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Prototyping model

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6 views

Prototyping model

Uploaded by

lamanirjal89
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Prototyping model

Prototyping is defined as the process of developing a working replication of a


product or system that has to be engineered. It offers a small scale
facsimile(replica/Prototype) of the end product and is used for obtaining
customer feedback as described below:

The Prototyping Model is one of the most popularly used Software Development
Life Cycle Models (SDLC models).This model is used when the customers do
not know the exact project requirements beforehand. In this model, a prototype
of the end product is first developed, tested and refined as per customer
feedback repeatedly till a final acceptable prototype is achieved which forms the
basis for developing the final product.
In this process model, the system is partially implemented before or during the
analysis phase thereby giving the customers an opportunity to see the product
early in the life cycle. The process starts by interviewing the customers and
developing the incomplete high-level paper model. This document is used to
build the initial prototype supporting only the basic functionality as desired by
the customer. Once the customer figures out the problems, the prototype is
further refined to eliminate them. The process continues until the user approves
the prototype and finds the working model to be satisfactory.

There are four types of model available:

A) Rapid Throwaway Prototyping –


This technique offers a useful method of exploring ideas and getting customer
feedback for each of them. In this method, a developed prototype need not
necessarily be a part of the ultimately accepted prototype. Customer feedback
helps in preventing unnecessary design faults and hence, the final prototype
developed is of better quality.

B) Evolutionary Prototyping –
In this method, the prototype developed initially is incrementally refined on the
basis of customer feedback till it finally gets accepted. In comparison to Rapid
Throwaway Prototyping, it offers a better approach which saves time as well as
effort. This is because developing a prototype from scratch for every iteration of
the process can sometimes be very frustrating for the developers.

C) Incremental Prototyping – In this type of incremental Prototyping, the final


expected product is broken into different small pieces of
prototypes(modulewise) and being developed individually. In the end, when all
individual pieces are properly developed, then the different prototypes are
collectively merged into a single final product in their predefined order. It’s a
very efficient approach which reduces the complexity of the development
process, where the goal is divided into sub-parts and each sub-part is
developed individually. The time interval between the project begin and final
delivery is substantially reduced because all parts of the system are prototyped
and tested simultaneously. Of course, there might be the possibility that the
pieces just not fit together due to some lack ness in the development phase –
this can only be fixed by careful and complete plotting(designing the
architecture) of the entire system before prototyping starts.
D) Extreme Prototyping

Extreme prototyping is used in the web development domain. It consists of three


sequential phases. First, a basic prototype with all the existing pages is
presented in the HTML format. Then the data processing is simulated using a
prototype services layer. Finally, the services are implemented and integrated to
the final prototype. This process is called Extreme Prototyping used to draw
attention to the second phase of the process, where a fully functional UI is
developed with very little regard to the actual services.

Advantages –

• The customers get to see the partial product early in the life cycle. This
ensures a greater level of customer satisfaction and comfort.
• New requirements can be easily accommodated as there is scope for
refinement.
• Missing functionalities can be easily figured out.
• Errors can be detected much earlier thereby saving a lot of effort and cost,
besides enhancing the quality of the software.
• The developed prototype can be reused by the developer for more
complicated projects in the future.

• Flexibility in design.

Disadvantages –

• Costly w.r.t time as well as money.


• There may be too much variation in requirements each time the prototype is
evaluated by the customer.
• Poor Documentation due to continuously changing customer requirements.
• It is very difficult for developers to accommodate all the changes demanded
by the customer.
• There is uncertainty in determining the number of iterations that would be
required before the prototype is finally accepted by the customer.
• After seeing an early prototype, the customers sometimes demand the
actual product to be delivered soon.
• Developers in a hurry to build prototypes may end up with sub-optimal
solutions.
• The customer might lose interest in the product if he/she is not satisfied with
the initial prototype.

Use –
The Prototyping Model should be used when the requirements of the product
are not clearly understood or are unstable. It can also be used if requirements
are changing quickly. This model can be successfully used for developing user
interfaces, high technology software-intensive systems, and systems with
complex algorithms and interfaces. It is also a very good choice to demonstrate
the technical feasibility of the product.

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