Software Engineering Tutorial

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Software engineering is a branch of engineering concerned with the

development of software products using well-defined scientific principles,
methods, and procedures. The goal of software engineering is to produce
efficient and reliable software products.

This tutorial provides a basic understanding of software products, software

design and development processes, software project management, design
complexities, and more. By the end of the tutorial, you should have a solid
understanding of the fundamental concepts of software engineering.

This tutorial is intended for readers pursuing education in the software

development domain, software testing aspirants, and anyone interested in
learning more about software engineering. It is designed for absolute
beginners. However, having a basic awareness of software systems, the
software development process, and computer fundamentals will be
helpful.

What is Software Engineering?

Software engineering is the structured process of designing, building,

testing, and maintaining software using engineering principles. It focuses
on creating reliable and scalable software while managing cost, time, and
quality.

Software engineering involves more than just coding — it includes

planning, requirements gathering, testing, and regular updates to ensure
the software remains useful and effective.

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What is Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)?

The software development life cycle or SDLC is the step-by-step

process that is followed to create software. It usually includes different
stages like planning, requirement analysis, design, implementation
(coding), testing, deployment, and maintenance. SDLC helps teams
manage time and costs, avoid errors, and deliver a good product by
simply breaking down complex tasks into clear, manageable phases.

Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is a step-by-step process used to

develop software. It typically includes stages like planning, requirement
analysis, design, coding, testing, deployment, and maintenance. Each
step helps to keep the project organized and helps in developing the final
software product that meets the end-user requirements.
SDLC helps teams stay organized, reduce errors, manage time and cost,
and deliver high-quality software by breaking complex tasks into
manageable phases.

Common Software Engineering Tools

Software engineers use a variety of tools to build and manage software.

Common ones include:

 Code editors like VS Code

 Version control systems like Git

 Bug tracking like Jira

 Testing tools like Selenium or JUnit

 CI / CD tools like Jenkins or GitHub Actions

 Design tools like Figma

These tools help with writing code, tracking progress, testing, and
collaborating with team members. They make the development process
faster, more organized, and more reliable.

Role of a Software Engineer

A software engineer generally designs, builds, tests, and maintains

software systems. Software engineers work with teams to understand user
needs and then write code to solve problems. Besides coding, they can
also plan projects, fix bugs, and improve software performance.

Software engineers also often specialize in areas like front-end, back-end,

or systems programming. Their goal is to make reliable, efficient, and
user-friendly software which meets business or customer requirements.

What is Software Design?

Software design is the planning phase of software engineering. In this

phase, developers decide how the software will function before writing
any code. It includes organizing data flow, identifying components, and
defining how different parts of the software will interact.

Like a blueprint for a house, a well-thought-out software design makes the

code easier to write, understand, and maintain.

What is a Software Architecture?

Software architecture is the high-level structure of a software system. It

defines how different components are organized and how they interact. It
involves decisions about tools, platforms, design patterns, and data flow.
A solid architecture provides the foundation for building, scaling, and
maintaining the software efficiently. It also affects the performance and
security, and how easily the system is maintained.

Who can Learn Software Engineering

This tutorial is designed for the readers pursuing education in software

development domain, Software Testing aspirants and all enthusiastic
readers.

Prerequisites to Learn Software Engineering

This tutorial is designed and developed for absolute beginners. Though,

awareness about software systems, software development process and
computer fundamentals would be beneficial.

FAQs on Software Engineering

In this section, we have collected a set of Frequently Asked

Questions on Software Engineering followed by their brief answers.

1. What is Requirements Engineering?

Requirements engineering is the process of understanding and defining

what the software should do before development begins. It involves
working with users, clients, and stakeholders to gather and document
their needs. These needs are then turned into clear and detailed
requirements which guide the software design and development.

Good requirements engineering prevents misunderstandings and saves

time by ensuring everyone agrees on the software’s goals from the
beginning.

2. What is Software Testing?

Software testing is the process of checking whether a program works

correctly and does what it is supposed to do. Testers run different inputs
and scenarios to identify bugs or issues.

Testing can be done manually or with automated tools. It ensures the

software is reliable, secure, and ready for users, while also helping to
catch problems early and reduce long-term costs.

3. What is Integration Testing?

Integration testing checks how different modules or components of a

software work together. Once individual parts are developed, integration
testing ensures they interact and communicate correctly. It helps catch
issues like incorrect data passing or broken feature integration that unit
testing might miss.
Integration testing is key for spotting problems that do not show up in unit
tests. In integration testing, only single parts are tested in isolation.

4. What is System Testing?

System testing evaluates the complete, integrated software product. It

checks the entire software system as a whole to make sure everything
works together as expected.

System testing ensures all features work together and that the system
meets the original requirements. It tests both functionality (e.g., login,
save data) and performance (e.g., speed, stability). This is one of the
final testing phases before releasing the software to clients.

5. What is Software Quality Assurance?

Software Quality Assurance (SQA) ensures that both the software

development process and the final product meet the required quality
standards. It includes planning, reviews, audits, and testing throughout
the development lifecycle. The goal is to prevent bugs and issues, not just
find them. SQA helps ensure the software is reliable, secure, and works as
expected.

6. What is Version Control in Software Development?

Version control is a system for tracking and managing changes to code

over time. It allows developers to save different versions of their work,
review changes, and revert to earlier versions if needed.

Tools like Git help teams work together without overwriting each other’s
changes. It supports team collaboration, prevent overwrites, and maintain
a clear history of development. Version control is essential for safe and
organized software development.

7. What is Maintenance in Software Engineering?

Maintenance refers to updating and improving a software after it’s been

released. It includes fixing bugs, adding new features, and ensuring
compatibility with new systems.

Maintenance is a continuous process and often lasts longer than the initial
development. It ensures the software remains functional, secure, and
valuable over time.

There are four main types of software maintenance:

 Corrective − Fixes bugs and errors.

