Software Development

for Business Applications

in a Nutshellby

Tugrul EsendalDe Montfort University

for 2nd and final year project students

Are you starting a software development project, where the end-product is a business application?

Then, you may find the following useful …

GETTING STARTED

Problem DomainDescribe what the product is going to do, and the business environment in which it going to run, in your own words, using non-technical terms

A picture is worth how many words?A rich picture is a good tool to use for this purpose.

The final version of your rich picture should give you a firm basis on which to carry out problem analysis

GETTING STARTED

TasksIdentify the tasks you need to carry out to develop the productFor software development projects, the tasks are activities like: Problem Analysis (using the rich picture)

Identification of actors Functionality requirements

Design Implementation Documentation Product demonstration

GETTING STARTED

DeadlinesIdentify all deadlines (interim and/or final) you need to meet

MAKE A PLAN

Draw a Gannt Chart of tasks to perform against time, highlighting all deadlines. Use “weeks” as unit of time.

Do a risk analysisThreat to successful completion

Measures against threat

Poor time management ?

Unfamiliar technology ?

Unexpected loss of code/data/doc

?

What else do you this is a treat?

?

COMPETITOR ANALYSIS

Competitor

Strengths Weaknesses

Comments

It is important to know what competitors your product will have

How would you use these findings in your own design?

ANALYSIS

Identify your actors For each actor, compile a list of their

functionality requirements; use verbs & keywords

For each functionality requirement, compile a list of its data requirements (specifying the name and data type of each data item, like in a data dictionary. You could also identify each data item as being either input or output)

DATABASE DESIGN

Identify and name the tables you need Identify and name the fields in each

table Finalize the data type of each data item Establish the relationships between

tables

Determine what test data you need in the database, to test and demonstrate the product

DATABASE CREATION

Create the database you have designed in your chosen environment, which is SQL-Server, unless specified otherwise

Place in each table the test data you need

PROTOTYPE DESIGN & IMPLEMENTATION Create the web forms you need to

process the data in the chosen environment, which is .NET, unless specified otherwise

Establish the navigational requirements

IMPLEMENTATION

Write the code to bring the prototype to life

Test the product Document the product

And that’s all there is to it