Software Engineering Fundamentals

This report discusses two of main approaches of system development that are used today DevOps and Rapid Application Development (RAD). The conclusion of this report is based on the data that was collected using various ways that were available to the team.

Running Head: SOFTWARE ENGINEERING FUNDAMENTALS 1
Software Engineering Fundamentals
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Institution Affiliation

SOFTWARE ENGINEERING FUNDAMENTALS 2
Table of Contents
Executive Summary.................................................................................................................................2
Introduction...............................................................................................................................................3
Discussions.............................................................................................................................................4
DevOps.......................................................................................................................................................4
DevOps life cycle........................................................................................................................................5
Advantages of DevOps..........................................................................................................................6
Disadvantages of DevOps......................................................................................................................6
Rapid Application Development (RAD)...............................................................................................7
Stages of RAD model methodology (Chandra, V., 2015)......................................................................7
When to use RAD Methodology?.........................................................................................................8
Comparison between DevOps and Rapid Application Development (RAD)..................................10
Automation is the chief goal of DevOps (Soni, D., & Kohli, P. J., 2017)..............................................11
Recommendations....................................................................................................................................12
Website summary................................................................................................................................14
Executive Summary
This report discusses two of main approaches of system development that are used today
DevOps and Rapid Application Development (RAD). The conclusion of this report is based on
the data that was collected using various ways that were available to the team. The data was
obtained from reliable sources .The judgement of the decision of which approach to take is
subject to different views and personal understanding. Therefore, different developers might
have a different view depending on the availability of skills, resources, objectives and the task at
hand among other factors. The method suggested was the best according to the parameters in
place.

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Introduction
This is defined as the whole inclusive process of describing, designing and planning,
analysis and employing a new software application or program into a system (Abrahamsson, P.,
Salo, O., Ronkainen, J., & Warsta, J., 2017).
The process can entail, Advancement of customized systems. In this case, an already
developed application will be improved accordingly, creating database systems and Acquiring
third party developed software.
The process of creating a software is accomplished after a series of procedures and phases.
All this activities involved in software development makes up the software development life
cycle. (SDLC). The SDLC can be accomplished using different methods. However, all the
different methods follow a certain order. Some common steps carried out include,
1. Planning phase. This is the first and a very crucial step in system development. At this
stage the developer identifies with the purpose of the software to be developed, the
problem it will solve and how it will handle that problem. Other important consideration
at this stage will be, identifying the resources and cost, the possibility and effectiveness
of an alternative and identifying how to make the program good for competition from
other developers (Church, K. S., Schmidt, P. J., & Smedley, G., 2016). The developer at
the end of this stage will have three choices, develop a new system, and improve on the
current system or not to take any action on the system Analysis. At this stage, the end
users’ requirements and expectations are determined and documented. A feasibility test
for the system is also conducted.

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2. System design. It follows the success of identifying what the end users want. This stage
defines how the system will look like and its functions. The elements, components,
architecture and various interfaces are defined (Wu, J., 2017).
3. Implementation and distribution. This is the actual construction that follows the
approval of the design. The actual code is written, and configurations are made
accordingly. At the end of this phase the system is ready to be deployed and used by the
customers.
4. System testing. The system is subjected to various conditions and the output is measured
and analyzed. This shows how the system will behave under different conditions
(Fleischer, C. & Sauer., 2016).
5. System maintenance. This is a progressive stage that makes sure that the system is
functional all the time.
Discussions
DevOps
DevOps is a term used in system development to stand for Development and Operations.
It shows agile relationship between two units which are development and IT operations. The
objective of DevOps is to modify and improve the relationship by promoting better interaction
and communication between the two units (Ebert, C., Gallardo, G., Hernantes, J., & Serrano, N.,
2016).
It is a system development method that combines development and operations to realize
the agility. This approach seeks to enhance not only the development process of a single phase in
system but the entire process that are involved in software development.

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There are three important components in DevOps culture, the people, process and the tools
(Erich, F. M. A., Amrit, C., & Daneva, M., 2017).
DevOps life cycle.
The entire life cycle of DevOps is concerned about continuity. The various stages include,
continuous development, integration, testing, observing, feedback, deployment and continuous
operations (Soenen, T. & Tavernier, 2019).
Development. This stage will involve identifying and defining the needs of the end users. The
main operation that takes place at this stage is code generation. Due to continuous nature of
DevOps, it can carry existing codes by making use of the continuous feedback.
Integration. At this stage, the developer understands all the code that are used to achieve the
objective of the system. Another important activity that takes place here is the generation of tests
to be used in the next stage.
Testing. The system is subjected to some various conditions and the outcome is measured. This
highlights the functionality of the system in real life in achieving the set goals. The output of the
test helps the developer identify the weak and strong points of the system and works on them
accordingly in order to improve the interaction with the end user.
Monitoring. Vital information of the system is gathered as the system is working to serve the end
user. The information is recorded and processed to data that shows the progress of the system
and the areas of interest such as the weak areas.
Feedback. At this stage. The customers’ feedback becomes a very important asset. The feedback
is essential in improving the functionality of the system and is also useful in development of new
versions of the system.

