SYSTEM REQUIREMENT SPECIFICATIONS
Title
: Infoware Services
Objective:
This project will be designed and
developed for FAQ’s posted to various departments. The University examination branch wants to
maintain all the frequently asked questions in the database subject wise, to
available them to all the students. And
they will update the questions as and when required. The primary goal of
Infoware Services is to provide an environment that is both convenient and efficient to use in retrieving and
storing database information.
The database system must provide for the
safety of the information stored, despite system crashes or attempts at
unauthorized access. If data are to be
shared among several users, the system must avoid possible anomalous results. In
“Info ware Services”
maintaining the details of various frequently asked questions posted by the
students to the administrators of consult department are to be kept in a data
base and also can be retrieved easily when the admin answers that question.
Existing System:
The existing system is a
manual one. When the student wants to clear his query he personally contacts
the concerned person in the university. The concerned person will clear his
doubt. Difficulty in contacting the concerned person. Difficult to handle more
students for administrator. Difficulty of maintaining frequently asked
questions in a data base.
Proposed System:
The
proposed system has one super user to control the data, appointing the
administrators in each department. The administrator is responsible to answer
all the questions posted by students. When the student post a question in
certain department the respective administrator will answer the question and a
copy of the answer will be sent to the student. Faster processing when compared
to existing one. Maintaining frequently asked questions. Modifications of
answers can be carried out immediately, Administrator can handle more number of
students, Easy maintenance of administrator details.
Scope:
The proposed system scope is limited to Intranet only. In this system there is
communication between administrator and student, but not between student and
student. One department is assigned to one administrator. So that he is not
able to answer the questions more than one subject in spite having knowledge on
another subject. We can also implement
internationalization (i18n) to support user interface in various/local
languages
Study
of the system:
To provide flexibility to the users,
the interfaces have been developed that are accessible through a browser. The
GUI’S at the top level have been categorized as
1.
Administrative
user interface
2.
The
operational or generic user interface
The ‘administrative user
interface’ concentrates on the consistent information that is practically, part
of the organizational activities and which needs proper authentication for the
data collection. These interfaces help the administrators with all the
transactional states like Data insertion, Data deletion and Date updation along
with the extensive data search capabilities.
The ‘operational or generic user
interface’ helps the end users of the system in transactions through the
existing data and required services. The operational user interface also helps
the ordinary users in managing their own information in a customized manner as
per the included flexibilities.
Feasibility
Study:
Feasibility Report:
Preliminary
investigation examines project feasibility, the likelihood the system will be
useful to the organization. The main objective of the feasibility study is to
test the Technical, Operational and Economical feasibility for adding new
modules and debugging old running system. All systems are feasible if they are
given unlimited resources and infinite time. There are aspects in the feasibility
study portion of the preliminary investigation:
·
Technical
Feasibility
·
Operation
Feasibility
·
Economical
Feasibility
Technical
Feasibility:
The technical issue
usually raised during the feasibility stage of the investigation includes the
following:
- Does
the necessary technology exist to do what is suggested?
- Do the
proposed equipments have the technical capacity to hold the data required
to use the new system?
- Will
the proposed system provide adequate response to inquiries, regardless of
the number or location of users?
- Can
the system be upgraded if developed?
- Are
there technical guarantees of accuracy, reliability, ease of access and
data security?
Operational Feasibility:
Proposed
projects are beneficial only if they can be turned out into information systems,
which will meet the organization’s operating requirements. Operational
feasibility aspects of the project are to be taken as an important part of the
project implementation. Some of the important issues raised are to test the
operational feasibility of a project includes the following: -
- Is
there sufficient support for the management from the users?
- Will
the system be used and work properly if it is being developed and
implemented?
- Will
there be any resistance from the user that will undermine the possible
application benefits?
This
system is targeted to be in accordance with the above-mentioned issues.
Beforehand, the management issues and user requirements have been taken into
consideration. So there is no question of resistance from the users that can
undermine the possible application benefits.
The well-planned design
would ensure the optimal utilization of the computer resources and would help
in the improvement of performance status.
Economic Feasibility:
A system
can be developed technically and that will be used if installed must still be a
good investment for the organization. In the economical feasibility, the
development cost in creating the system is evaluated against the ultimate
benefit derived from the new systems. Financial benefits must equal or exceed
the costs. The system is economically feasible. It does not require any
additional hardware or software.
Functional Requirements:
Number of Modules
After careful analysis the system
has been identified to have the following modules:
1. Super User
2. Administrator
3. Student
Super User:
The
responsibility of the super user is to centrally control the data, appoint
administrators to all the departments and shifting the administrators’ one
department to other and replacing with others when there is a vacancy in any
departments.
