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Unit II
[Software Process and SDLC Models]

1.Software Process: Process and project

Process :
A process is the sequence of steps executed to achieve a goal. A process is defined by
cycles. Similar to a project, a process also has a beginning, middle, and end; however,
this cycle repeats itself over an average period of time.

Project :

A project is defined by a fixed time, scope, and resources. When implementing a

project, the goal is to execute change, usually drastic, and to incorporate that change
into the day-to-day processes of the company.

Both projects and process are important for running and improving a business.

However, depending on the end result trying to be achieved, one may be more suited

than the other.

2.Component software process:

The processes that deal with the technical and management issues of software
development are collectively called the software process.

As a software project will have to engineer a solution and properly manage the
project, there are clearly two major components in a software process a
development process and a project management process.

The development process specifies all the engineering activities that need to be
performed, whereas the management process specifies how to plan and control these
activities so that cost, schedule, quality, and other objectives are met. Effective
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development and project management processes are the key to achieving the
objectives of delivering the desired software satisfying the user needs, while ensuring
high productivity and quality.

As development processes generally do not focus on evolution and changes, to handle

them another process called software configuration control process is often used. The
objective of this component process is to primarily deal with managing change, so
that the integrity of the products is not violated despite changes.

product engineering processes, their main objective is to produce the desired product.

The basic objective of the process management process is to improve the software
process. By improvement, we mean that the capability of the process to produce
quality goods at low cost is improved. For this, the current software process is
studied, frequently by studying the projects that have been done using the
process. The whole process of understanding the current process, analyzing its
properties, determining how to improve, and then affecting the improvement is dealt
with by the process management process.

The relationship between these major component processes is shown in Figure 2.2.
These component processes are distinct not only in the type of activities performed in
them, but typically also in the people who perform the activities specified by the
process. In a typical project, development activities are performed by programmers,
designers, testers, etc.; the project management process activities are performed by the
project management; configuration control process activities are performed by a
group generally called the configuration controller; and the process management
process activities are performed by the software engineering process group (SEPG).

Figure 2.2: Software processes.

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3.Software development process models :

What is SDLC?
SDLC is a process followed for a software project, within a software organization. It
consists of a detailed plan describing how to develop, maintain, replace and alter or enhance
specific software. The life cycle defines a methodology for improving the quality of
software and the overall development process.

The following figure is a graphical representation of the various stages of a typical SDLC.

At

Stage 1: Planning and Requirement Analysis

Requirement analysis is the most important and fundamental stage in SDLC. It is performed
by the senior members of the team with inputs from the customer, the sales department,
market surveys and domain experts in the industry. This information is then used to plan the
basic project approach and to conduct product feasibility study in the economical,
operational and technical areas.
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Planning for the quality assurance requirements and identification of the risks associated
with the project is also done in the planning stage. The outcome of the technical feasibility
study is to define the various technical approaches that can be followed to implement the
project successfully with minimum risks.

Stage 2: Defining Requirements

Once the requirement analysis is done the next step is to clearly define and document the
product requirements and get them approved from the customer or the market analysts. This
is done through an SRS (Software Requirement Specification) document which consists
of all the product requirements to be designed and developed during the project life cycle.

Stage 3: Designing the Product Architecture

SRS is the reference for product architects to come out with the best architecture for the
product to be developed. Based on the requirements specified in SRS, usually more than one
design approach for the product architecture is proposed and documented in a DDS - Design
Document Specification.

This DDS is reviewed by all the important stakeholders and based on various parameters as
risk assessment, product robustness, design modularity, budget and time constraints, the best
design approach is selected for the product.

A design approach clearly defines all the architectural modules of the product along with its
communication and data flow representation with the external and third party modules (if
any). The internal design of all the modules of the proposed architecture should be clearly
defined with the minutest of the details in DDS.

