Freedom Information System SDLC Choice

This assignment delves into comparing Predictive and Adaptive SDLC approaches. The focus is on recommending the most suitable SDLC model for developing the Freedom Information System. Arguments are presented for both models, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses. Ultimately, the assignment concludes that an Adaptive SDLC approach, like Scrum or Extreme Programming, best suits the Freedom Information System due to its iterative nature, customer involvement, and ability to handle evolving requirements.

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Contents
1 Non-Functional requirements..................................................................................................................2
1.1 Functional..........................................................................................................................................2
1.1.1 Features...............................................................................................................................2
1.1.2 Security................................................................................................................................2
1.2 Usability.......................................................................................................................................2
1.2.1 Help......................................................................................................................................3
1.2.2 Documentation....................................................................................................................3
1.2.3 Human factors.....................................................................................................................3
1.3 Reliability.....................................................................................................................................3
1.3.1 Recoverability......................................................................................................................3
1.3.2 Frequency of failure.............................................................................................................3
1.3.3 Predictability........................................................................................................................3
1.4 Performance................................................................................................................................4
1.4.1 Accuracy...............................................................................................................................4
1.4.2 Availability...........................................................................................................................4
1.4.3 Usage of resources...............................................................................................................4
1.4.4 Response times....................................................................................................................4
1.4.5 Throughput..........................................................................................................................4
1.5 Supportability..............................................................................................................................4
1.5.1 Maintainability.....................................................................................................................4
1.5.2 Adaptability..........................................................................................................................4
1.6 Legal requirements......................................................................................................................4
2 Cloud based solutions......................................................................................................................5
2.1 Advantages..............................................................................................................................5
2.2 Disadvantages..............................................................................................................................5
2.3 Security........................................................................................................................................6
3 Predictive SDLC vs Adaptive SDLC........................................................................................................6
3.1 Predictive SDLC..................................................................................................................................6
3.1.1 Advantages..........................................................................................................................6
3.1.2 Disadvantages......................................................................................................................6
3.2 Adaptive SDLC..............................................................................................................................7

3.2.1 Advantages..........................................................................................................................7
3.2.2 Disadvantages......................................................................................................................7
3.3 Recommendation........................................................................................................................7
4 References...........................................................................................................................................7

1 Non-Functional requirements
Non- requirements of a system specify the qualities and constraints the proposed system should have in
order to perform all the functional requirements effectively. Non-functionalities are usually not know by
the customer of the proposed system but are defined and implemented by the development team
throughout the whole development cycle of the proposed system. Thus, the end user interacts with the
system through the functional requirements and this is facilitated by the non-functional requirements.
The FURPS+ model specifies the minimum non-functional requirements all systems should have.
FURPS+ acronym is sued to depict the following nonfunctional requirements;
 Functional- features, security, capabilities
 Usability-help, documentation, human factors
 Reliability- Recoverability, predictability and frequency of failure
 Performance- accuracy, availability, usage of resources, response times and throughput
 Supportability- maintainability, adaptability, configurability and internalization
 “+” – Implementation, interfaces, operations, packaging and legal requirements among others
1.1 Functional
The functional requirements consist of the expected functions of the system that help the user to
achieve their desired user goals, activities or tasks. These requirements are not classified as non-
functional requirements but play a crucial role in the FURPS+ model as they help define the other non-
functional requirements.
1.1.1 Features
Features of the system are the desired system capabilities by the end user that will help him or her
achieve his or her user goals. The features of a system can be described by use of a use case model as
was done in the previous assignment. The use case diagram shows how the user will interacts with the
system by showing the use cases or scenarios and the boundary within which those use cases happen.
1.1.2 Security
Security is paramount to every system. How secure the end system is can be determine this success or
failure of a system. For the proposed Freedom Information System security should be a top
consideration as the system is proposed to be deployed on the cloud. The fact that the cloud will be
deployed on the cloud means that the system is susceptible to many security risks attributed to
deployment of application in the cloud. One of this security risks is loss of sensitive information to
hackers. For the Freedom Information System which is going to store patient’s personal data security
should be enforced by making sure the cloud service purchased for the deployment of the system
includes very strong mechanisms that will ensure the system is secure from the possible security risks.
1.2 Usability
Usability of the system is the quality of the design in terms of how easy it I to use the system. Usability if
a system can be measured using a system usability scale (SUS). Usability of a system should be a top
priority when designing the system (Spencer, 2004). A system that is easy to use enables the end users
to easily and efficiently undertake their tasks. User satisfaction when using a system is at most times
ignored. This makes the user experience using the system very bad and this may negatively impact the