 Adaptive − Updates the software for new hardware or platforms.

 Perfective − Improves performance or adds enhancements.

  Preventive − Makes changes to avoid future problems.

Each type helps keep the software stable, efficient, and aligned with user
needs and technological changes.

Software Development Life Cycle

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Software Development Life Cycle, SDLC for short, is a well-defined,

structured sequence of stages in software engineering to develop the
intended software product.

SDLC Activities

SDLC provides a series of steps to be followed to design and develop a

software product efficiently. SDLC framework includes the following steps:

Communication
This is the first step where the user initiates the request for a desired
software product. He contacts the service provider and tries to negotiate
the terms. He submits his request to the service providing organization in
writing.

Requirement Gathering

This step onwards the software development team works to carry on the
project. The team holds discussions with various stakeholders from
problem domain and tries to bring out as much information as possible on
their requirements. The requirements are contemplated and segregated
into user requirements, system requirements and functional requirements.
The requirements are collected using a number of practices as given -

 studying the existing or obsolete system and software,

 conducting interviews of users and developers,

 referring to the database or

 collecting answers from the questionnaires.

Feasibility Study

After requirement gathering, the team comes up with a rough plan of

software process. At this step the team analyzes if a software can be
made to fulfill all requirements of the user and if there is any possibility of
software being no more useful. It is found out, if the project is financially,
practically and technologically feasible for the organization to take up.
There are many algorithms available, which help the developers to
conclude the feasibility of a software project.

System Analysis

At this step the developers decide a roadmap of their plan and try to bring
up the best software model suitable for the project. System analysis
includes Understanding of software product limitations, learning system
related problems or changes to be done in existing systems beforehand,
identifying and addressing the impact of project on organization and
personnel etc. The project team analyzes the scope of the project and
plans the schedule and resources accordingly.

Software Design

Next step is to bring down whole knowledge of requirements and analysis

on the desk and design the software product. The inputs from users and
information gathered in requirement gathering phase are the inputs of this
step. The output of this step comes in the form of two designs; logical
design and physical design. Engineers produce meta-data and data
dictionaries, logical diagrams, data-flow diagrams and in some cases
pseudo codes.

Coding

This step is also known as programming phase. The implementation of

software design starts in terms of writing program code in the suitable
programming language and developing error-free executable programs
efficiently.

Testing

An estimate says that 50% of whole software development process should

be tested. Errors may ruin the software from critical level to its own
removal. Software testing is done while coding by the developers and
thorough testing is conducted by testing experts at various levels of code
such as module testing, program testing, product testing, in-house testing
and testing the product at users end. Early discovery of errors and their
remedy is the key to reliable software.

Integration

Software may need to be integrated with the libraries, databases and

other program(s). This stage of SDLC is involved in the integration of
software with outer world entities.

Implementation

This means installing the software on user machines. At times, software

needs post-installation configurations at user end. Software is tested for
portability and adaptability and integration related issues are solved
during implementation.

Operation and Maintenance

This phase confirms the software operation in terms of more efficiency

and less errors. If required, the users are trained on, or aided with the
documentation on how to operate the software and how to keep the
software operational. The software is maintained timely by updating the
code according to the changes taking place in user end environment or
technology. This phase may face challenges from hidden bugs and real-
world unidentified problems.

Disposition

As time elapses, the software may decline on the performance front. It

may go completely obsolete or may need intense upgradation. Hence a
pressing need to eliminate a major portion of the system arises. This
phase includes archiving data and required software components, closing
down the system, planning disposition activity and terminating system at
appropriate end-of-system time.

Software Development Paradigm

The software development paradigm helps developer to select a strategy

to develop the software. A software development paradigm has its own
set of tools, methods and procedures, which are expressed clearly and
defines software development life cycle. A few of software development
paradigms or process models are defined as follows:

Waterfall Model

Waterfall model is the simplest model of software development paradigm.

It says the all the phases of SDLC will function one after another in linear
manner. That is, when the first phase is finished then only the second
phase will start and so on.

This model assumes that everything is carried out and taken place
perfectly as planned in the previous stage and there is no need to think
about the past issues that may arise in the next phase. This model does
not work smoothly if there are some issues left at the previous step. The
sequential nature of model does not allow us go back and undo or redo
our actions.

This model is best suited when developers already have designed and
developed similar software in the past and are aware of all its domains.

Iterative Model

This model leads the software development process in iterations. It

projects the process of development in cyclic manner repeating every step
after every cycle of SDLC process.
The software is first developed on very small scale and all the steps are
followed which are taken into consideration. Then, on every next iteration,
more features and modules are designed, coded, tested and added to the
software. Every cycle produces a software, which is complete in itself and
has more features and capabilities than that of the previous one.

After each iteration, the management team can do work on risk

management and prepare for the next iteration. Because a cycle includes
small portion of whole software process, it is easier to manage the
development process but it consumes more resources.

Spiral Model

Spiral model is a combination of both, iterative model and one of the SDLC
model. It can be seen as if you choose one SDLC model and combine it
with cyclic process (iterative model).
This model considers risk, which often goes un-noticed by most other
models. The model starts with determining objectives and constraints of
the software at the start of one iteration. Next phase is of prototyping the
software. This includes risk analysis. Then one standard SDLC model is
used to build the software. In the fourth phase of the plan of next iteration
is prepared.

V model

The major drawback of waterfall model is we move to the next stage only
when the previous one is finished and there was no chance to go back if
something is found wrong in later stages. V-Model provides means of
testing of software at each stage in reverse manner.
At every stage, test plans and test cases are created to verify and validate
the product according to the requirement of that stage. For example, in
requirement gathering stage the test team prepares all the test cases in
correspondence to the requirements. Later, when the product is
developed and is ready for testing, test cases of this stage verify the
software against its validity towards requirements at this stage.

This makes both verification and validation go in parallel. This model is

also known as verification and validation model.

