JAD Techniques and Message Processing Quiz

Software Development, Systems Analysis Design

• A computer application (app) is a software program that performs a specific set of functions on a computing device.
• An app typically has a modest scope, focusing on a single task.
• An information system is a set of interconnected components that collect, process, store, and provide information to support business tasks.
• Information systems are broader in scope than applications, encompassing databases and related manual processes.

Systems Analysis and Design

• Systems analysis and design are crucial components of the systems development lifecycle (SDLC).
• Systems analysis involves understanding the problem from the user's perspective.
• Systems design involves describing the solution to the problem from the user's perspective.

System Development Lifecycle (SDLC)

• The SDLC is the complete process for building, launching, and maintaining an information system.
• It encompasses six main activities: identifying the problem/need, planning and monitoring the project, discovering and understanding the details, designing the system components, building, testing, and integrating components, and completing system tests and deploying the solution.
• Characteristics of a project include implementation, risks, purpose, scope, timescales, and financials.

Software Models

• Software models are prototypes of software applications that show the functionality but may not fully depict the original software's logic.
• Agile and iterative development are common methodologies.

Agile Development

• Agile development emphasizes flexibility to accommodate changing requirements during development.

Iterative Development

• Iterative development builds systems incrementally through repeated cycles of iterations to refine and add features.

Agile/Iterative Development

• Iterative development using sprints (increments of 2 weeks to 2 months) efficiently delivers systems, concentrating on quick delivery and accommodating emerging requirements.
  • Scrum is a framework that helps teams work together to execute development efforts efficiently.
  • Extreme Programming (XP) promotes the incremental development process using short development cycles to improve productivity and address new customer requirements.
  • Feature-Driven Development (FDD) concentrates on delivering software features that satisfy specific client needs.
  • Kanban is an agile management methodology focused on continuous improvement.

Information Systems Development Process/Methodology

• A set of comprehensive guidelines helps carry out the SDLC's activities, creating a structured process.
• Frameworks such as Waterfall, Spiral, Agile, Iterative, Scrum, XP, and FDD are used.

Visual Project Management

• The Kanban board visualizes project workflows using cards that move through different stages.

Core SDLC Process 3: Discover and Understand Details

• Do preliminary fact-finding to understand the need and requirements
• Develop a list of use cases and a use case diagram, and develop a preliminary list of classes and a class diagram

Core Process 2: Plan the Project

• Determine all major components required in the solution
• Define the iterations and assign the functions to each iteration, plan one iteration, determine the team members and their responsibilities, and create a work breakdown structure

Core Process 1: Discover and Understand

• Meeting with the department manager and purchasing agents to determine use cases and define info needs
• Design the input, output, and reporting screens
• Design of the database and overall architecture
• Detailed program design and build phase

Models and Modeling

• A model is a representation of aspects of a system.
• Textual models (descriptions), graphical models (diagrams), and mathematical models (formulas) are used.
• The Unified Modeling Language (UML) provides a standard for graphical modeling for information systems.

Use Cases

• Use cases describe the ways users interact with a system to achieve a goal.
• Describing the type of user, specific goal or action, and the expected outcome or benefit helps define use cases.
• Use cases are helpful for both small and complex applications, and help document internal processes and steps.
  • Steps (identify potential users, classify users by role and organizational level, produce a list of user goals) help define a list of use cases.
• Events, including external, temporary, and state events help describe use cases more completely
• Use case diagrams and use case descriptions are important tools for modeling use cases for better communication within a group.
• Templates use keywords like <<Given…When…Then>> to give a step-by-step explanation of each use case

Activity Diagrams

• Activity diagrams graphically detail user or system activities and the flow within a use case.

System Analysis and Design Models

• System Diagrams illustrate workflows and business processes
• Class Diagrams, Sequence Diagrams, Communication Diagrams, Activity Diagrams, State Diagrams and others are used to analyze relationships and process actions, and describe systems.

Domain Analysis and Design Models

• Focuses on identifying classes and describing their attributes, relationships, and interactions.
• Brainstorming techniques, noun identification, and use cases are used.
• Different types of domain classes are discussed including tangible things, roles, organizational units, devices, sites or locations, and events/instances.
• Three techniques for identifying classes are given: Brainstorming, Noun, and Event Decomposition

Domain Class Diagrams / Relationships

• Include classes with their Attributes and Associations (using the UML notation)

Domain Class Diagrams / Relationships and Use Cases

• Use case diagrams include actors and use cases that relate to the domain classes.
• The use cases are part of the domain and interaction.
• Use case activities lead to interaction details – for example, communication diagrams and sequences,

Design Principles

• Object responsibility, separation of responsibilities, protection from variations, indirection, cohesion, and coupling.

System Sequence Diagrams (SSD)

• SSDs illustrate inputs and outputs to each use case as messages from the object.

Use Cases and CRC Cards

• Using CRC cards to improve design by emphasizing communication, responsibilities, and collaborations.

Design Models

• Focuses on design models from requirements models, use case, designs and analysis, and implementation.

Design Patterns

• Reusable solutions to common problems in software design. Explains how the elements of reusable software interact.

Classes, responsibilities, and collaborations (CRC) cards

• CRC cards are a design technique for defining responsibilities, collaborations, and attributes of a class within a use case.

Deployment Diagrams

• Model the implementation and describes how the software systems are deployed.
• Use components and nodes to describe the systems connections (e.g. Internet server, Application Server, client computer, network computer, Database server).

Design Class Diagrams

• Describes the attributes and methods for the software classes.

User Interface Design

• User interface details including layouts, content, and functionality of the user application's presentation.

System Interface Design

• Shows how the system interacts with other parts of the system such as the network, databases, or other external systems and specifies how they interact.

Database Design

• Database schema, tables, columns, and relationships.
• Database constraints like referential integrity are a part of the database design.