Administrator:
The major responsibility of
administrator is to answer all the questions posted by students on a regular
basis. The administrator can add, modify or remove questions from all the
categories. Administrator also reserves a right to post a question into a
particular category even if it is not a question frequently asked. The
administrators have the capability of changing his password as when he
requires.
Students:
These are the users at the lower level of
our abstraction. Before posting a
question, the student has to select the department to which it belongs. A copy of the answer will be sent to the
student after the administrator answered his question.
Non-Functional Requirements:
Software Requirements:
Technology : Java and J2EE
Web
Technologies : Html,
JavaScript, CSS
Web
Server :
Tomcat5.5
Database : Oracle 10g
Hardware Requirements:
Pentium
processor : 512 MHZ
RAM Capacity : 1 GB
Hard Disk : 20GB
Keyboard :
108 Standard
Mouse : Optical
Monitor : 15’’
Color Monitor
Input Design:
Input design is a part of overall
system design. The main objective during
the input design is as given below:
·
To
produce a cost-effective method of input.
·
To
achieve the highest possible level of accuracy.
·
To
ensure that the input is acceptable and understood by the user.
Input Stages:
The main input
stages can be listed as below:
·
Data
recording
·
Data
transcription
·
Data
conversion
·
Data
verification
·
Data
control
·
Data
transmission
·
Data
validation
·
Data
correction
Input Types:
It is necessary to determine the
various types of inputs. Inputs can be
categorized as follows:
·
External
inputs, which are prime inputs for the system.
·
Internal
inputs, which are user communications with the system.
·
Operational,
which are computer department’s communications to the system?
·
Interactive,
which are inputs entered during a dialogue.
Input Media:
At this stage
choice has to be made about the input media.
To conclude about the input media consideration has to be given to;
·
Type
of input
·
Flexibility
of format
·
Speed
·
Accuracy
·
Verification
methods
·
Rejection
rates
·
Ease
of correction
·
Storage
and handling requirements
·
Security
·
Easy
to use
·
Portability
Keeping in view the above description
of the input types and input media, it can be said that most of the inputs are
of the form of internal and interactive.
As
Input data is to be the directly keyed
in by the user, the keyboard can be considered to be the most suitable input
device.
Output Design:
Outputs from computer systems are
required primarily to communicate the results of processing to users. They are
also used to provide a permanent copy of the results for later consultation.
The various types of outputs in general are:
·
External
Outputs whose destination is outside the organization.
·
Internal
Outputs whose destination is with in organization and they are the User’s main
interface with the computer.
·
Operational
outputs whose use is purely with in the computer department.
·
Interface
outputs, which involve the user in communicating directly with the system.
Output Definition
The
outputs should be defined in terms of the following points:
§
Type
of the output
§
Content
of the output
§
Format
of the output
§
Location
of the output
§
Frequency
of the output
§
Volume
of the output
§
Sequence
of the output
It is not always desirable to print or
display data as it is held on a computer. It should be decided as which form of
the output is the most suitable.
For Example
·
Will
decimal points need to be inserted
·
Should
leading zeros be suppressed.
Output
Media:
In the next stage it is to be decided
that which medium is the most appropriate for the output. The main
considerations when deciding about the output media are:
·
The
suitability for the device to the particular application.
·
The
need for a hard copy.
·
The
response time required.
·
The
location of the users
·
The
software and hardware available.
Keeping in
view the above description the project is to have outputs mainly coming under
the category of internal outputs. The main outputs desired according to the
requirement specification are:
The outputs were needed to be
generated as a hard copy and as well as queries to be viewed on the
screen. Keeping in view these outputs,
the format for the output is taken from the outputs, which are currently being
obtained after manual processing. The
standard printer is to be used as output media for hard copies.
SDLC
Methodology:
This
document play a vital role in the development of life cycle (SDLC) as it
describes the complete requirement of the system. It means for use by developers and will be
the basic during testing phase. Any
changes made to the requirements in the future will have to go through formal
change approval process.
SPIRAL MODEL was defined by Barry Boehm in
his 1988 article, “A spiral Model of Software Development and Enhancement. This model was not the first model to discuss
iterative development, but it was the first model to explain why the iteration
models.
As originally envisioned, the iterations were typically 6 months
to 2 years long. Each phase starts with
a design goal and ends with a client reviewing the progress thus far. Analysis and engineering efforts are applied
at each phase of the project, with an eye toward the end goal of the project.
The steps for Spiral Model
can be generalized as follows:
·
The
new system requirements are defined in as much details as possible. This usually involves interviewing a number
of users representing all the external or internal users and other aspects of
the existing system.
·
A
preliminary design is created for the new system.