Big Bang Model

This model is the simplest model in its form. It requires little planning, lots
of programming and lots of funds. This model is conceptualized around
the big bang of universe. As scientists say that after big bang lots of
galaxies, planets and stars evolved just as an event. Likewise, if we put
together lots of programming and funds, you may achieve the best
software product.
For this model, very small amount of planning is required. It does not
follow any process, or at times the customer is not sure about the
requirements and future needs. So the input requirements are arbitrary.

This model is not suitable for large software projects but good one for
learning and experimenting.

For an in-depth reading on SDLC and its various models,

Software Project Management

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The job pattern of an IT company engaged in software development can

be seen split in two parts:

 Software Creation

 Software Project Management

A project is well-defined task, which is a collection of several operations

done in order to achieve a goal (for example, software development and
delivery). A Project can be characterized as:

 Every project may has a unique and distinct goal.

 Project is not routine activity or day-to-day operations.

  Project comes with a start time and end time.

 Project ends when its goal is achieved hence it is a temporary phase

in the lifetime of an organization.

 Project needs adequate resources in terms of time, manpower,

finance, material and knowledge-bank.

Software Project

A Software Project is the complete procedure of software development

from requirement gathering to testing and maintenance, carried out
according to the execution methodologies, in a specified period of time to
achieve intended software product.

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Need of software project management

Software is said to be an intangible product. Software development is a

kind of all new stream in world business and theres very little experience
in building software products. Most software products are tailor made to fit
clients requirements. The most important is that the underlying
technology changes and advances so frequently and rapidly that
experience of one product may not be applied to the other one. All such
business and environmental constraints bring risk in software
development hence it is essential to manage software projects efficiently.

The image above shows triple constraints for software projects. It is an

essential part of software organization to deliver quality product, keeping
the cost within clients budget constrain and deliver the project as per
scheduled. There are several factors, both internal and external, which
may impact this triple constrain triangle. Any of three factor can severely
impact the other two.
Therefore, software project management is essential to incorporate user
requirements along with budget and time constraints.

Software Project Manager

A software project manager is a person who undertakes the responsibility

of executing the software project. Software project manager is thoroughly
aware of all the phases of SDLC that the software would go through.
Project manager may never directly involve in producing the end product
but he controls and manages the activities involved in production.

A project manager closely monitors the development process, prepares

and executes various plans, arranges necessary and adequate resources,
maintains communication among all team members in order to address
issues of cost, budget, resources, time, quality and customer satisfaction.

Let us see few responsibilities that a project manager shoulders -

Managing People

 Act as project leader

 Liaison with stakeholders

 Managing human resources

 Setting up reporting hierarchy etc.

Managing Project

 Defining and setting up project scope

 Managing project management activities

 Monitoring progress and performance

 Risk analysis at every phase

 Take necessary step to avoid or come out of problems

 Act as project spokesperson

Software Management Activities

Software project management comprises of a number of activities, which

contains planning of project, deciding scope of software product,
estimation of cost in various terms, scheduling of tasks and events, and
resource management. Project management activities may include:

 Project Planning

 Scope Management

 Project Estimation
Project Planning

Software project planning is task, which is performed before the

production of software actually starts. It is there for the software
production but involves no concrete activity that has any direction
connection with software production; rather it is a set of multiple
processes, which facilitates software production. Project planning may
include the following:

Scope Management

It defines the scope of project; this includes all the activities, process need
to be done in order to make a deliverable software product. Scope
management is essential because it creates boundaries of the project by
clearly defining what would be done in the project and what would not be
done. This makes project to contain limited and quantifiable tasks, which
can easily be documented and in turn avoids cost and time overrun.

During Project Scope management, it is necessary to -

 Define the scope

 Decide its verification and control

 Divide the project into various smaller parts for ease of

management.

 Verify the scope

 Control the scope by incorporating changes to the scope

Project Estimation

For an effective management accurate estimation of various measures is

a must. With correct estimation managers can manage and control the
project more efficiently and effectively.

Project estimation may involve the following:

 Software size estimation

Software size may be estimated either in terms of KLOC (Kilo Line of Code)
or by calculating number of function points in the software. Lines of code
depend upon coding practices and Function points vary according to the
user or software requirement.

 Effort estimation

The managers estimate efforts in terms of personnel requirement and

man-hour required to produce the software. For effort estimation software
size should be known. This can either be derived by managers experience,
organizations historical data or software size can be converted into efforts
by using some standard formulae.

 Time estimation

Once size and efforts are estimated, the time required to produce the
software can be estimated. Efforts required is segregated into sub
categories as per the requirement specifications and interdependency of
various components of software. Software tasks are divided into smaller
tasks, activities or events by Work Breakthrough Structure (WBS). The
tasks are scheduled on day-to-day basis or in calendar months.

The sum of time required to complete all tasks in hours or days is the total
time invested to complete the project.

 Cost estimation

This might be considered as the most difficult of all because it depends on

more elements than any of the previous ones. For estimating project cost,
it is required to consider -

o Size of software

o Software quality

o Hardware

o Additional software or tools, licenses etc.

o Skilled personnel with task-specific skills

o Travel involved

o Communication

o Training and support

Project Estimation Techniques

We discussed various parameters involving project estimation such as

size, effort, time and cost.

Project manager can estimate the listed factors using two broadly
recognized techniques

Decomposition Technique

This technique assumes the software as a product of various

compositions.

There are two main models -

  Line of Code Estimation is done on behalf of number of line of
codes in the software product.

 Function Points Estimation is done on behalf of number of function

points in the software product.

Empirical Estimation Technique

This technique uses empirically derived formulae to make

[Link] formulae are based on LOC or FPs.

 Putnam Model

This model is made by Lawrence H. Putnam, which is based on Nordens

frequency distribution (Rayleigh curve). Putnam model maps time and
efforts required with software size.

 COCOMO

COCOMO stands for COnstructive COst MOdel, developed by Barry W.

Boehm. It divides the software product into three categories of software:
organic, semi-detached and embedded.

