirements

 Security requirements

 Usability requirements

 Scalability requirements

The importance of each of these types of nonfunctional requirements may vary depending on your
industry. In industries such as medical device, life sciences, and automotive, there are often regulations
that require the tracking and accounting of safety.
5. Deliver for Approval

We made it! After completing the SRS, you’ll need to get it approved by key stakeholders. This will
require everyone to review the latest version of the document.

METHODS OF ESTIMATING THE COST

How Time and Effort Differ

The first questions typically asked by those looking to have software developed is, “How long will it take
and how much will it cost?” But from a pure cost standpoint, that answer is all based on how much
effort is required.

To answer the question of How Much Effort? – we need to make a distinction between effort and time.
Effort is how many hours of work need to go into a project; Time is how long something takes from start
to finish.

For example, 40 hours of effort can be put forth in 8 hours by having 5 engineers divide the work in one
day on a project. Alternately, it could take well over 40 hours to get the same amount of work done if
we weren’t able to dedicate an engineer to the project full time. Or if we ran into external issues, like a
client not granting access to a server and waiting for a week before credentials are approved. In both
cases, the effort is the same (40 hours of engineering time), but the timelines are different.

So, make sure when you get a project quote that it takes into account both effort and time. If you are
told something will take “3 weeks”, is that 3 weeks from start to finish, or 3 weeks of effort? Now that
we have that straight, let’s take a look at how to determine the amount of effort that goes into a
project.

Determining - “How Much Effort?”

The first part of pricing comes down to how much effort is needed to achieve the desired outcome. i.e.
how many engineers and how many of their hours per day will be required to get the job done.

Once we know how much effort a project will take in a perfect world, we then have to consider what
circumstances outside of our control may come into play. These things can include:

 The ability of a client to dedicate staff to work with the project team for requirements analysis,
design checks and user testing

 What does it take to get database or system access, Is this a quick call to a DBA, or is there an
approval process that has to get committee approval?

 How easy is it to get firewall changes

 What needs to be done to get a cloud-based solution approved

 What is the deployment process?

These types of issues can exaggerate the difference between effort and timeline – and the longer the
timeline extends, the more project management effort is needed to keep everything on track.

Now that we are square on the difference between timeline and effort, let’s look at the 3 factors we use
to best gauge our likely effort and thus software cost.

Let’s explore 3 main factors that most affect software development effort/pricing:

1. Type of Software Project

2. Size of Software Project

3. Development Team Size

1. Type of Software Project

From a high level, typical software development engagements tend to break down into the following
types:

New Software Development – new software, involving custom development.

Software Modification – Enhancement of existing software.

Software Integration – Custom code to add capability or integrate existing software into other
processes. This would include plugins to packages like Office as well as manipulating data flowing
between an inventory system like Netsuite with an accounting system like Quickbooks.

Size of Software Project

The next step is to determine the size of a project. Size is a bit of a gut call. There tends to be a tight
correlation between the complexity of a project and its size, but that isn’t always the case. Generally,
project sizes fall into the following categories:

Small

– A small project usually involves minor changes. Typically, things like tweaks to the user interface or
bug fixes that are well defined with a known cause. Interaction with the client is limited, i.e. “Is this what
you want to be done?” followed up by, “Here is what we did..”

Medium

– These engagements are more substantial than a small tweak but likely have a well-defined scope of
deliverables and are often standalone solutions or integrations. Typically, we are dealing with a single
source of data. Projects such as a small mobile application or a web interface to an existing inventory
system would fall into this category. The external requirements for interaction with a client are more
robust than small projects. This might include a few design sessions, weekly check-ins, and milestone
sign-offs.

Large

– These solutions include more depth and complexity. Large projects may require integration with
multiple systems, have a database component, and address security and logging features. An underlying
framework and a module-based design are common, taking into consideration scalability and
maintainability. A multi-party application that works across numerous platforms (iOS, Android, Web)
would fall into this category. The external requirements for interaction with the client are very robust,
i.e Extended design sessions and milestone agreements. Daily calls and interactions with technical team
members followed by weekly status calls with higher-level management are standard.

Enterprise

– This level would be a large project on steroids. Enterprise-level projects are almost exclusively built
upon an underlying framework. They have much more rigorous security, logging, and error handling.
Data integrity and security are paramount to these business-critical applications. Though not exclusive
to this category, support systems are built to be resilient and able to handle 2-3 concurrent faults in the
underlying infrastructure before having a user impact. A mobile app like Uber would be an example.

The external requirements for interaction with the client involve fully-integrated client and IT teams.
Time requirements include extended design sessions and milestone agreements across multiple teams;
daily calls and interactions with technical team members across multiple groups/disciplines; weekly
status calls with higher level-management; quarterly all-hands meetings.

3. Development Team Size (per Project)

Once the project is defined in terms of type and size, the next factor to be determined is the team size.
Every project requires at least 3 roles – a Project Manager, a Developer, and a QA Tester. However, that
does not mean that every role equates to one team resource. Some resources can fulfill more than one
role.

For example, In a small project, a Developer may also fill the role of Tester. In a small/medium project,
the Project Manager may also fulfill the role of Business Analyst, and so forth. For larger, complex
projects – team resources usually fulfill only one role to effectively move the project forward.

The Final Step to HOW MUCH?