Stage 4: Building or Developing the Product

In this stage of SDLC the actual development starts and the product is built. The
programming code is generated as per DDS during this stage. If the design is performed in a
detailed and organized manner, code generation can be accomplished without much hassle.

Developers must follow the coding guidelines defined by their organization and
programming tools like compilers, interpreters, debuggers, etc. are used to generate the
code. Different high level programming languages such as C, C++, Pascal, Java and PHP are
used for coding. The programming language is chosen with respect to the type of software
being developed.
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Stage 5: Testing the Product

This stage is usually a subset of all the stages as in the modern SDLC models, the testing
activities are mostly involved in all the stages of SDLC. However, this stage refers to the
testing only stage of the product where product defects are reported, tracked, fixed and
retested, until the product reaches the quality standards defined in the SRS.

Stage 6: Deployment in the Market and Maintenance

Once the product is tested and ready to be deployed it is released formally in the appropriate
market. Sometimes product deployment happens in stages as per the business strategy of
that organization. The product may first be released in a limited segment and tested in the
real business environment (UAT- User acceptance testing).

Then based on the feedback, the product may be released as it is or with suggested
enhancements in the targeting market segment. After the product is released in the market,
its maintenance is done for the existing customer base.

4.SDLC Models

There are various software development life cycle models defined and designed which are
followed during the software development process. These models are also referred as
Software Development Process Models". Each process model follows a Series of steps
unique to its type to ensure success in the process of software development.

Following are the most important and popular SDLC models followed in the industry:

1. Waterfall Model
2. Prototyping
3. Iterative Model
4. Relational unified process
5. Time boxing model
6. Extreme programming
7. Agile process
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1.Waterfall Model:
Waterfall model is an example of a Sequential model. In this model, the software
development activity is divided into different phases and each phase consists of
series of tasks and has different objectives.
It is divided into phases and output of one phase becomes the input of the next phase.
It is mandatory for a phase to be completed before the next phase starts. In short,
there is no overlapping in Waterfall model.

In waterfall, development of one phase starts only when the previous phase is
complete. Because of this nature, each phase of waterfall model is quite precise well

named as waterfall model.

Pictorial representation of waterfall model:

Pros and Cons of waterfall model:

Advantages of using Waterfall model :

Simple and easy to understand and use.

For smaller projects, waterfall model works well and yield the appropriate results.
Since the phases are rigid and precise, one phase is done one at a time, it is easy to
maintain.
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The entry and exit criteria are well defined, so it easy and systematic to proceed with
quality.
Results are well documented.

Disadvantages of using Waterfall model:

Cannot adopt the changes in requirements

It becomes very difficult to move back to the phase. For example, if the application
has now moved to the testing stage and there is a change in requirement, It becomes
difficult to go back and change it.
Delivery of the final product is late as there is no prototype which is demonstrated
intermediately.
For bigger and complex projects, this model is not good as a risk factor is higher.
Not suitable for the projects where requirements are changed frequently.
Does not work for long and ongoing projects.
Since the testing is done at a later stage, it does not allow identifying the challenges
and risks in the earlier phase so the risk mitigation strategy is difficult to prepare.

Conclusion:
In the waterfall model, it is very important to take the sign off of the deliverables of each
phase. As of today most of the projects are moving with Agile and Prototype models,
Waterfall model still holds good for smaller projects. If requirements are straightforward and
testable, Waterfall model will yield the best results.

2.Prototyping :

The basic idea in Prototype model is that instead of freezing the requirements before
a design or coding can proceed, a throwaway prototype is built to understand the
requirements.
This prototype is developed based on the currently known requirements. Prototype
model is a software development model. By using this prototype, the client can get
the system, since the interactions with prototype can enable the
client to better understand the requirements of the desired system.
Prototyping is an attractive idea for complicated and large systems for which there is
no manual process or existing system to help determining the requirements.
The prototype are usually not complete systems and many of the details are not built
in the prototype. The goal is to provide a system with overall functionality.