Systems Design

The team partitions the system into subsystems, specifies all system and subsystem interfaces, and documents the design using structure charts or design diagrams. Developers update error-handling and recovery strategies, update user inputs and displays, and update operational scenarios.

During this task, the development team continues to work closely with the analysts of the requirements analysis team to resolve requirements ambiguities and TBDs. To ensure that the emerging design meets the system's requirements, developers send formal requirements questions to analysts for clarification, conduct walkthroughs, and subject all design products to peer inspection. Developers conduct design walkthroughs to ensure that both the requirements analysis and development teams understand the system design as it takes shape. Developers distribute materials prior to the walk-through to participants, who include other developers, analysts, user representatives, representatives of systems that will interface with the software under development, and managers. During the meeting, developers carefully explain how operational aspects of the system (processing sequences and interfaces, screen formats, user inputs and database structures) are reflected in the emerging design. Participants comment on how completely and accurately developers have interpreted the system requirements. The walk-through typically presents the overall, system level approach followed by walkthroughs of subsystems design. All of the above information is compiled into the Detailed Design Specification that outlines in a more technical aspect how the system needs to be modified to meet the new requirements and how the new modules need to be developed. The Design Specification is delivered to the Authorized Representative(s) for review and final approval.

The following steps will be performed during the Detailed Design Sub-Task:

  1. The Requirements Specification is reviewed and analyzed by the design and development team.
  2. The Base System Design is reviewed and corresponding changes and enhancement are identified for each of the modules. For the new modules, the requirements are reviewed to determine what would be the new specifications of the system.
  3. Changes are mapped to the requirements specification in order to have a good understanding that the modification to be designed are in line with the deficiencies identified by the users.
  4. Changes are updated in the Base System Original Design including error handling, recovery strategies, user inputs, displays, data structures and operational scenarios. For the new modules, the design specification is developed.
  5. All the Changes are developed into the Detailed Design Specification.
  6. The Design and Development team will present the updated design to the Requirements Analysis team for review and final approval.

The Final Detailed Design Specification is provided to the Authorized Representative(s) for review and approval

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