Discuss on the Design Process Expands on the steps taken in

Discuss on the Design Process: Expands on the steps taken in the design process, the stages of a design process, and give an example, including requirements and specifications. What is included in the design stages for the life cycle of the designed system?

Solution

Design is highly creative stage in software development where the designer plans how the system or program should meet the customers needs how to make system effective and efficient.

Any design problems must be tackled in three stages;

Study and understand the problem

Identify gross features of at least one possible solution

Describe each abstraction used in the solution

Software designers do not arrive at a finished design immediately. They develop design iteratively through number of different versions. The starting point is informal design which is refined by adding information to make it consistent and complete.

Software Requirements Specification

An SRS is basically an organization\'s understanding (in writing) of a customer or potential client\'s system requirements and dependencies at a particular point in time (usually) prior to any actual design or development work. It\'s a two-way insurance policy that assures that both the client and the organization understand the other\'s requirements from that perspective at a given point in time.

The SRS document itself states in precise and explicit language those functions and capabilities a software system (i.e., a software application, an eCommerce Web site, and so on) must provide, as well as states any required constraints by which the system must abide. The SRS also functions as a blueprint for completing a project with as little cost growth as possible. The SRS is often referred to as the \"parent\" document because all subsequent project management documents, such as design specifications, statements of work, software architecture specifications, testing and validation plans, and documentation plans, are related to it.

A general model of design process:

REQUIREMENT SPECIFICATION:

Design activity                  ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN

                                                    SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE a software product

                                              ABSTRACT SPECIFICATION

                                                 SOFTWARE SPECIFICATION

                                             INTERFACE DESIGN

                                                   INTERFACE SPECIFICATION

                                             COMPONENT DESIGN

                                                    COMPONENT SPECIFICATION

                                             DATASTRUCTURE DESIGN

                                                     DATA STRUCTURE SPECIFICATION

                                              ALGORITHM DESIGN

                                                       ALGORTHIMIC SPECIFICATION.

Example

The spell check feature in word processor is a module of software, which runs along side the word processor itself.