system. For the freedom Information system, the system should be designed to be usable for all its end
users as most of them are not computer experts. Making the information system easy to use would help
them achieve their user goals easily and effectively and let them concentrate on the main tasks.
Usability includes;
1.2.1 Help
The proposed Freedom Information System should have a help feature that will enable the users to find
a solution if they get stuck while using the system. Adding help to the system will help the users to try
and find a solution which would take more time if another person was asked to come and show them
how to get around with the system.
1.2.2 Documentation
The Freedom Information System should be properly documented to ensure that there is a point of
reference by both the development team and the customer. Documentation is important for the end
users as it can act as a point of reference for any information about the system. For the development
team, documentation can help after deployment if routine or unforeseen maintenance are needed to be
carried out on the system.
1.2.3 Human factors
The human factors in the usability of a system are factors that should be considered when coming up
with the user interfaces. For the Freedom Information system all the end users who will be interacting
with the system should be considered.
1.3 Reliability
Reliability of a system is the ability of a system to continue execution under certain circumstances that
would make the system unusable if certain measures are not implemented during the development of
the system (Rouse, 2005). Reliability of a system consists of the following;
1.3.1 Recoverability
A reliable system should be able to recover from errors or failures that occur during the system
execution. This can only be achieved during the development of the system where by certain measure
and principles are adhered to make sure that the system is reliable when it is deployed. For the Freedom
Information system, reliability is a major requirement as the system is a crucial system as it deals with
patient information which can be needed at any time thus the system should be able to recover from
any failures.
1.3.2 Frequency of failure
The frequency of failure is the number of times failures occur in a system within a specified amount of
time. For a system to be reliable the frequency of failures should be very minimal to ensure the system
is can be relied upon every time with chances of a failure occurring being very low. For the Freedom
Information System the frequency of failures should be very minimal as the system deals with crucial
patient information.
1.3.3 Predictability
Predictability of a system is the ability of a system to forecast or foresee the consequences resulting
from an end user action given the state the current system is in. Predictability is covered in details in the

study of human computer interaction. The proposed Freedom Information system should be highly
predictable and should forecast the actions of the end users.
1.4 Performance
Performance of a system is the amount of work that the system can do given an input and how the
system can carry out that task. Performance of a system involves the following aspects;
1.4.1 Accuracy
The proposed Freedom Information system should be very accurate to make sure the information
processed by the system is processed accurately as the system deals with very sensitive patient
information.
1.4.2 Availability
The proposed Freedom Information System should be available at all times to make sure that the end
users can depend on it at any time.
1.4.3 Usage of resources
Resources in this context means the processing power, memory and disk space. The proposed Freedom
Information system should be able to fully utilize the resources available to make sure all the processing
of data is done with the least amount of time possible.
1.4.4 Response times
The proposed Freedom Information System should take the least amount of time to respond to user
actions. For example the system should fetch data very fast.
1.4.5 Throughput
Throughput is the maximum time processing can take place (Rouse, 2015). The proposed Freedom
Information system should be developed to ensure the throughput is very minimal.
1.5 Supportability
Supportability of a system is the ability of a system to receive support after it has been deployed and
used for a given period of time. Supportability has the following aspects;
1.5.1 Maintainability
The proposed Freedom information system should be maintainable meaning that it should be able to
handle routine and unforeseen maintenance which could occur as a result of bugs.
1.5.2 Adaptability
The proposed system should be highly adaptable meaning it should be able to improve its performance
by doing fine tuning actions on its own to make sure its adjusting according to the usage by the external
or the end users (Emanuella, 2016).
1.6 Legal requirements
These requirements are additional to the FURPS and specify that the proposed Freedom Information
System should be able to meet all legal constraints to make sure it does not violate any laws set under
its field of medical care.

2 Cloud based solutions
Cloud computing is the provision of computing resources in an ubiquitous approach over the internet.
The computing resources may include; servers, storage, networks, applications and services. There are
three architectures through which cloud services are delivered and deployed;
 Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
 Platform as a Service (PaaS)
 Software as a Service (SaaS)
For the proposed Freedom Information system the best approach to use to deploy the information
system is software as a service which is a model of cloud computing where a software is delivered to the
end user over the internet. This mean would mean that after the system is developed, it would be
deployed on a SaaS cloud and accessed by the end users through the internet. This model of
deployment of the proposed system has its advantages and disadvantages;
2.1 Advantages
The following are the advantages of deploying the proposed information system in the SaaS cloud
model;
 Reduced cost- Deploying the proposed system on a cloud would significantly reduce the initial
cost that would be used if the system was deployed on premises.
 Quick deployment and setup- Deploying and setting up a software in a cloud is a very easy and
straight forward thing as the cloud service provider has already done all the configurations thus
the cloud is already software deployment ready.
 Scalability- one of the most important advantages or concept of the cloud is that it is an on-
demand service meaning that the customer can be able to scale upward or downwards
depending on the current situation of the system.
 Accessibility- deploying the proposed system in SaaS cloud would make the system application
very accessible from any location and at any time.
2.2 Disadvantages
The following are the disadvantages of deploying the proposed system on a SaaS cloud service;
 Lack of control- SaaS does not give so much control to the customer who has purchased the
cloud service as most of the configurations are done by the cloud service provider thus the
customer uses the global set out configurations and is let out with very minimal configurations.
 Security- security is a major issue in using SaaS as everything is hosted in an external cloud
service which is also accessible by other users. Unless the cloud service is purchased on a private
cloud then security of the overall system is major issue especially for the proposed Freedom
Management system.
 Limited range of applications- the SaaS cloud service does not offer a wide range of applications
that can run on that cloud and this may be a drawback if the organization wanted to deploy
another system.
 Performance- since the SaaS model involves sharing resources on the cloud, performance may
be compromised sometimes.

