Question

Briefly describe the ways in which each of the following provides a basis for project planning:

a.operational requirements

b.software specifications

c.process constraints

d.product constraints

Answer 1

Project Planning: Software project planning is a task, which is performed before the production of software really starts. It is a software production but does not involve existing activity that has direction connection with software production.

a. Operational requirements:

Operational requirements are those which identify the necessary capabilities, connected requirements, performance actions, and the process or series of actions to be taken in implementation of the results that are desired in order to deal with undertaking area deficiencies, developing applications or threats, rising technologies, or system cost improvements.

The operational requirements assessment starts with the Concept of Operations and goes to a greater level of detail in identifying the task performance estimations and constraints and current deficiencies or improvements needed for operations and task success. Operational requirements are the basis for system requirements.

The operational requirements focus on how the system will be operated by the users, including interfaces and interoperability with other systems.

b. Software specifications:

The software specifications are prepared by the analyst after the requirements are gathered from various clients. This defines how the planned software will interact with hardware, external interfaces, speed of operation, response time of system, portability of software across various platforms, maintainability, speed of recovery after crashing, security, quality, limitations.

The specifications received from client are written in natural language. It is the responsibility of system analyst to document the requirements in technical language so that they can be understood and useful by the software development team.

c. Process Constraints:

Constraints are a type of non-functional requirement that is imposed by the client that restricts the implementation of the system or the development process.

d. Product Constraints:

A constraint in project management is a restriction that defines the limitations of the project.The three most important project constraints are schedule, cost and scope . These are sometimes known as the triple constraint or the project management triangle.

• The schedule specifies the timeline according to which the components will be delivered, including the final deadline for completion.
• The scope of the project involves the specific goals, deliverables and tasks that define the limitations of the project.
• Cost involves the financial limitation of resources input to the project and also the overall limit for the total amount that can be spent.