Project Scheduling

Project Scheduling in a project refers to roadmap of all activities to be

done with specified order and within time slot allotted to each activity.
Project managers tend to define various tasks, and project milestones and
arrange them keeping various factors in mind. They look for tasks lie in
critical path in the schedule, which are necessary to complete in specific
manner (because of task interdependency) and strictly within the time
allocated. Arrangement of tasks which lies out of critical path are less
likely to impact over all schedule of the project.

For scheduling a project, it is necessary to -

 Break down the project tasks into smaller, manageable form

 Find out various tasks and correlate them

 Estimate time frame required for each task

 Divide time into work-units

 Assign adequate number of work-units for each task

 Calculate total time required for the project from start to finish

Resource management
All elements used to develop a software product may be assumed as
resource for that project. This may include human resource, productive
tools and software libraries.

The resources are available in limited quantity and stay in the

organization as a pool of assets. The shortage of resources hampers the
development of project and it can lag behind the schedule. Allocating
extra resources increases development cost in the end. It is therefore
necessary to estimate and allocate adequate resources for the project.

Resource management includes -

 Defining proper organization project by creating a project team and

allocating responsibilities to each team member

 Determining resources required at a particular stage and their

availability

 Manage Resources by generating resource request when they are

required and de-allocating them when they are no more needed.

Project Risk Management

Risk management involves all activities pertaining to identification,

analyzing and making provision for predictable and non-predictable risks
in the project. Risk may include the following:

 Experienced staff leaving the project and new staff coming in.

 Change in organizational management.

 Requirement change or misinterpreting requirement.

 Under-estimation of required time and resources.

 Technological changes, environmental changes, business

competition.

Risk Management Process

There are following activities involved in risk management process:

 Identification - Make note of all possible risks, which may occur in

the project.

 Categorize - Categorize known risks into high, medium and low risk
intensity as per their possible impact on the project.

 Manage - Analyze the probability of occurrence of risks at various

phases. Make plan to avoid or face risks. Attempt to minimize their
side-effects.
  Monitor - Closely monitor the potential risks and their early
symptoms. Also monitor the effects of steps taken to mitigate or
avoid them.

Project Execution & Monitoring

In this phase, the tasks described in project plans are executed according
to their schedules.

Execution needs monitoring in order to check whether everything is going

according to the plan. Monitoring is observing to check the probability of
risk and taking measures to address the risk or report the status of various
tasks.

These measures include -

 Activity Monitoring - All activities scheduled within some task can

be monitored on day-to-day basis. When all activities in a task are
completed, it is considered as complete.

 Status Reports - The reports contain status of activities and tasks

completed within a given time frame, generally a week. Status can
be marked as finished, pending or work-in-progress etc.

 Milestones Checklist - Every project is divided into multiple

phases where major tasks are performed (milestones) based on the
phases of SDLC. This milestone checklist is prepared once every few
weeks and reports the status of milestones.

Project Communication Management

Effective communication plays vital role in the success of a project. It

bridges gaps between client and the organization, among the team
members as well as other stake holders in the project such as hardware
suppliers.

Communication can be oral or written. Communication management

process may have the following steps:

 Planning - This step includes the identifications of all the

stakeholders in the project and the mode of communication among
them. It also considers if any additional communication facilities are
required.

 Sharing - After determining various aspects of planning, manager

focuses on sharing correct information with the correct person on
correct time. This keeps every one involved the project up to date
with project progress and its status.
  Feedback - Project managers use various measures and feedback
mechanism and create status and performance reports. This
mechanism ensures that input from various stakeholders is coming
to the project manager as their feedback.

 Closure - At the end of each major event, end of a phase of SDLC or

end of the project itself, administrative closure is formally
announced to update every stakeholder by sending email, by
distributing a hardcopy of document or by other mean of effective
communication.

After closure, the team moves to next phase or project.

Configuration Management

Configuration management is a process of tracking and controlling the

changes in software in terms of the requirements, design, functions and
development of the product.

IEEE defines it as the process of identifying and defining the items in the
system, controlling the change of these items throughout their life cycle,
recording and reporting the status of items and change requests, and
verifying the completeness and correctness of items.

Generally, once the SRS is finalized there is less chance of requirement of

changes from user. If they occur, the changes are addressed only with
prior approval of higher management, as there is a possibility of cost and
time overrun.

Baseline

A phase of SDLC is assumed over if it baselined, i.e. baseline is a

measurement that defines completeness of a phase. A phase is baselined
when all activities pertaining to it are finished and well documented. If it
was not the final phase, its output would be used in next immediate
phase.

Configuration management is a discipline of organization administration,

which takes care of occurrence of any change (process, requirement,
technological, strategical etc.) after a phase is baselined. CM keeps check
on any changes done in software.

Change Control

Change control is function of configuration management, which ensures

that all changes made to software system are consistent and made as per
organizational rules and regulations.

A change in the configuration of product goes through following steps -

  Identification - A change request arrives from either internal or
external source. When change request is identified formally, it is
properly documented.

 Validation - Validity of the change request is checked and its

handling procedure is confirmed.

 Analysis - The impact of change request is analyzed in terms of

schedule, cost and required efforts. Overall impact of the
prospective change on system is analyzed.

 Control - If the prospective change either impacts too many entities

in the system or it is unavoidable, it is mandatory to take approval
of high authorities before change is incorporated into the system. It
is decided if the change is worth incorporation or not. If it is not,
change request is refused formally.

 Execution - If the previous phase determines to execute the

change request, this phase take appropriate actions to execute the
change, does a thorough revision if necessary.

 Close request - The change is verified for correct implementation

and merging with the rest of the system. This newly incorporated
change in the software is documented properly and the request is
formally is closed.

Project Management Tools

The risk and uncertainty rises multifold with respect to the size of the
project, even when the project is developed according to set
methodologies.

