WHAT IS SOFTWARE

ENGINEERING?

A presentation by
QAI

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 What is
Software Engineering?
 What is Software?

• Program
• Data
• Document

3
 Types of Software

• Application software - Application software is used to provide

services to customers and run businesses more efficiently.
Examples: accounting system, a management information
system (MIS), and an enterprise resource planning (ERP)
system.

• System software - System software is used to operate and

maintain a computer system. It enables customers to use the
computer resources directly and through other software.
Examples: operating systems, compilers, and system utilities.

What is embedded software?

4
 Engineering Principles

• Fundamental engineering principles:

– Understanding the problem
– Communicating with the customer
– Defined methods for designing
– Best practices for implementing the solution
– Good strategy and tactics for testing

5
 Engineering and Software Engineering
• Engineering is the systematic application of scientific
knowledge in creating and building cost-effective solutions to
practical problems in the service of mankind.

• Software engineering is that form of engineering that applies

the principles of computer science and mathematics to
achieving cost-effective solutions to software problems.

1990 SEI Report on Undergraduate Software Engineering Education

( CMU/SEI-90-TR-003 )

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 What is Software Engineering
• The term “software engineering” was first coined at
the 1968 NATO conference where Mr. Bauer was a
principle organizer
• The term “Software Engineering” has been around
for 34 years!

7
 Why Software Engineering?
• A 1994 study by the Standash Group of 8,380
projects in the government and private sectors in
the U.S. showed that:
- 31% of software projects are cancelled before they are
completed.
- 53% of those are completed cost an average of 189% of their
original estimates.
- of those 53%, only 42% have their original set of proposed
features and functions.
- only 9% of the projects were completed on time and within
budget.

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 Software Engineering Layers

• Process: A framework that helps the project manager control

project management and engineering activities
• Methods: The technical activities required for the creation of
work products
• Tools: The automated assistance for processes and methods

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 Software Engineering
• Objectives - to ensure that
– software delivers functionality, features
– project is completed on time
– project is completed within budget
– software is manageable
– software is changeable and long living
– system is maintainable by a developer who is not part of the original
design team

The application of a systematic, disciplined, quantifiable

approach to the development, operation, and maintenance of
software :
The application of engineering to software

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 Scope of Software Engineering
Processes for development, e.g.,
- contract
- concept
- requirements
- design
- coding
- testing
- change-over
- maintenance

Supporting processes, e.g.,

- project management
- quality assurance
- configuration management
- training
- measurement / metrics

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 Software Life Cycle

• The period of time that begins when a software

product is conceived and ends when the software is
no longer available for use
– phases overlap, are performed iteratively, etc.
– different approaches possible
– another common term - SDLC
• Software life cycle models are also called software
engineering paradigms

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Sample Software Life Cycle

Concept Exploration

Requirements Analysis

Design

Coding

Test

Installation

Operation/ Maintenance

Retirement

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 Lifecycle Stages

• Analysis
• Design
• Coding/ Development
• Testing
• Implementation

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 Software Requirements
• A consolidated set of requirements explaining the
business needs of the customer
• Translation of the customer requirements to the
requirements of the software to be built
• Important concepts
– Technical requirements
– Non technical requirements
– Functional requirements
– Non Functional requirements
– Scope of Work as an input
– Acceptance criteria

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 Requirements Engineering
• Requirements Definition
– Elicitation
– Analysis or Modeling
– Documentation
– Validation
• Requirements Management
– Change Control
– Requirements traceability

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 Software Design
• A representation of software created to facilitate analysis,
planning, implementation and decision making
• The software design description is used as a medium for
communicating software design information, and may be
thought of as a blueprint of the system
• Often described as :
– high level (system design, global design, interfaces)
– low level (program / component level)
• Format, contents depend on type of application, objective
and audience

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 Coding

• Expressing a design (implementing a design) in a programming

language based on program specifications
• The main visible work
• Also called programming or construction or development phase

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 Testing
• Checking whether the software product meets
requirements
• The purpose of testing is to uncover as many
problems as possible
• If coder and tester are same, testing may be biased

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 User Acceptance
• Acceptance criteria forms the basis of acceptance of
the product / deliverable
– Criteria to be frozen early
– to be agreed between the supplier and customer
– E.g.,
• No defects in core functionalities
• Performance criteria within a tolerance of + and – 2 %
• No interoperability issues
• The user may do an acceptance testing before
accepting the system

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 Installation and Change over

• Moving the system to the customer site

• User training
• Parallel run
• Installation manual / instructions
• Environment set up

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 Operations and Maintenance

• The “real purpose” of the system

• The largest phase
• Changes required to systems for various reasons -
problems to be fixed, new requirements, changes in
policies, statutory laws, etc.
• Often treated as a separate project

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 Software Engineering SDLC

• Software Development Life Cycles

– Classic life cycle
• a sequential paradigm
– Prototyping
• a modeling paradigm
– Evolutionary models like
• Incremental
• Spiral, etc.

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 Core Activities & Role

Core Activities Role

Business Requirement Business Analyst

Software Requirement System Analyst

Design Tech Lead/Architect

Coding Developer

Testing Testing Engineer

Deployment Developers

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 Supporting Activities and role
Supporting Activities Role

Project Management Project Manager

Project Leader
Senior Management
Software Configuration Configuration Controller
Management Software Configuration Control
Board
Quality Assurance SQA Analyst
Auditor

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