RAD Development Phases

RAD Development Phases

Project Phases and Deliverables

The major phases of a Web application development are:

Project Initiation
Requirements analysis
Proof of Concept Prototyping (if needed)
Build Cycle (Iterative prototyping cycles)
Design Phase (Component, Data, Process and Interface)
Development Phase
User Feedback
Testing
Deployment / Implementation
Post implementation support

Some of these phases are conducted onsite while others are carried out offshore. Typically, the onsite phases are Project Initiation, Requirement Analysis, Prototype and High Level Design. This is followed by Development and Unit Testing offshore while Acceptance testing takes place onsite again.

Project Initiation

The Project Initiation Phase comprises activities to be conducted both offshore and at the onsite location. The main tasks carried out during this phase are

· Understand the client organisation’s IT structure, standards, and processes

· Fix standards and procedures to be used in the project in conjunction with the client staff

· Team building and Knowledge Transfer

This is achieved either in the form of training provided to LinksMultiple by client teams or through meetings and workshops with client organisation groups

Deliverables: Project Schedule and Detailed Project Plan

Requirements Analysis Phase

After understanding and analysing the requirements, LinksMultiple prepares a detailed project plan and submits this for the client's approval. Further, LinksMultiple also prepares a detailed report on the business requirements.

LinksMultiple will follow the "Use Case" methodology to collect user requirements, which can be integrated into the analysis and design case tools.

Collected requirements will be analysed and application system functional requirements specifications will be developed. Incremental or iterative methodology will be used in developing the applications, using the RAD approach.

As a part of the analyses, the following tasks will be completed:

· Analysis of requirements

· Development of functional model

· Functional requirement specifications

· Application system test plan

Deliverables: Client Requirement Analysis Document / Requirement Specification document.

Prototype Phase

LinksMultiple strongly recommends this phase as part of the application development methodology. The main objective of prototyping as a part of the web application development methodology is to perform the following:

· Validation of the maturity of the web technologies, tools, and methodologies

· Selection of development and execution environment, including tools

· Developing of Graphical User Interface

· Addressing Performance, Security, and Privacy requirements for the application

The prototype will be developed after completion of the application system requirements, and the initial application architecture and design.

Based on feedback and discussions with the client regarding the prototype, the requirements, project plan, and scope will be redefined, if required.

Deliverables: Prototype of web application/interface

Design Phase

Given the aggressive schedule and time to market requirement for most e-Business applications, LinksMultiple often proposes beginning the prototype development and Design phase together, using the “build cycle” approach of the methodology. Each build cycle is an iterative cycle involving evolutions in the design and the prototype. By incorporating iterations and refining the design based on client feedback the application architecture will be able to meet the application system requirements. The high-level and detailed-level design specifications will be developed during the design phase. As part of the design, the following tasks will be completed:

· Application architecture (HLD, DLD)

· Update of Data modelling (if required)

· Design of graphical User Interface screens

In addition, unit and system test plans will be developed for the application system.

Deliverables: Design document(s) and the pseudo code

Development Phase

In this phase the web application system will be developed in a given environment. As part of this phase, the following will be completed:

· Development

· Unit testing

Deliverables: Unit tested Code

System Testing Phase

In this phase, the web application system will be tested in a given environment. As a part of this phase, the following will activities will be completed:

· Integration testing

· Functional/System testing

· Stress and load testing

Usually, test cases are developed using a third party automated testing suite. In this phase, the application is tested to address stress and performance considerations. As part of this phase, the following activities will be completed:

· Installation testing

· Stress and performance testing

· Documentation—Installation Guide and User Guide

· Product Release Notes

Deliverables: Integrated and System tested code

Acceptance Phase

In this phase, clients execute the acceptance plan at their own locations with LinksMultiple providing appropriate support. LinksMultiple and the client jointly develop the acceptance plan, after mutual agreement, as part of the design phase. A subset of the system test plan is identified as the acceptance test plan.

RAD Project Management

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