There are tools available, which aid for effective project management. A
few are described -

Gantt Chart

Gantt charts was devised by Henry Gantt (1917). It represents project

schedule with respect to time periods. It is a horizontal bar chart with bars
representing activities and time scheduled for the project activities.
PERT Chart

PERT (Program Evaluation & Review Technique) chart is a tool that depicts
project as network diagram. It is capable of graphically representing main
events of project in both parallel and consecutive way. Events, which
occur one after another, show dependency of the later event over the
previous one.

Events are shown as numbered nodes. They are connected by labeled

arrows depicting sequence of tasks in the project.

Resource Histogram

This is a graphical tool that contains bar or chart representing number of

resources (usually skilled staff) required over time for a project event (or
phase). Resource Histogram is an effective tool for staff planning and
coordination.
Critical Path Analysis

This tools is useful in recognizing interdependent tasks in the project. It

also helps to find out the shortest path or critical path to complete the
project successfully. Like PERT diagram, each event is allotted a specific
time frame. This tool shows dependency of event assuming an event can
proceed to next only if the previous one is completed.

The events are arranged according to their earliest possible start time.
Path between start and end node is critical path which cannot be further
reduced and all events require to be executed in same order.

Software Requirements

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The software requirements are description of features and functionalities

of the target system. Requirements convey the expectations of users from
the software product. The requirements can be obvious or hidden, known
or unknown, expected or unexpected from clients point of view.

Requirement Engineering

The process to gather the software requirements from client, analyze and
document them is known as requirement engineering.

The goal of requirement engineering is to develop and maintain

sophisticated and descriptive System Requirements Specification
document.

Requirement Engineering Process

It is a four step process, which includes

 Feasibility Study

 Requirement Gathering

 Software Requirement Specification

 Software Requirement Validation

Let us see the process briefly -

Feasibility study

When the client approaches the organization for getting the desired
product developed, it comes up with rough idea about what all functions
the software must perform and which all features are expected from the
software.

Referencing to this information, the analysts does a detailed study about

whether the desired system and its functionality are feasible to develop.

This feasibility study is focused towards goal of the organization. This

study analyzes whether the software product can be practically
materialized in terms of implementation, contribution of project to
organization, cost constraints and as per values and objectives of the
organization. It explores technical aspects of the project and product such
as usability, maintainability, productivity and integration ability.

The output of this phase should be a feasibility study report that should
contain adequate comments and recommendations for management
about whether or not the project should be undertaken.
Requirement Gathering

If the feasibility report is positive towards undertaking the project, next

phase starts with gathering requirements from the user. Analysts and
engineers communicate with the client and end-users to know their ideas
on what the software should provide and which features they want the
software to include.

Software Requirement Specification

SRS is a document created by system analyst after the requirements are

collected from various stakeholders.

SRS defines how the intended software will interact with hardware,
external interfaces, speed of operation, response time of system,
portability of software across various platforms, maintainability, speed of
recovery after crashing, Security, Quality, Limitations etc.

The requirements received from client are written in natural language. It is

the responsibility of system analyst to document the requirements in
technical language so that they can be comprehended and useful by the
software development team.

SRS should come up with following features:

 User Requirements are expressed in natural language.

 Technical requirements are expressed in structured language, which

is used inside the organization.

 Design description should be written in Pseudo code.

 Format of Forms and GUI screen prints.

 Conditional and mathematical notations for DFDs etc.

Software Requirement Validation

After requirement specifications are developed, the requirements

mentioned in this document are validated. User might ask for illegal,
impractical solution or experts may interpret the requirements incorrectly.
This results in huge increase in cost if not nipped in the bud. Requirements
can be checked against following conditions -

 If they can be practically implemented

 If they are valid and as per functionality and domain of software

 If there are any ambiguities

 If they are complete

  If they can be demonstrated

Requirement Elicitation Process

Requirement elicitation process can be depicted using the folloiwng

diagram:

 Requirements gathering - The developers discuss with the client

and end users and know their expectations from the software.

 Organizing Requirements - The developers prioritize and arrange

the requirements in order of importance, urgency and convenience.

 Negotiation & discussion - If requirements are ambiguous or

there are some conflicts in requirements of various stakeholders, if
they are, it is then negotiated and discussed with stakeholders.
Requirements may then be prioritized and reasonably compromised.

The requirements come from various stakeholders. To remove the

ambiguity and conflicts, they are discussed for clarity and correctness.
Unrealistic requirements are compromised reasonably.

 Documentation - All formal & informal, functional and non-

functional requirements are documented and made available for
next phase processing.

Requirement Elicitation Techniques

Requirements Elicitation is the process to find out the requirements for an

intended software system by communicating with client, end users,
system users and others who have a stake in the software system
development.

There are various ways to discover requirements

Interviews

Interviews are strong medium to collect requirements. Organization may

conduct several types of interviews such as:

 Structured (closed) interviews, where every single information to

gather is decided in advance, they follow pattern and matter of
discussion firmly.

 Non-structured (open) interviews, where information to gather is not

decided in advance, more flexible and less biased.
  Oral interviews

 Written interviews

 One-to-one interviews which are held between two persons across

the table.

 Group interviews which are held between groups of participants.

They help to uncover any missing requirement as numerous people
are involved.

Surveys

Organization may conduct surveys among various stakeholders by

querying about their expectation and requirements from the upcoming
system.

Questionnaires

A document with pre-defined set of objective questions and respective

options is handed over to all stakeholders to answer, which are collected
and compiled.

A shortcoming of this technique is, if an option for some issue is not

mentioned in the questionnaire, the issue might be left unattended.

Task analysis

Team of engineers and developers may analyze the operation for which
the new system is required. If the client already has some software to
perform certain operation, it is studied and requirements of proposed
system are collected.

Domain Analysis

Every software falls into some domain category. The expert people in the
domain can be a great help to analyze general and specific requirements.

Brainstorming

An informal debate is held among various stakeholders and all their inputs
are recorded for further requirements analysis.