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Deployment. This is the stage where the system is released to the end users. This stage require
maximum accuracy.
Operations. This is the assurance that the system will serve the end user accordingly.
Advantages of DevOps
Due to its continuous nature, the implementation time of new services is greatly reduced
(Wiedemann, A., 2018).
DevOps will eradicate unnecessary expenditure by saving the maintenance and upgrade cost all
credited to its continuous nature.
Improves productivity
The approach helps to standardize all the processes involved in system development for easy
delivery.
It ensures increased rate of success for transformation of systems.
It increases collaboration and communication among teams and team members.
It ensures easy and early detection of flaws.
It ensures more stable operating environments.
Disadvantages of DevOps.
It does not provide room for manual testing of the programs.
There are very many available tools for DevOps. This becomes a challenge when one is needed
to choose the best tool to use.

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This approach is always faced with transition problem. When changing to this system, the whole
team is reorganized, and the roles change (Taibi, D., Lenarduzzi, V., & Pahl, C., 2018).
Rapid Application Development (RAD)
Rapid application development is a set of software development approach methods which
are used to speed up development of software application. Rapid application development uses
well defined prototyping tools and methods to create a software application. RAD is a type of
Agile software development techniques. Developers and designers discovered that the waterfall
model was ineffective, and they decided to come up with. Rapid application development. The
main fault in the waterfall prototype is that when the software is in the testing stage it is very
hard to modify the main functions and structures of the software. Hence the software may not be
able to accommodate changing requirements (Kosasi, S., & Yuliani, I. D. A. E., 2015).
Stages of RAD model methodology (Chandra, V., 2015).
Stages of RAD
model
Activities performed in RAD Model
Business
Modeling
 The software is designed using the available information and how
that information is disseminated among several business networks
Data Modeling  The information that is gathered in the business modeling phase is
polished into a set of data object that are important for the business.
Process  In this phase the data object that is entered in the data modeling

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Modeling stage is then converted to attain the information current essential
for the implementation of the business purpose.
Generation of an
application
 Appropriate computerized tools are used in the creation of the
application to transform procedures and data models into samples.
Testing  In RAD testing time is reduced since prototypes are tested
independently during each iteration.
When to use RAD Methodology?
RAD is used when the developer wants to produce a software in a small duration of time
probably 2 to 3 months (Echeverria, M. V. T., Cornejo, S. G., & Pontigo, F. A., 2016).
When the designer already know the requirements
When you want to involve the user in the whole process of development cycle.
When there are minimal technical threats
When there is need to develop a system that can be modularized in a period of 2 to 3 months
When there is enough money to hire designers molding and afford technical tools used in the
generation of codes
Advantages of Rapid Application Development (RAD)

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A user can get a fully functioning product in a small time
Allows crews to divide huge projects into small sub-units that can be done easily
It is malleable and flexible to changes (Stoica, M., Ghilic-Micu, B., Mircea, M., & Uscatu, C.,
2016).
It is valuable when you want to decrease the general project risk
Code that are done manually are minimized because of the reuse of the codes that have already
been generated.
This method uses fewer people therefore a software can be produced in a small period of time.
Takes advantage of the nature of software, which allows for rapid and low-cost iteration, to
allows organizations to quickly and continuously improve their products
Disadvantages of Rapid Application Development (RAD)
It requires extremely skilled personnel and product developers.
It is not suitable for large projects (Ali, K., 2017).
The involvement of the user in the development life cycle can make the process very hard and
time consuming.
It cannot handle huge technical problems
Needs designers and developers extremely skilled

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It is difficult to keep track of the problems and progress that have been accustomed for since
there is no any records to show what have been accomplished
Scalability is minimized since a RAD developed application starts as a sample and develops into
a complete application.
Comparison between DevOps and Rapid Application Development (RAD)
Parameter Agile DevOps
Definition
Rapid application development is a set of software
development approach methods which are used to
speed up development of software application
It shows agile relationship
between two units which
are development and IT
operations.
Objective
Rapid Application Development helps to manage
complicated projects
DevOps used in
management of end-to-end
engineering processes.
Duty RAD process focusses on continuous changes.
DevOps focuses on
continuous testing and
distribution.

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Parameter Agile DevOps
Implementation RAD has commonly accepted tactical framework.
Does not have any
commonly accepted
framework.
Team skill set
RAD development involves skilled designers and
developers
DevOps divides and
distribute the skills
between the developers and
operators.
Team size
RAD works best with small teams because of easy
movement.
DevOps involves all the
stake holders thus it works
best with large numbers.
Feedback Feedback is given by the user.
Feedback is given by the
internal team.
Automation Agile doesn't highlight on automation.
Automation is the chief
goal of DevOps (Soni, D.,
& Kohli, P. J., 2017).

