Prepare an outline for a system design specification and describe the contents of each section.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Responses will vary depending on the amount of information you supply to students during the preliminary investigation and enterprise modeling portions of the project. You can ask students to follow the system design specification layout suggested in the chapter, or you might want to require other sections or topics. A typical system design specification would include the following sections:
• Management Summary. The management summary provides a brief overview of the project for company managers and executives. It outlines the development efforts to date, provides a current status report, summarizes current project costs and costs for the remaining phases, reviews the overall benefits of the new system, presents the systems development phase schedule, and highlights any issues that management will need to address.
• System Components. This section contains the complete design for the new system, including the user interface, outputs, inputs, files, databases, and network specifications. You should include source documents, report and screen layouts, DFDs, and all other relevant documentation. You also should include the requirements for all support processing, such as backup and recovery, startup processing, and file retention. If the purchase of a software package is part of the strategy, you must include any interface information required between the package and the system you are developing. If you use a CASE design tool, you can print design diagrams and most other documentation directly from the tool.
• System Environment. This section describes the constraints, or conditions, affecting the system, including any requirements that involve operations, hardware, systems software, or security. Examples of operational constraints include transaction volumes that must be supported, data storage requirements, processing schedules, reporting deadlines, and online response times.
• Implementation Requirements. In this section, you specify startup processing, initial data entry or acquisition, user training requirements, and software test plans.
• Time and Cost Estimates. This section provides detailed schedules, cost estimates, and staffing requirements for the systems development phase and revised projections for the remainder of the SDLC. You also present total costs-to-date for the project and compare those costs with your prior estimates.
• Appendices. Supplemental material can be included in appendices at the end of the system design specification. In this section, you might include copies of documents from the first three phases if they would provide a helpful reference for readers.