WATERFALL

Water fall is one of the oldest models of SDLC. Also known as a Traditional model. It is a sequential (non-iterative) software development process, in which progress is seen as flowing steadily downwards (like a waterfall) through the phases of Requirement Analysis →Design →Development →Testing →Implementation →Maintenance & Operation.

– After each and every phase the document is reviewed and approved.
– The output of 1st Phase becomes the Input for 2nd Phase and so on.
– Resources are not used in optimal fashion.

Requirement Analysis

The actual work of business analyst starts here. He/she will elicit requirements using elicitation techniques. Document them such that everyone can understand and shares it with the team.

Artifacts: FSD – Functional Specification Documentation

Stake Holders: BA, Business owner

Design

Architects will start designing the system basing the requirements gathered by BA.

 BA will help to clarify any doubts in the requirement.

Artifacts: Logical and Physical architecture, UML diagrams

Stake holders: Architects and BA

Development

This is the longest phase of SDLC. Developers start building the product in the development environment, using the requirement and design artifacts. They do a unit test once the development is completed and send it to QA team.

BA will help in providing clarification to developers on requirements.

Artifacts: Code

Stake holders: Developers and BA

Testing

Testing is done in the test environment, once the development is completed to check if the system is working according to the requirements of the business owner.

 BA will give any clarification while creating test cases on the requirements.

Artifacts: Test results, Test cases

Stake holders: Testers, BA

Implementation

Once the code is developed and tested the code is implemented in the production environment. The implementation team will be given an implementation plan document which is developed by the developers and tester.  The regression test is done once the implementation is done.

BA will review the implemented system and make sure the team delivered the right product.

Artifacts: Post Implementation review, Implementation plan.

Stakeholders: BA, Implementation team

Operation & Maintenance

Once the implementation has completed a team will maintain the system by installing patches, handling change requests. Data loads are also taken care at this stage.

BA is the person who knows in and out of the system. So, any change requests should first be analyzed by BA and based on BA’s report team will respond.

Artifacts: in-process review, user satisfaction review, Status reports of the daily loads.

Stake holders: PM, BA, CAB team, Maintenance team

Advantages

  1. Verification is inherent to every phase of the waterfall model.
  2. It is an enforced disciplined approach.
  3. It is document centric approach, that is documentation is produced at every stage.

Disadvantages

  1. Adjusting scope during the life cycle can kill a project.
  2. No working software is produced until late during the life cycle.
  3. High amounts of risk and uncertainty.
  4. Poor model for complex and object-oriented projects.
  5. Poor model for long and ongoing projects.
  6. A poor model where requirements are at a moderate to high risk of changing.
  7. Less productivity as people will be idle in some phases.
  8. Verification is an inheritance to every phase of the waterfall model.

Different types of artifacts a BA makes

  1. Functional Specification Document: A functional specification is a formal document used to describe specifications in detail for software developers a product’s intended capabilities, appearance, and interactions with users.
  2. Requirement review artifacts: It is a formal review conducted to ensure that system requirements have been completely and properly identified.
  3. Design review artifacts: Structural diagram will be developed – Logical / Physical diagram.
  4. Code review artifacts: other developers & other technical people will review the code and approve it.
  5. Test review artifacts: test team will develop test plan, test cases, test scenarios, test result, summary report or test summary report.

Change management process

Any change in the scope/requirement must go thru BA.

Types of Impact / Impact Analysis

  1. Business impact: Timeline, Cost, Cross-Project organization, Financial & Non-financial benefits.
  2. Technical Impact: Application, Solution, Design, Other functionality, Hardware & Software.

BA facilitates a review, obtain feedbacks and necessary approvals from the below group

  1. Change Approval Board (CAB)
  2. Change Control Board (CCB)
  3. Governance Council (group of senior management)

The same will be analyzed/evaluated and further action would be taken.

If approved, Requirement Artifacts would be updated.

Types of Artifacts

Living Artifacts: Can be changed over the period of time. For example

  • Status Report
  • Risk Register
  • Project Plan

Base-line Artifacts: Does not change, remain constant.

Project Charter