Prototyping

Prototyping is building user interface without adding detail functionality

for user to interpret the features of intended software product. It helps
giving better idea of requirements. If there is no software installed at
clients end for developers reference and the client is not aware of its own
requirements, the developer creates a prototype based on initially
mentioned requirements. The prototype is shown to the client and the
feedback is noted. The client feedback serves as an input for requirement
gathering.

Observation

Team of experts visit the clients organization or workplace. They observe

the actual working of the existing installed systems. They observe the
workflow at clients end and how execution problems are dealt. The team
itself draws some conclusions which aid to form requirements expected
from the software.

Software Requirements Characteristics

Gathering software requirements is the foundation of the entire software

development project. Hence they must be clear, correct and well-defined.

A complete Software Requirement Specifications must be:

 Clear

 Correct

 Consistent

 Coherent

 Comprehensible

 Modifiable

 Verifiable

 Prioritized

 Unambiguous

 Traceable

 Credible source

Software Requirements

We should try to understand what sort of requirements may arise in the

requirement elicitation phase and what kinds of requirements are
expected from the software system.

Broadly software requirements should be categorized in two categories:

Functional Requirements

Requirements, which are related to functional aspect of software fall into

this category.
They define functions and functionality within and from the software
system.

Examples -

 Search option given to user to search from various invoices.

 User should be able to mail any report to management.

 Users can be divided into groups and groups can be given separate
rights.

 Should comply business rules and administrative functions.

 Software is developed keeping downward compatibility intact.

Non-Functional Requirements

Requirements, which are not related to functional aspect of software, fall

into this category. They are implicit or expected characteristics of
software, which users make assumption of.

Non-functional requirements include -

 Security

 Logging

 Storage

 Configuration

 Performance

 Cost

 Interoperability

 Flexibility

 Disaster recovery

 Accessibility

Requirements are categorized logically as

 Must Have : Software cannot be said operational without them.

 Should have : Enhancing the functionality of software.

 Could have : Software can still properly function with these

requirements.

 Wish list : These requirements do not map to any objectives of

software.
While developing software, Must have must be implemented, Should have
is a matter of debate with stakeholders and negation, whereas could have
and wish list can be kept for software updates.

User Interface requirements

UI is an important part of any software or hardware or hybrid system. A

software is widely accepted if it is -

 easy to operate

 quick in response

 effectively handling operational errors

 providing simple yet consistent user interface

User acceptance majorly depends upon how user can use the software. UI
is the only way for users to perceive the system. A well performing
software system must also be equipped with attractive, clear, consistent
and responsive user interface. Otherwise the functionalities of software
system can not be used in convenient way. A system is said be good if it
provides means to use it efficiently. User interface requirements are briefly
mentioned below -

 Content presentation

 Easy Navigation

 Simple interface

 Responsive

 Consistent UI elements

 Feedback mechanism

 Default settings

 Purposeful layout

 Strategical use of color and texture.

 Provide help information

 User centric approach

 Group based view settings.

Software System Analyst

System analyst in an IT organization is a person, who analyzes the

requirement of proposed system and ensures that requirements are
conceived and documented properly & correctly. Role of an analyst starts
during Software Analysis Phase of SDLC. It is the responsibility of analyst
to make sure that the developed software meets the requirements of the
client.

System Analysts have the following responsibilities:

 Analyzing and understanding requirements of intended software

 Understanding how the project will contribute in the organization

objectives

 Identify sources of requirement

 Validation of requirement

 Develop and implement requirement management plan

 Documentation of business, technical, process and product

requirements

 Coordination with clients to prioritize requirements and remove and

ambiguity

 Finalizing acceptance criteria with client and other stakeholders

Software Metrics and Measures

Software Measures can be understood as a process of quantifying and

symbolizing various attributes and aspects of software.

Software Metrics provide measures for various aspects of software process

and software product.

Software measures are fundamental requirement of software engineering.

They not only help to control the software development process but also
aid to keep quality of ultimate product excellent.

According to Tom DeMarco, a (Software Engineer), You cannot control what

you cannot measure. By his saying, it is very clear how important software
measures are.

Let us see some software metrics:

 Size Metrics - LOC (Lines of Code), mostly calculated in thousands

of delivered source code lines, denoted as KLOC.

Function Point Count is measure of the functionality provided by the

software. Function Point count defines the size of functional aspect of
software.

 Complexity Metrics - McCabes Cyclomatic complexity quantifies

the upper bound of the number of independent paths in a program,
 which is perceived as complexity of the program or its modules. It is
represented in terms of graph theory concepts by using control flow
graph.

 Quality Metrics - Defects, their types and causes, consequence,

intensity of severity and their implications define the quality of
product.

The number of defects found in development process and number of

defects reported by the client after the product is installed or delivered at
client-end, define quality of product.

 Process Metrics - In various phases of SDLC, the methods and

tools used, the company standards and the performance of
development are software process metrics.

 Resource Metrics - Effort, time and various resources used,

represents metrics for resource measurement.

Software Design Strategies

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Software design is a process to conceptualize the software requirements

into software implementation. Software design takes the user
requirements as challenges and tries to find optimum solution. While the
software is being conceptualized, a plan is chalked out to find the best
possible design for implementing the intended solution.

There are multiple variants of software design. Let us study them briefly:

Structured Design

Structured design is a conceptualization of problem into several well-

organized elements of solution. It is basically concerned with the solution
design. Benefit of structured design is, it gives better understanding of
how the problem is being solved. Structured design also makes it simpler
for designer to concentrate on the problem more accurately.
Structured design is mostly based on divide and conquer strategy where a
problem is broken into several small problems and each small problem is
individually solved until the whole problem is solved.

The small pieces of problem are solved by means of solution modules.

Structured design emphasis that these modules be well organized in order
to achieve precise solution.

These modules are arranged in hierarchy. They communicate with each

other. A good structured design always follows some rules for
communication among multiple modules, namely -

Cohesion - grouping of all functionally related elements.

