Software Engineering Hub

Monday

When solving a small problem, the entire problem can be tackled at once. The complexity of large problems and the limitations of human minds do not allow large problems to be treated as huge monoliths.
As basic aim of problem analysis is to obtain a clear understanding of the needs of the clients and the users.
Frequently the client and the users do not understand or know all their needs, because the potential of the new system is often not fully appreciated.
The analysts have to ensure that the real needs of the clients and the users are uncovered, even if they don't know them clearly.
That is, the analysts are not just collecting and organizing information about the client's organization and its processes, but they also act as consultants who play an active role of helping the clients and users identify their needs.
For solving larger problems, the basic principle is the time-tested principle of "divide and conquer.“

"divide into smaller pieces, so that each piece can be conquered separately.“

For software design, partition the problem into sub problems and then try to understand each sub problem and its relationship to other sub problems in an effort to understand the total problem.
That is goal is to divide the problem into manageably small pieces that can be solved separately, because the cost of solving the entire problem is more than the sum of the cost of solving all the pieces.
The different pieces cannot be entirely independent of each other, as they together form the system. The different pieces have to cooperate and communicate to solve the larger problem.
Problem partitioning also aids design verification.
The concepts of state and projection can sometimes also be used effectively in the partitioning process.

A state of a system represents some conditions about the system. This approach is sometimes used in real-time software or process-control software.
Projection, different viewpoints of the system are defined and the system is then analyzed from these different perspectives. The different "projections" obtained are combined to form the analysis for the complete system. Analyzing the system from the different perspectives is often easier, as it limits and focuses the scope of the study.

Introduction :

The design activity begins when the requirements document for the software to be developed.
Design focuses on module view.
The design of a system is essentially a blueprint or a plan for a solution for the system.
The design process for software systems often has two levels.

At the first level the focus is on deciding which modules are needed for the system, and how the modules should be interconnected. This is what is called the system design or top-level design.
In the second level, the internal design of the modules, or how the specifications of the module can be satisfied, is decided. This design level is often called detailed design or logic design.

A design methodology is a systematic approach to creating a design by applying of a set of techniques and guidelines.
A design should clearly be verifiable, complete (implements all the specifications) traceable, and Simple.
The two most important concern of designers

Efficiency of any system is concerned with the proper use of scarce resources by the system.
An efficient system is one that consumes less processor time and requires less memory.

The main goal of monitoring is for project managers to get visibility into the project execution so that they can determine whether any action needs to be taken to ensure that the project goals are met.
The three main levels of monitoring are

Activity-level monitoring ensures that each activity in the detailed schedule has been done properly and within time.
Status reports are often prepared weekly to to take stock of what has happened and what needs to be done. Status reports typically contain a summary of the activities successfully completed
The milestone analysis is done at each milestone or every few weeks.