Section 8 – Technical Design DocumentIn previous weeks you have identified and documented the system components and requirements. The system was also developed and designed based on the information that was gathered from the clients.This week you will continue to put all the pieces together. You will leverage the information you have discussion in this week’s group discussion to develop the Technical Design document. Some things to consider when developing your document are:
How the system and your specific component will be built
What each aspect of the system will achieve
Who will use the system
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Colorado Technical University
IT Capstone (IT487-1901B-01)
Group Project
Terry Davidson
Antonio Larkin
Anthony Gaston
3/05/2019
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Table of Contents
Overview of Company and Client Business Case ………………………………………………………….. 3
Client Case Overview……………………………………………………………………………………………………..4
Application Requirement Elicitation Strategy ……………………………………………………………… 6
Stakeholder/ Target Audience …………………………………………………………………………………………6
Questions and Concerns …………………………………………………………………………………………………7
Implementation of Elicitation Strategy ……………………………………………………………………………..7
System Components and Design Requirements ……………………………………………………………. 9
Components ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….9
Design ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….9
Specific Requirements …………………………………………………………………………………………………. 10
Methodology for Application Development Process …………………………………………………….. 12
Lean Development Method/ Agile ………………………………………………………………………………….. 12
Lean Thinking/ Development Method…………………………………………………………………………….. 13
Complete Features and Trade-off Analysis ……………………………………………………………….. 15
Milestones and Deliverables based on Data and Dependencies ……………………………………… 17
System Architecture Aligned with System Requirements ……………………………………………… 26
Stakeholder Requirements ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 26
Application Dependencies …………………………………………………………………………………………….. 26
Cost ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 27
Quality ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 27
Features …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 28
Technical Design Document (TBD) …………………………………………………………………………. 33
Design Review Checklist (TBD) ………………………………………………………………………………. 34
Testing and Deployment (TBD) ………………………………………………………………………………. 35
References ………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 36
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Overview of Company and Client Business Case
The company name is Unidine Developers and it deals with computer programmes,
website and application development. The company is focused to ensure that the services offered
are up to standards and satisfy the clients’ needs as well as their expectations. Its ambition is to
provide good and quality services to its clients so as to satisfy their technological needs based on
computer software (Abrahamsson et al., 2017). The company’s experts will work on the
development of the Student Information System for a university which was established two years
ago. The university has been using an out-dated system which they need to discard and get
another updated one with all the functionalities of a modern application. Therefore, with the
need of new Student Information System for the university, our company offers the best service
in the area they need and with passion and creativity our company expertise will inspire and meet
the university’s expectations.
In order to ensure that the business is successful, the expertise matches the requirements
of the Student Information System to be offered to the university in such a way that, all
personnel are well trained and have skills required to ensure perfect and unique computer
programming and development of applications and websites. For instance, the company team has
a division of labor which is done according to individual’s expertise whereby, the individual who
specializes more on the website development are well trained and have the skills necessary for
that. Also, the one who develops computer systems possesses all knowledge in developing the
best computer systems which are secure especially for clients’ data. Also, customer follow-up is
also part of the team get the feedback of the clients who received services and if they need more
updates or and improvement. The customer care personnel are always available to listen and
respond to the clients’ needs.
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Client Case Overview
In this paper, the group chose the Student Information System for the small university
as the business case because it matches well with the expertise offered by the selected company.
As the years go by, new students who are enrolled in the institution will be introduced into the
system that belongs to the university administration and therefore a well-developed Student
Information System is required to manage all this information that the University obtains from
the students. Secondly, the Student Information System is a simple system which is accessible
with computers as well as phones (Charles Jr, et al., 2017). Access by every student from the
university at any time using their mobile phones at different locations as long as they have the
necessities needed to access it. The system developed will have long term utilization with
technological updates to be implemented as available. The system must have 24/7 accessibility
by all, as updates are always being processed and real-time information must be delivered. This
will be a long-term business relationship.
The company expertise is favourable and equipped to meet the client’s needs due to the
best qualification as well as their passion in the area of specialization. Also, the experts are able
to develop a system which is capable of supporting many users at the same time. The system
functionality will always remain efficient and effective. If connected to a network of high speed
the system will offer the best results to the university staff and the student hence good
communication and organization’s activities are run smoothly. Therefore, the company expertise
is well advanced and offers the best the services especially on the university’s demands.
