Phase III of the Term Project

Phase III of the project is the Design phase of the SDLC, and should contain the following:

1. Table of Contents [as a guide for the reader, it helps to organize the diverse materials].

2. Structure Charts. These should initially be derived from the dataflow diagrams and then modified to include control elements that are not identified in the DFD's.

3. Process Descriptions. These processes may be the same as those developed in the Analysis phase, though some changes may result from "modules" that are added in the Design phase. These processes should be added to the "Repository", or to the list of processes you itemized in the previous phase.

4. The process descriptions above should help you to determine staffing requirements and to design operating procedures and work flows.

5. The Data Dictionary you established in the previous phase should be expanded, as needed, to be as comprehensive as possible. All data stores and data flows should be included, though you should be realistic about what is manageable if you have a large, complex system.

6. Document designs. Input and output screens, reports and source documents should be designed. Again, be realistic about the volume of materials that may be required by a complex system, and focus on the key documents.

7. Hardware and Software specifications. If you have already specified the hardware and software to be used [some did this in the Feasibility Study], this will be repetitious. In the design phase you should pay attention to "capacity planning" - consider in particular the processing, storage and transmission capacities of the system. Focus on peak volume so that high volume periods can be accommodated.

8. Security requirements. You are not required to do a lot on this aspect of the system, since it may be a major job in its own right. However, you should at least identify which parts of the system need to be made secure - it is always worth using the major components of the system as an analytical tool, i.e., input, output, processing, storage and communication. It is quite likely that you will have addressed some security issues already in #4 above, since you will have specified who is authorized to do various types of input and processing and who is responsible for data integrity. You may also have addressed some issues of "control" through the Structure Charts in #2.

Phase III is almost the finished product for this class, in that the goal is to get the system through the design phase and ready for installation. You will still probably want to consider some modifications to the data dictionary and dataflow diagrams after completing the next phase of the project - Phase IV - however.