Coupling - communication between different modules.

A good structured design has high cohesion and low coupling

arrangements.

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Function Oriented Design

In function-oriented design, the system is comprised of many smaller sub-

systems known as functions. These functions are capable of performing
significant task in the system. The system is considered as top view of all
functions.

Function oriented design inherits some properties of structured design

where divide and conquer methodology is used.

This design mechanism divides the whole system into smaller functions,
which provides means of abstraction by concealing the information and
their operation.. These functional modules can share information among
themselves by means of information passing and using information
available globally.

Another characteristic of functions is that when a program calls a function,

the function changes the state of the program, which sometimes is not
acceptable by other modules. Function oriented design works well where
the system state does not matter and program/functions work on input
rather than on a state.

Design Process

 The whole system is seen as how data flows in the system by means
of data flow diagram.

 DFD depicts how functions changes data and state of entire system.
  The entire system is logically broken down into smaller units known
as functions on the basis of their operation in the system.

 Each function is then described at large.

Object Oriented Design

Object oriented design works around the entities and their characteristics
instead of functions involved in the software system. This design
strategies focuses on entities and its characteristics. The whole concept of
software solution revolves around the engaged entities.

Let us see the important concepts of Object Oriented Design:

 Objects - All entities involved in the solution design are known as

objects. For example, person, banks, company and customers are
treated as objects. Every entity has some attributes associated to it
and has some methods to perform on the attributes.

 Classes - A class is a generalized description of an object. An object

is an instance of a class. Class defines all the attributes, which an
object can have and methods, which defines the functionality of the
object.

In the solution design, attributes are stored as variables and

functionalities are defined by means of methods or procedures.

 Encapsulation - In OOD, the attributes (data variables) and

methods (operation on the data) are bundled together is called
encapsulation. Encapsulation not only bundles important
information of an object together, but also restricts access of the
data and methods from the outside world. This is called information
hiding.

 Inheritance - OOD allows similar classes to stack up in hierarchical

manner where the lower or sub-classes can import, implement and
re-use allowed variables and methods from their immediate super
classes. This property of OOD is known as inheritance. This makes it
easier to define specific class and to create generalized classes from
specific ones.

 Polymorphism - OOD languages provide a mechanism where

methods performing similar tasks but vary in arguments, can be
assigned same name. This is called polymorphism, which allows a
single interface performing tasks for different types. Depending
upon how the function is invoked, respective portion of the code
gets executed.

Design Process
Software design process can be perceived as series of well-defined steps.
Though it varies according to design approach (function oriented or object
oriented, yet It may have the following steps involved:

 A solution design is created from requirement or previous used

system and/or system sequence diagram.

 Objects are identified and grouped into classes on behalf of

similarity in attribute characteristics.

 Class hierarchy and relation among them is defined.

 Application framework is defined.

Software Design Approaches

Here are two generic approaches for software designing:

Top Down Design

We know that a system is composed of more than one sub-systems and it

contains a number of components. Further, these sub-systems and
components may have their on set of sub-system and components and
creates hierarchical structure in the system.

Top-down design takes the whole software system as one entity and then
decomposes it to achieve more than one sub-system or component based
on some characteristics. Each sub-system or component is then treated as
a system and decomposed further. This process keeps on running until the
lowest level of system in the top-down hierarchy is achieved.

Top-down design starts with a generalized model of system and keeps on

defining the more specific part of it. When all components are composed
the whole system comes into existence.

Top-down design is more suitable when the software solution needs to be

designed from scratch and specific details are unknown.

Bottom-up Design

The bottom up design model starts with most specific and basic
components. It proceeds with composing higher level of components by
using basic or lower level components. It keeps creating higher level
components until the desired system is not evolved as one single
component. With each higher level, the amount of abstraction is
increased.

Bottom-up strategy is more suitable when a system needs to be created

from some existing system, where the basic primitives can be used in the
newer system.
Both, top-down and bottom-up approaches are not practical individually.
Instead, a good combination of both is used

Software Maintenance Overview

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Software maintenance is widely accepted part of SDLC now a days. It

stands for all the modifications and updations done after the delivery of
software product. There are number of reasons, why modifications are
required, some of them are briefly mentioned below:

 Market Conditions - Policies, which changes over the time, such

as taxation and newly introduced constraints like, how to maintain
bookkeeping, may trigger need for modification.

 Client Requirements - Over the time, customer may ask for new
features or functions in the software.

 Host Modifications - If any of the hardware and/or platform (such

as operating system) of the target host changes, software changes
are needed to keep adaptability.

 Organization Changes - If there is any business level change at

client end, such as reduction of organization strength, acquiring
another company, organization venturing into new business, need to
modify in the original software may arise.

Types of maintenance

In a software lifetime, type of maintenance may vary based on its nature.

It may be just a routine maintenance tasks as some bug discovered by
some user or it may be a large event in itself based on maintenance size
or nature. Following are some types of maintenance based on their
characteristics:
  Corrective Maintenance - This includes modifications and
updations done in order to correct or fix problems, which are either
discovered by user or concluded by user error reports.

 Adaptive Maintenance - This includes modifications and

updations applied to keep the software product up-to date and
tuned to the ever changing world of technology and business
environment.

 Perfective Maintenance - This includes modifications and updates

done in order to keep the software usable over long period of time.
It includes new features, new user requirements for refining the
software and improve its reliability and performance.

 Preventive Maintenance - This includes modifications and

updations to prevent future problems of the software. It aims to
attend problems, which are not significant at this moment but may
cause serious issues in future.

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Cost of Maintenance

Reports suggest that the cost of maintenance is high. A study on

estimating software maintenance found that the cost of maintenance is as
high as 67% of the cost of entire software process cycle.

On an average, the cost of software maintenance is more than 50% of all

SDLC phases. There are various factors, which trigger maintenance cost
go high, such as:
Real-world factors affecting Maintenance Cost

 The standard age of any software is considered up to 10 to 15 years.