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Client Application Solution
With the Student Information System, the university management will keep in touch
with the students easily as well as giving updates in terms of academics. The university system
will enhance access to university information for all stakeholders as well as the students. The
system will solve the problem of system breakdown and have the updates and modern one. With
the high skills of the expertise, the systems will hence the best and university system and lessen
congestion in the so offices as well as information delay.
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Application Requirement Elicitation Strategy
Strategies to elicit application requirements are plentiful in todays’ business environment.
With that said, businesses have more than one way to accomplish specific tasks based on the
intricacies of a particular project. Elicitation (root – elicit) means “to draw or bring out or forth;
educe; evoke”. (dictionary.com). We want to gather as much information/ data as possible
before designing the application. Unidine will use different strategies such as focus groups,
surveys/ questionnaires, interviews, brainstorming, and analysis through documentation. Once
we have a baseline on what is needed, we will then create a prototype and release it to a
controlled group for observation. This will give us the data we need to move forward with our
project or improve what we have and re-introduce it into another controlled environment for
further analysis. There are many other methods of eliciting application requirements, but we
believe the methods we selected will best suit this company for the time being.
Stakeholder/ Target Audience
Our target audience will be the university’s faculty members, information technology
division, and the students who attend the universities. Our focus is to ensure everyone is on the
same page and our software application suits the needs of everyone. The stakeholders must be
convinced that our product will not only improve work productivity, but it will also ease the
process of manipulation certain tasks without jeopardizing privacy and security of data. In
todays’ fast paced business world, stakeholders want “the most bang for their buck” and they
want it yesterday. Transmitting and receiving data in a timely manner is the key.
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Questions and Concerns
Most questions will be geared towards the following:
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Scalability – The capacity to be changed in size or scale
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Maintenance and Support – Services that include preventive and remedial
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Functionality – The applications ability to operate productively in a given environment
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Security – Protection external and internal threats/ need to know measures will be
established
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Upgrades/ patches – Replace the current version of application/ improve the current
version of application
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Cost – The funds it will take to implement and sustain this product
Unidine will work closely with the university to ensure our application meets their request.
We will also address any other concerns that may arise during out meetings. Communication
is the key to success in any business.
Implementation of Elicitation Strategy
Unidine’s implementation process will be conducted in a gradual matter. As stated in the
overview, the university has been working with an outdated system and Unidine is here to rectify
that problem. Our goal is to make this process seamless. We will analyze the information
gathered from previous meetings, surveys, and questionnaires and create an application that will
serve those requests. The application will be issued to faculty and the IT department first on an
internal network. This will be a prototype version. After the issues have been addressed while
working with the prototype version, we will then move the application over to the student side of
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the house. This version will be parallel with the outdated version to give the user’s a chance to
revert to the old version if they have issues working with the newer version.
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System Components and Design Requirements
System components and design requirements must be established and identified before a
product is developed. We here at Unidine will take the information gathered from elicitation and
decide what is best for our project. Our development team will be involved in this process to
ensure that it is achievable. Our end goal is to create an application that will improve the way
the universities does daily business.
Components
The components needed to achieve this feat are as follows:
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Web Application Server – Server dedicated to manipulating and managing applications.
This includes Mac OS X Server and Microsoft web applications.
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Operating System (for the end-users) – Windows OS (7 and above versions), Apple OS,
iPhone OS (7 and above), Android OS (7 and above), and Apple and Android tablets (July
2016 to current).
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Enterprise Software – This will address the need for everyone to have the same software
and applications.
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Educational Software – This software will provide content that is intended for the students.
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Media Development software – This software is intended to address individuals needs to
generate and print out electronic documents and media.
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Information Worker Software – This software will provide individuals the tools to manage
and create information for others who are in different departments.
Design
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Unidine will be using the university’s existing network architecture to transmit and
received data/ information. Our main focus is to update the current system with up-to-date
functions and options which will improve work flow. This is done by consolidating information,
creating a one stop shop for contacts, categorizing learning material, providing links that may
assist in learning development, video and audio applications, and creating a user-friendly
platform. The university’s vision is to ease the learning process.
Specific Requirements
The stakeholders want to know is their concerns are being address. Some of their concerns
are:
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How much will this project cost?
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What is the time frame completion?
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What type of support can be expected?
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What other companies, organizations or businesses are involved?
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Who are the points of contact?
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Who will be conducting training?
These are questions that will be addressed during the initial meetings. Some questions will be
answered after data has been collected and analyzed. Only then will we be able to address
specific concerns about the project.
The meetings will provide the following:
1. A clear understanding of what is being requested
2. The services Unidine will provide
3. A detailed description of what the application is and what the application will provide
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4. The overall intent of the applications functionality
5. Standards that need to be adhered to
6. Implementation of the application
The meetings will be between the stakeholders, faculty, students, and the developers.