·
A
first prototype of the new system is constructed from the preliminary
design. This is usually a scaled-down
system, and represents an approximation of the characteristics of the final
product.
·
A
second prototype is evolved by a fourfold procedure:
1.
Evaluating
the first prototype in terms of its strengths, weakness, and risks.
2.
Defining
the requirements of the second prototype.
3.
Planning
an designing the second prototype.
4.
Constructing
and testing the second prototype.
·
At
the customer option, the entire project can be aborted if the risk is deemed
too great. Risk factors might involved
development cost overruns, operating-cost miscalculation, or any other factor
that could, in the customer’s judgment, result in a less-than-satisfactory final
product.
·
The
existing prototype is evaluated in the same manner as was the previous
prototype, and if necessary, another prototype is developed from it according
to the fourfold procedure outlined above.
·
The
preceding steps are iterated until the customer is satisfied that the refined prototype
represents the final product desired.
·
The
final system is constructed, based on the refined prototype.
·
The
final system is thoroughly evaluated and tested. Routine maintenance is carried on a
continuing basis to prevent large scale failures and to minimize down time.
The
following diagram shows how a spiral model acts like:
Advantages:
·
Estimates(i.e. budget, schedule etc .) become more relistic
as work progresses, because important issues discoved earlier.
·
It is more able to cope with the changes that are software
development generally entails.
Software
engineers can get their hands in and start woring on the core of a project earlier
Performance Requirements:
Performance
is measured in terms of the output provided by the application. Requirement specification
plays an important part in the analysis of a system. Only when the requirement
specifications are properly given, it is possible to design a system, which
will fit into required environment. It rests largely with the users of the
existing system to give the requirement specifications because they are the
people who finally use the system. This
is because the requirements have to be known during the initial stages so that
the system can be designed according to those requirements. It is very difficult to change the system
once it has been designed and on the other hand designing a system, which does
not cater to the requirements of the user, is of no use.
The
requirement specification for any system can be broadly stated as given
below:
·
The
system should be able to interface with the existing system
·
The
system should be accurate
·
The
system should be better than the existing system
The existing system is completely
dependent on the user to perform all the duties.
DFD (Context level Diagram):
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Students
Details
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Super User Admin options
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Details |
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Architecture flow :(N-Tier)
N-Tier Applications can easily implement the concepts of
Distributed Application Design and Architecture. The N-Tier Applications
provide strategic benefits to Enterprise Solutions. While 2-tier, client-server
can help us create quick and easy solutions and may be used for Rapid
Prototyping, they can easily become maintenance and security night mare The
N-tier Applications provide specific advantages that are vital to the business
continuity of the enterprise. Typical features of a real life n-tier may
include the following:
·
Security
·
Availability and Scalability
·
Manageability
·
Easy Maintenance
·
Data Abstraction
The above
mentioned points are some of the key design goals of a successful n-tier
application that intends to provide a good Business Solution.
Definition:
Simply stated,
an n-tier application helps us distribute the overall functionality into
various tiers or layers:
·
Presentation Layer
·
Business Logic layer
·
Data Link Layer
·
Database/Data Store
Each layer can
be developed independently of the other provided that it adheres to the
standards and communicates with the other layers as per the specifications. This
is the one of the biggest advantages of the n-tier application. Each layer can potentially treat the other
layer as a ‘Block-Box’. In other words, each layer does not care how other
layer processes the data as long as it sends the right data in a correct
format.
Fig:
N-Tier Architecture
1.
Presentation Layer:
Also called as client layer, comprises of components that are
dedicated to presenting the data to the user. For example: Windows/Web Forms
and buttons, edit boxes, Text boxes, labels, grids, etc.
2.
Business Logic Layer:
This layer encapsulates the Business rules or the business logic
of the encapsulations. To have a separate layer for business logic is of a
great advantage. This is because any changes in Business Rules can be easily
handled in this layer. As long as the interface between the layers remains the
same, any changes to the functionality/processing logic in this layer can be
made without impacting the others. A lot of client-server apps failed to
implement successfully as changing the business logic was a painful process.
3. Data Link Layer:
This
layer comprises of components that help in accessing the Database. If used in
the right way, this layer provides a level of abstraction for the database
structures. Simply put changes made to the database, tables, etc do not affect
the rest of the application because of the Data Access layer. The different
application layers send the data requests to this layer and receive the
response from this layer.
4.
Database Layer:
This layer comprises of the Database Components such as DB Files,
Tables, Views, etc. The Actual database could be created using SQL Server,
Oracle, Flat files, etc. In an n-tier application, the entire application can
be implemented in such a way that it is independent of the actual Database. For
instance, you could change the Database Location with minimal changes to Data
Access Layer. The rest of the Application should remain unaffected
