Activity #04: Project Management – Handling and Managing Projetcs

1. Giving reasons for your answer based on the type of system being developed, suggest the most
appropriate generic software process model that might be used as a basis for managing the
development of the following systems:

a. A system to control anti-lock braking in a car 


b. A virtual reality system to support software maintenance 


c. A university accounting system that replaces an existing system

d. An interactive travel planning system that helps users plan journeys with the lowest
environmental impact 


2. To reduce costs and the environmental impact of commuting, your company decides to close a
number of offices and to provide support for staff to work from home. However, the senior
management who introduce the policy is unaware that software is developed using agile methods,
which rely on close team working and pair programming. Discuss the difficulties that this new policy
might cause and how you might get around these problems. 


3. Explain why systems developed as prototypes should not normally be used as production systems.

4. Using the technique suggested here, where natural language descriptions are presented in a standard
format, write plausible user requirements for the following functions:

a. An unattended petrol (gas) pump system that includes a credit card reader. The customer
swipes the card through the reader then specifies the amount of fuel required. The fuel is delivered and
the customer’s account debited. 


b. The cash-dispensing function in a bank ATM. 


c. The spelling-check and correcting function in a word processor. 


5. Suggest how an engineer is responsible for drawing up a system requirements specification might
keep track of the relationships between functional and non-functional requirements. 


6. Using your knowledge of how an ATM is used, develop a set of use cases that could serve as a basis
for understanding the requirements for an ATM system. 


7. Who should be involved in a requirements review? Draw a process model showing how a
requirements review might be organized. 


8. When emergency changes have to be made to systems, the system software may have to be modified
before changes to the requirements have been approved. Suggest a model of a process for making these
modifications that will ensure that the requirements document and the system implementation do not
become inconsistent.