Feedback from the different individuals and departments will enable us to create a product that
everyone is happy with.
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Methodology for Application Development Process
There are many different applications in the world today. There are applications for
cooking, cleaning, weather, dancing, etc. and there is a designing method that will work for each
one. Rapid Application Development (RAD), Waterfall, Agile, Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA),
and the list goes on. The problem that businesses run into is deciding which method will work
for their specific product. Most businesses will use a combination of methods to create their
product because using one will not satisfy their needs. Unidine has decided to use the Lean
Thinking/ Development method along with the Agile method which will provide a stable and
flexible system to accomplish our goals.
Lean Development Method/ Agile
The Lean Development (LD) method focuses on increasing profits, producing a better
product and eliminating waste. Lean allows developers to revisit previous stages of the software
development cycle to improve/ tweak the product if needed. Agile uses some of the Lean
Development concept of not only improving the product but find ways of improving the process
tied to producing the product. Bruce Eckfeldt, the founder of Cyrus Innovation, describes Agile
of being self-adaptive. He goes on to say, “it teaches software teams how to deliver value to
customers and how to improve themselves using techniques like Kaizen, allowing them to deal
with unique and changing constraints and environmental factors.” (Forbes.com) With that in
mind, it will be hard to tell one from another.
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Lean Thinking/ Development Method
There are five steps identified within the Lean process and they are:
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Value – Determining what value the customer assigns to products and services.
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Value stream – The product’s life cycle from beginning to end.
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Establish flow – A process with no interruptions. Interruptions can be considered as
waste.
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Implement pull – Making sure everything has a purpose and nothing is created ahead of
time.
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Pursue perfection – Continuous improvements on the product.
The steps are very simple and easy to follow. It encourages workers to think outside of the
box and find better ways to tackle an issue.
The Agile method, like the Lean method, promotes and encourages adaptation and constant
improvements. Agile is described as “a lightweight software engineering framework that
promotes iterative development throughout the life-cycle of the project, close collaboration
between the development team and business side.” Upper management, along with supervisors
and others in leadership roles encourages accountability, self-supervision/ organization, and
teamwork. (Techopedia.com)
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Agile Method
The twelve principles of agile development:
1. Customer Satisfaction – Customers are happier when they can receive working software
in a timely manner.
2. Changing Requirements – Avoiding delays.
3. Frequent Delivery – Teams operate in sprints to get working software delivered.
4. Stakeholders and Developers Collaboration – Better decisions are made when everyone
is on the same page.
5. Motivate, Support, and Trust – The best work is done when everyone is motivated.
6. Communication – Face to face is the best way to do business.
7. Measure of Progress – Working software delivered in a timely manner is a measure of
success and progress.
8. Development Pace – Software teams defined what pace is appropriate to deliver working
software and then that pace is repeated throughout the process.
9. Attention to Detail – The right personnel for the right job will ensure the pace is
continuous and product efficiency is maintained.
10. Simplicity – Do not go overboard. Develop what is needed at the time it is needed.
11. Self-organizing Teams – Encourage teams to make decisions on their own and that will
motivate them more to produce a good product.
12. Reflect – Revisit some previous steps and methods to see if they can be done more
efficiently.
The purpose of agile is to connect business needs with development.
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Complete Features and Trade-off Analysis
Features and Trade-off Analysis
During updating the computer software, the creative team for Unidine Developers might
create many documents. Based on the system requirements and needs for Unidine developers, the
list of deliverables will include casual designer sketches, the software product, document outlining
the plan, and the website wireframe. The wireframe is as a result of the objective-focused work
with the designer casual sketches which are not critical for the objectives of the project neither a
result of work that is deliberately done. The document outlining the plan to create the software for
the university is another deliverable that will be used by the company. This document is essential
in providing a systematic way of creating the software.
Trade-off analysis
For the success of this project, the corporate resources of the company will be controlled
with the constraints of performance, time, and cost. The trade-off for this project is based on the
constraints of the project. In this project, the decision to sacrifice the cost of the project to build on
the performance and time for the completion of the project is the most effective one. However,
sacrificing the cost of the project will affect the performance and time of the project although in a
minimal manner. The steps for the trade-off of the project will help keep the project on budget and
reduce the overall development costs. The trade-off analysis for the project will involve the
following steps (Abrahamsson, 2017):
Step 1: recognizing and understanding the project conflict basis. In this …
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