 Older softwares, which were meant to work on slow machines with

less memory and storage capacity cannot keep themselves
challenging against newly coming enhanced softwares on modern
hardware.

 As technology advances, it becomes costly to maintain old software.

 Most maintenance engineers are newbie and use trial and error
method to rectify problem.

 Often, changes made can easily hurt the original structure of the
software, making it hard for any subsequent changes.

 Changes are often left undocumented which may cause more

conflicts in future.

Software-end factors affecting Maintenance Cost

 Structure of Software Program

 Programming Language

 Dependence on external environment

 Staff reliability and availability

Maintenance Activities

IEEE provides a framework for sequential maintenance process activities.

It can be used in iterative manner and can be extended so that
customized items and processes can be included.
These activities go hand-in-hand with each of the following phase:

 Identification & Tracing - It involves activities pertaining to

identification of requirement of modification or maintenance. It is
generated by user or system may itself report via logs or error
[Link], the maintenance type is classified also.

 Analysis - The modification is analyzed for its impact on the system

including safety and security implications. If probable impact is
severe, alternative solution is looked for. A set of required
modifications is then materialized into requirement specifications.
The cost of modification/maintenance is analyzed and estimation is
concluded.

 Design - New modules, which need to be replaced or modified, are

designed against requirement specifications set in the previous
stage. Test cases are created for validation and verification.

 Implementation - The new modules are coded with the help of

structured design created in the design [Link] programmer is
expected to do unit testing in parallel.

 System Testing - Integration testing is done among newly created

modules. Integration testing is also carried out between new
modules and the system. Finally the system is tested as a whole,
following regressive testing procedures.
  Acceptance Testing - After testing the system internally, it is
tested for acceptance with the help of users. If at this state, user
complaints some issues they are addressed or noted to address in
next iteration.

 Delivery - After acceptance test, the system is deployed all over

the organization either by small update package or fresh installation
of the system. The final testing takes place at client end after the
software is delivered.

Training facility is provided if required, in addition to the hard copy of user

manual.

 Maintenance management - Configuration management is an

essential part of system maintenance. It is aided with version
control tools to control versions, semi-version or patch
management.

Software Re-engineering

When we need to update the software to keep it to the current market,

without impacting its functionality, it is called software re-engineering. It is
a thorough process where the design of software is changed and programs
are re-written.

Legacy software cannot keep tuning with the latest technology available
in the market. As the hardware become obsolete, updating of software
becomes a headache. Even if software grows old with time, its
functionality does not.

For example, initially Unix was developed in assembly language. When

language C came into existence, Unix was re-engineered in C, because
working in assembly language was difficult.

Other than this, sometimes programmers notice that few parts of software
need more maintenance than others and they also need re-engineering.
Re-Engineering Process

 Decide what to re-engineer. Is it whole software or a part of it?

 Perform Reverse Engineering, in order to obtain specifications of

existing software.

 Restructure Program if required. For example, changing function-

oriented programs into object-oriented programs.

 Re-structure data as required.

 Apply Forward engineering concepts in order to get re-

engineered software.

There are few important terms used in Software re-engineering

Reverse Engineering

It is a process to achieve system specification by thoroughly analyzing,

understanding the existing system. This process can be seen as reverse
SDLC model, i.e. we try to get higher abstraction level by analyzing lower
abstraction levels.

An existing system is previously implemented design, about which we

know nothing. Designers then do reverse engineering by looking at the
code and try to get the design. With design in hand, they try to conclude
the specifications. Thus, going in reverse from code to system
specification.
Program Restructuring

It is a process to re-structure and re-construct the existing software. It is

all about re-arranging the source code, either in same programming
language or from one programming language to a different one.
Restructuring can have either source code-restructuring and data-
restructuring or both.

Re-structuring does not impact the functionality of the software but

enhance reliability and maintainability. Program components, which cause
errors very frequently can be changed, or updated with re-structuring.

The dependability of software on obsolete hardware platform can be

removed via re-structuring.

Forward Engineering

Forward engineering is a process of obtaining desired software from the

specifications in hand which were brought down by means of reverse
engineering. It assumes that there was some software engineering
already done in the past.

Forward engineering is same as software engineering process with only

one difference it is carried out always after reverse engineering.

Component reusability

A component is a part of software program code, which executes an

independent task in the system. It can be a small module or sub-system
itself.

Example

The login procedures used on the web can be considered as components,

printing system in software can be seen as a component of the software.
Components have high cohesion of functionality and lower rate of
coupling, i.e. they work independently and can perform tasks without
depending on other modules.

In OOP, the objects are designed are very specific to their concern and
have fewer chances to be used in some other software.

In modular programming, the modules are coded to perform specific tasks

which can be used across number of other software programs.

There is a whole new vertical, which is based on re-use of software

component, and is known as Component Based Software Engineering
(CBSE).

Re-use can be done at various levels

 Application level - Where an entire application is used as sub-

system of new software.

 Component level - Where sub-system of an application is used.

 Modules level - Where functional modules are re-used.

Software components provide interfaces, which can be used to establish

communication among different components.

Reuse Process

Two kinds of method can be adopted: either by keeping requirements

same and adjusting components or by keeping components same and
modifying requirements.
 Requirement Specification - The functional and non-functional
requirements are specified, which a software product must comply
to, with the help of existing system, user input or both.

 Design - This is also a standard SDLC process step, where

requirements are defined in terms of software parlance. Basic
architecture of system as a whole and its sub-systems are created.

 Specify Components - By studying the software design, the

designers segregate the entire system into smaller components or
sub-systems. One complete software design turns into a collection
of a huge set of components working together.

 Search Suitable Components - The software component

repository is referred by designers to search for the matching
component, on the basis of functionality and intended software
requirements..

 Incorporate Components - All matched components are packed

together to shape them as complete software.