Adaptive Methodologies For Back-to-School Online Information System Development

Types of Development Methodologies

The online information system for Back-to-School will require a system development methodology. There are two types of development methodologies that can be used as predictive or adaptive methodologies. The ones that will be apt for this case will be the adaptive methodologies.

The adaptive methodologies are the ones which are ad-hoc in nature and these methodologies do not rely upon a specific set of order. These provide the development guidelines, methods, and approach as per the project conditions and scenario. There are various adaptive methodologies that may be used for BTS online information system. Some of the adaptive methodologies include agile SCRUM frameworks, Extreme Programming (XP), and Rational Unified Process (RUP).

SCRUM framework is a sub-set of agile methodology for the development of the systems. In this approach, there are sprints (Iterations) carried out for the system development activities. The overall requirements of the information system for BTS will be placed in the product backlog. There will be sub-set of requirements that will be extracted from the product backlog and these will be placed in the sprint backlog (Adi, 2015). The sprint will extract the requirements from the sprint backlog and the team will execute the requirements during the sprint lifecycle. A working product will be provided at the end of every sprint. There will also be a feedback process conducted at the end of the sprint and the recommended changes will be made in the next sprint. Fast-pace development projects shall be developed using this methodology along with the ones that have skilled set of resources. This is because there is too much reliance on the resource skills under this methodology.

The most prominent methodology from the agile family of methodologies is Extreme Programming (XP). Adaptability of the product is placed high-on priority under the steps that are followed in this methodology. The short development cycles are followed and the changes to the product/systems can be easily made. Communication and feedback are the two basic properties that are followed in this methodology to make sure that the end product is in accordance with the expectations of the client (Fojtik, 2011). The feedback process is carried out from the customer, from the members of the project team, and from the system itself to make continuous improvement to the product. The methodology shall be used in the project that have a constrained budget and demand shorter runs. It must be used in the projects in which simplicity of the code may be needed in association with the changes to be made. The methodology lays more focus on the code rather than the design which may lead to compromised visual appeal of the system.

Adaptive Methodologies and their Features

Rational Unified Process (RUP) is an adaptive development methodology that is object-oriented in nature. There are four phases defined and applied as a part of this methodology as inception, elaboration, construction, and transition. The methodology takes the best principles and guidelines from the Waterfall approach and puts them in to adaptive nature of development (Zaminkar & Reshadinezhad, 2016). It is however process-heavy in nature and may be slow for certain projects. It will not be suitable for the projects that demand shorter lifecycle.

There are three adaptive methodologies that have been discussed above with their features, pros, cons, and adaptability. The methodology that is recommended for BTS is SCRUM framework for software development. The methodology has been recommended because of the nature of requirements of the information system that needs to be deployed. The information system for BTS needs to be developed in such a manner that the code is scalable and the system has a visual appeal to it. The problems in the current system revolve around performance and usability issues that are expected to be resolved in the new system. The use of SCRUM frameworks will make sure that the information system is developed in shorter lifecycle and the use of scrum iterations will provide short-term goals. There will be feedback collected from the customers to incorporate the changes in the system. There may be several changes required to be made in the system which will not be handled effectively with RUP methodology. Also, the focus on the design shall be maintained which will not be done under XP methodology (Mahnic, 2012).

Thus, the use of SCRUM methodology for system development will ensure that the system is scalable, usable, adaptable, and is always available. There will be no issues in the performance of the system as the response time and throughput time of the system will be less.

Event	Event Type	Trigger	Source	Activity/Use Case	System Response/ Output	Destination
Parent wants to create online account	Internal	New parent	Parent	Create online account	New parent shall be added	SSP, parent
Parent wants place order for respective student	Internal	New items are to be ordered for a student	Parent, student	Add student order	New order has been created	SSP, parent
Parent wants to specify the delivery option	Internal	New order	Parent	Specify delivery option	Delivery option has been selected	SSP, Parent
Parents wants to make payment	Internal	New order	Parent	Make Payment	Payment has been made	SSP, Parent
SSP generates invoice	External	Payment was done	System	Generate invoice	Invoice has ben generated	Parent
Parent wants to track order	Internal	New order	Parent	Track order	System reveals order status	Parent

Use Case	Create Online Account
Scenario	Create a account
Triggering Event	Parent wants to register on the system
Description	System allows parent to register on the system and access its
Actors	Parent
Related Use Case	–
Stakeholders	Parent
Pre-Condition	Parent can access the URL of the system and has passcode of the respective school for whose student parent shall create a student order.
Post-Condition	Parent has successfully creates an online account
Flow of activities
Actor	System
1)Parents selects the school from drop down list on the page and enters passcode (A1). 3) Parents fills the form and click submit.(A2)	2) A form will be displayed to enter the delivery address, contact details, username and password. 4) A notification email is sent to the parent.
Alternate Course of Action	A1 – Incorrect passcode is entered, system raises an error. A2 – Incorrect data type information is entered, system raises an error.

References

Adi, P. (2015). Scrum Method Implementation in a Software Development Project Management. International Journal Of Advanced Computer Science And Applications, 6(9). doi: 10.14569/ijacsa.2015.060927

Fojtik, R. (2011). Extreme Programming in development of specific software. Procedia Computer Science, 3, 1464-1468. doi: 10.1016/j.procs.2011.01.032 

Fuchs, C., & Obrist, M. (2010). HCI and Society: Towards a Typology of Universal Design Principles. International Journal Of Human-Computer Interaction, 26(6), 638-656. doi: 10.1080/10447311003781334

Javaid, M. (2013). Review and Analysis of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) Principles. SSRN Electronic Journal. doi: 10.2139/ssrn.2333608

Mahnic, V. (2012). A Capstone Course on Agile Software Development Using Scrum. IEEE Transactions On Education, 55(1), 99-106. doi: 10.1109/te.2011.2142311

Natda, K. (2013). Responsive Web Design. Eduvantage, 1(1). doi: 10.11635/2319-9954/1/1/18

Zaminkar, M., & Reshadinezhad, M. (2016). Customization of Rational Unified Process (RUP) Methodology for Safety-Critical Systems. International Review On Computers And Software (IRECOS), 11(6), 566. doi: 10.15866/irecos.v11i6.9184