2.3 Security
Security is always a major concern for any organization referring to deploying their applications to
the cloud. Given the sensitive nature of the mental health data of the patients that the Freedom
Information System will be handling security should be paramount and should be enforced at all
costs to make sure the application conforms to the Australian laws. Since the proposed application
will be deployed on a SaaS model this discussion analyses how the SaaS model can be secured to
make sure the sensitive data is secured.
One threat of SaaS model is insider threat where by an insider working at the cloud service
provider can leak sensitive information. This can be solved by ensuring the system is deployed on
a cloud purchased from a very reputable cloud service provider and signing agreements to make
sure the organization’s data is not accessed at all costs by the cloud service provider.
Another security threat associated with SaaS deployed applications is compromised accounts
where by thee account of an end user can be compromised if a malicious user gets access to the
system using an account of the end user. This threat can be regulated by ensuring the system only
allows strong password and frequently requires the employees to change their password to
minimize the chances of their accounts being compromised. Another way of reducing security
risks in the cloud SaaS model is encryption where by all data is supposed to be encrypted to make
sure if it falls in the wrong hands the data cannot be easily viewed.
3 Predictive SDLC vs Adaptive SDLC
3.1 Predictive SDLC
Predictive SDLC involves defining of a sequence of steps or phases that are supposed to flow in a defined
manner. The most popular predictive SDLC is the waterfall model. In this model, a phase must be
completed before you can proceed to the next phase as the model uses a sequential approach. This is
approach is most suited for stable organizations with a large number of developers where requirements
do change frequently (Johnson, 2010).
3.1.1 Advantages
 Predictive SDLC models are easy and simple to understand thus making them easy to use
 Predictive SDLC offers a high degree of manageability as all the phases are defined where each
phase has its own deliverables.
 The sequential nature of carrying out the phases defined for the development of the system
means that phases cannot overlap since a phase has to be completed for the next one to begin.
 It’s very suitable for projects in which all requirements are properly defined and do not change
regularly.
 Provides very good documentation at the end of the project
3.1.2 Disadvantages
 Predictive SDL approaches are not easy to go back to the previous stages if the testing stage has
been reached in the case of a change in requirements thus they are very hard to work with
where requirements are bound to change or have a high chance pf changing after the project
has taken off.
 The customer does not get to see the product until the last phase is finished. This means that
the customer does not know what to expect until the project is complete.

 It’s not favorable for long projects
3.2 Adaptive SDLC
Adaptive SDLC approaches take an iterative or repetitive approach to develop the software by mainly
focusing on the abilities of the team developing the software to ensure that the software is developed
and delivered to the customer in increments. Examples of adaptive SDLC is Scrum and Extreme
programming.
3.2.1 Advantages
 Adaptive SDLC ensures continuous customer satisfaction as the project is delivered to the
customer in small increments.
 Can easily be used for a project where changes in requirements are highly expected because the
adaptive approaches are able to adapt to the changes in the requirements
 Continued cooperation between the developers and the customer is ensued thus leading to a
better product.
3.2.2 Disadvantages
 Adaptive SDLC approaches are difficult to assess the initial work required if the project is long
 Does not focus so much on documentation
 Requires experienced programmers.
3.3 Recommendation
The most suitable approach to be used for the Freedom Information system is Adaptive SDLC. This is the
most suitable approach as it will ensure the end product is great by constantly involving the customer.
The customer can also know what to expect as the system will be delivered in increments. The approach
is suitable because it can handle changes in requirements even at the final stages of the development.
Thus using Adaptive SDLC approach will ensure that the end product is the best and satisfies all the
customer’s requirements.
4 References
Johnson, David W. Waterfall or Agile? Differences between predictive and adaptive software
methodologies. Nov. 2010, searchsoftwarequality.techtarget.com/tip/Waterfall-or-Agile-Differences-
between-predictive-and-adaptive-software-methodologies. Accessed 6 Oct. 2017
Merelli, Emanuella, et al. Adaptability checking in complex systems. 1 Jan. 2016,
www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167642315000659. Accessed 6 Oct. 2017.
Rouse, Margaret. Reliability. Sept. 2005, whatis.techtarget.com/definition/reliability. Accessed 6 Oct.
2017.
Rouse, Margaret. Throughput. May 2015, searchnetworking.techtarget.com/definition/throughput.
Accessed 6 Oct. 2017.
Spencer, Dona . What is usability? 1 Nov. 2004, www.steptwo.com.au/papers/kmc_whatisusability/.
Accessed 6 Oct. 2017.