Straightforward Estimate

The most straightforward way to estimate project cost would be: Project Resource Cost x Project time =
Project cost
Unfortunately, it is not that easy. As mentioned earlier, some resources may play more than 1 role on a
project. Most resources do not work full-time on a project – for example, once anyone in a design role is
done (Architect or UI/UX), there is no need for that resource to remain on the project 8 hours a day.
They may be needed to confirm coding is meeting design requirements, or be available to tweak the
design, but full-time is no longer necessary.

So you may be asking yourself, “Why would I pay for a full-time project team when the entire team is
not working full-time?” There are a couple of answers to this question.

 You don’t pay for a full-time project team as the costs of the team are averaged based on the
amount of work each resource completes per project. For example, the effort of a tester is
usually expected to be a percentage of the entire project. The cost of a tester is based on this
percentage.

 If your project requires a team, you are paying for a mix of skill sets. That means you have access
to premium skill sets at a lower cost because you are only paying for a percentage of that
person’s time.

 Scheduling and maintaining a dedicated project team is instrumental in completing the project
most efficiently. There is nothing more detrimental to a project than continually stopping and
starting- it can be hard to regain the momentum to get the project back on track.

A project team should work like a well-rehearsed production. Done well, necessary resources come on
and off the project with no noticeable lapses in productivity.

Rough Estimate

To obtain rough cost estimates for a team, let’s utilize the following numbers:
These numbers do not reflect actual pricing of SphereGen software development but rather, they are
what we use to provide a ball park to work from.

 ~$1,000/day – for a developer*

 ~$10,000/week for a team*

*many factors affect the pricing of a technical resource and team – experience, role, size, location –
these prices represent rough costing for quick estimation

Now applying the cost of a team with the project time estimates from the chart above, we can finally
come to a project cost. Using these numbers as a guideline, and assuming a certain benefit from scale
(meaning larger projects results in better costing/week), we come up with the following pricing chart
based upon our time/complexity grid:

Sample Projects & Costs

The point to remember with this exercise is that the numbers are an ESTIMATE to get an idea of how
much a project will cost and how long it will take. If the estimated cost is reasonable to everyone, then a
more detailed quote can be generated, followed by a full project plan outlining the actual costs and
milestones. Unless unknowns are discovered, detailed project costs tend to be within 10-20% of the cost
using this method.

To put this all into context we put together the following list of representative projects:

Bug Fix – known issue

Resolution of a known issue in existing software that we are maintaining. This assumes that the cause of
the issue is known, and the issue affects a minimal number of objects.

What Is Cost Estimation in Software Project Management?

Within the project management frames, cost estimation refers to calculating the overall costs linked to
completing a project within the scope and as specified by its time frame. An inclusive software cost
estimation typically entails both the direct and indirect costs connected with making a project come to
completion. This will likely include overhead costs, labor costs, vendor fees, etc.

3 Key Cost Estimation Models in Software Development

Software cost estimating simply means a technique applied to figure out the cost evaluation. The cost
estimate is the software service provider’s approximation of what the software development and testing
are likely to cost. Cost software development estimation models, in their turn, are some mathematical
valuations or measure calculations that are used to find out software development costs.

The most popular software cost estimation models include:

Empirical Estimation Technique

Simply put, this technique is based on the data taken from the previous projects and some information
based on educated guesswork and assumptions. The evidence-based formulas are applied to making a
prediction that is a crucial component of the software project planning step.

This technique also requires prior experience in developing a similar solution. Whereas empirical
estimation techniques lean heavily on acumen, various activities linked to estimation have been
validated over the years. The most popular techniques in this field are the Expert judgment technique
and Delphi cost estimation.

Analytical Estimation Technique

Analytical estimation is a work measuring technique. First, a task is divided into simple component
operations or elements. If standard times can be transferred from another source, these are applied to
elements. Where such times are inaccessible, they are evaluated according to the experience of the
work.

The estimation is performed by a proficient and well-versed specialist who has had hands-on experience
in the estimating process. He or she then simply calculates the total of working hours that a fully
competent worker will need, delivering at a specified level of performance.

Example of Software Development Cost Estimation

We at Devox Software most often receive inquiries to create design and development solutions. Every
single case is unique with a whole range of factors impacting the average cost of software development.
Usually, we follow the procedure stated below:

Step 1. When a client reaches out to us to get a software development quotation, we collect the data
necessary for further analysis. After that, the assigned specialists liaise with the client to identify the
project requirements and find out whether the design is already provided.

Step 2. If the product design needs to be developed, we settle the design requirements prior to the cost
estimation. At this point, our Account Manager, Design Team Lead, and the assigned designer usually set
up a call with a client to get a clear idea of his or her expectations.

After that, our dedicated development team compiles a brief that is later used for the cost estimate
which should be approved by the client. Once all technicalities are attended to, the team goes on with
designing the solution and making changes if necessary. At the end of this stage, the client gets
a complete product design for approval.

Step 3. When the design is all set, our team proceeds with software cost estimation. There are two types
of cost estimates – the one performed by full-stack developers and the two separate estimations made
by both front-end developers and back-end developers. When the software cost estimation template is
ready, we check it in with the client and move on to the development.

QA and PM risk analysis can also be performed based on the software costing estimation. The analysis
uses a percentage of the overall development working hours. For example, QA risks account for 30% of
total development time, whereas PM risks and risk buffer equal 15-25% and 10%+ respectively. Risk
categories vary and may include risks connected with staff like sick leaves, bug risks, and any other perils
that don’t fit in the general cost estimation.