Software Engineering Tutorial

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Let us understand what Software Engineering stands for. The term is made of two
words, software and engineering.

Software is more than just a program code. A program is an executable code,

which serves some computational purpose. Software is considered to be collection
of executable programming code, associated libraries and documentations.
Software, when made for a specific requirement is called software product.

Engineering on the other hand, is all about developing products, using well-
defined, scientific principles and methods.

Software engineering is an engineering branch associated with development of

software product using well-defined scientific principles, methods and procedures.
The outcome of software engineering is an efficient and reliable software product.

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Characteristics of good software

A software product can be judged by what it offers and how well it can be used.
This software must satisfy on the following grounds:

Operational
Transitional
Maintenance
Well-engineered and crafted software is expected to have the following
characteristics:

Operational
This tells us how well the software works in operations. It can be measured on:

Budget
Usability
Efficiency
Correctness
Functionality
Dependability
Security
Safety

Transitional
This aspect is important when the software is moved from one platform to
another:
Portability
Interoperability
Reusability
Adaptability

Maintenance
This aspect briefs about how well the software has the capabilities to maintain
itself in the ever-changing environment:
Modularity
Maintainability
Flexibility
Scalability

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In short, Software engineering is a branch of computer science, which uses well-

defined engineering concepts required to produce efficient, durable, scalable, in-
budget, and on-time software products.

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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. The user contacts the service provider and tries to negotiate the terms,
submits the 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 -

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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 designed to fulfill all
requirements of the user, and if there is any possibility of software being no more
useful. It is also analyzed 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,

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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.

Software Development Paradigm

The software development paradigm helps a 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. 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.

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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 have a unique and distinct goal.

Project is not a routine activity or day-to-day operation.
Project comes with a start 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.

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 there is 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 the experience of one product may not be
applied to the other one. All such business and environmental constraints bring

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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 the three factors 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. The 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
Lesion with stakeholders
Managing human resources
Setting up reporting hierarchy etc.

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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 direct connection with the software production;
rather it is a set of multiple processes, which facilitates software production.
Project planning may include the following:

Scope Management
It defines scope of the 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.

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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 the 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. Function points vary according to the user
or software requirement.

Effort estimation
The manager estimates 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,
historical data of organization, 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

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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 -

Size of the software

Software quality
Hardware
Additional software or tools, licenses etc.
Skilled personnel with task-specific skills
Travel involved
Communication
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: Here the estimation is done on behalf of number of line of

codes in the software product.

Function Points: Here the 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 estimation.These
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

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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 then arrange them
keeping various factors in mind. They look for tasks like 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 development of the 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

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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 effective steps taken to mitigate or avoid them.

Project Execution and 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 -

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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 at the correct time.
This keeps every one involved in 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.

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Project Management Tools

These tools are used for project planning, cost and effort estimation, project
scheduling and resource planning. Managers have to strictly comply project
execution with every mentioned step in software project management. Project
management tools help in storing and sharing project information in real-time
throughout the organization. For example, Creative Pro Office, Trac Project,
Basecamp.

Documentation Tools
Documentation in a software project starts prior to the software process, goes
throughout all phases of SDLC and after the completion of the project.
Documentation tools generate documents for technical users and end users.
Technical users are mostly in-house professionals of the development team who
refer to system manual, reference manual, training manual, installation manuals
etc. The end user documents describe the functioning and how-to of the system
such as user manual. For example, Doxygen, DrExplain, Adobe RoboHelp for
documentation.

Analysis Tools
These tools help to gather requirements, automatically check for any
inconsistency, inaccuracy in the diagrams, data redundancies or erroneous
omissions. For example, Accept 360, Accompa, CaseComplete for requirement
analysis, Visible Analyst for total analysis.

Design Tools
These tools help software designers to design the block structure of the software,
which may further be broken down in smaller modules using refinement
techniques. These tools provides detailing of each module and interconnections
among modules. For example, Animated Software Design.

Configuration Management Tools

An instance of software is released under one version. Configuration Management
tools deal with
Version and revision management
Baseline configuration management
Change control management
CASE tools help in this by automatic tracking, version management and release
management. For example, Fossil, Git, Accu REV.

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Change Control Tools

These tools are considered as a part of configuration management tools. They deal
with changes made to the software after its baseline is fixed or when the software
is first released. CASE tools automate change tracking, file management, code
management and more. It also helps in enforcing change policy of the
organization.

Programming Tools
These tools consist of programming environments like IDE (Integrated
Development Environment), in-built modules library and simulation tools. These
tools provide comprehensive aid in building software product and include features
for simulation and testing. For example, Cscope to search code in C, Eclipse.

Prototyping Tools
Software prototype is simulated version of the intended software product.
Prototype provides initial look and feel of the product and simulates few aspect of
actual product.

Prototyping CASE tools essentially come with graphical libraries. They can create
hardware independent user interfaces and design. These tools help us to build
rapid prototypes based on existing information. In addition, they provide
simulation of software prototype. For example, Serena prototype composer,
Mockup Builder.

Web Development Tools

These tools assist in designing web pages with all allied elements like forms, text,
script, graphic and so on. Web tools also provide live preview of what is being
developed and how will it look after completion. For example, Fontello, Adobe
Edge Inspect, Foundation 3, Brackets.

Quality Assurance Tools

Quality assurance in a software organization is monitoring the engineering process
and methods adopted to develop the software product in order to ensure
conformance of quality as per organization standards. QA tools consist of
configuration and change control tools and software testing tools. For example,
SoapTest, AppsWatch, JMeter.

Maintenance Tools
Software maintenance includes modifications in the software product after it is
delivered. Automatic logging and error reporting techniques, automatic error

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ticket generation and root cause Analysis are few CASE tools, which help software
organization in maintenance phase of SDLC. For example, Bugzilla for defect
tracking, HP Quality Center.

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