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Recommendations.
According to all the information provided in the research above, it is clear that both of
this methods complement each other in different ways. However, there are major differences that
distinguish the two methods from each other. This differences gives the society the obligation of
choosing which method will work best for them. The major differences that provides the society
with a choice are,
While DevOps development approach emphasizes on communication, integration and
collaboration among the IT professionals, Rapid Application Development focuses on iterative,
incremental and evolutionally development. Based on the type of work of this organization, it
can be advised to employ the DevOps approach. This will make the concerned team work
together, communicate with each other and create good working environment (Abrahamsson, P.,
Salo, O., Ronkainen, J., & Warsta, J., 2017).
Another main difference that makes DevOps stand out as a good method is that it
accommodates automation at a greater degree than Rapid Application Development. Based on
the research that has been done on technology, many processes in the world are becoming
automated due to the various added advantages that automation has over traditional method. This
will make the organization join in the industrial growth together with other industries from other
disciplines. A business that appreciate the change in technology is able to incorporate modern
processes that in many cases account to the business being more competitive and productive.
According to the features of this business (the system has a front-end enabled across the
intranet and a Microsoft SQL Server database to store and manipulate organizational data), it
will be advisable to employ DevOps to ensure the require continuity in this system. The data
might be lost or compromised if the Rapid Application Development approach is to be used. This

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is because this approach involves diving the tasks into portions and having different people on
them. Dividing result in loosing vital organization information.
DevOps is associated with bringing development and operation teams together. This is a
very important tool linked with a successful business where the two teams can interact with each
other, share ideas and offer solutions where needed. This is another strong reason why DevOps is
recommended for this company. A company that works as one team is always associated with
success in many cases.
DevOps was created as an improvement of agile methodology which includes RAD. It
was built to improve on communication between the parties involved. It is thus very advisable
for the company to adapt DevOps over RAD. The company will have this as a competitive
advantage over other companies that are using RAD. DevOps will perform all the other functions
that RAD can perform but the communication power of DevOps will deliver better results than
RAD.
DevOps along with early flaws detection, bug removal and automation contributes to
better designs and quality performance. This very vital information that the company should be
concerned with in order to come up with a better system development approach.
DevOps is mainly focused on operational and business readiness which is a great concern
in the company. Therefore the company should adapt this approach in order to achieve this.
In DevOps documentation process is prime since it will send the software to the
operational team for designing and development. In addition to this, automation enabled in
DevOps ensures that there is no insufficient documentation. In regards to this information, since

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the company is primarily concerned with documentation, it would be advisable to employ
DevOps approach for system development.
Working with DevOps ensures end to end business solution and fast delivery. In the long
run, this means that the feedback will also be received faster than RAD approach. Feedback will
help the company to solve all the developing problems in good time. This will increase the
satisfaction of all the customers as well as the entire team. This will provide good working
conditions for all the stakeholders.
Website summary.
The presented report is a discussion of findings about two approaches of system
development, DevOps and Rapid Application Development (RAD). In the report, various
components of each method have been analyzed and compared with each other in order to find
the superior approach to fit the company’s requirements. The main advantages and disadvantages
of each approach have been discussed at large in order to ease the process of choosing the best
approach to apply. After all the analysis has been done and documented, a solution is provided
on which approach to apply. The solution was based on some parameters such as the task to be
solved and the resources available during that time. This means that the solution is subject to
change if these parameters were to change at a particular time. The solution is also subject to
personal judgment according to how individuals comprehend each method. Another point of
interest that is considered in this report is that the two methodologies complement each other in
different ways and the association of the two methods has been associated with successful
results. At some point, one might not see the need to choose one method over the other and may
resolve to work with the two approaches of system development.

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References
Abrahamsson, P., Salo, O., Ronkainen, J., & Warsta, J. (2017). Agile software development
methods: Review and analysis. arXiv preprint arXiv:1709.08439.
Church, K. S., Schmidt, P. J., & Smedley, G. (2016). Casey's Collections: A Strategic Decision-
Making Case Using the Systems Development Lifecycle—Planning and Analysis
Phases. Journal of Emerging Technologies in Accounting, 13(2), 231-245.
Ebert, C., Gallardo, G., Hernantes, J., & Serrano, N. (2016). DevOps. Ieee Software, 33(3), 94-
100.
Soenen, T., Tavernier, W., Peuster, M., Vicens, F., Xilouris, G., Kolometsos, S., ... & Colle, D.
(2019). Empowering network service developers: enhanced nfv devops and
programmable mano. IEEE Communications Magazine, 57(5), 89-95.
Kosasi, S., & Yuliani, I. D. A. E. (2015). Penerapan Rapid Application Development Pada
Sistem Penjualan Sepeda Online. Simetris: Jurnal Teknik Mesin, Elektro dan Ilmu
Komputer, 6(1), 27-36.
Echeverria, M. V. T., Cornejo, S. G., & Pontigo, F. A. (2016, October). Development of an
information platform for observation of seismic events in Chile using RAD methodology.
In 2016 IEEE International Conference on Automatica (ICA-ACCA) (pp. 1-8). IEEE.
Abrahamsson, P., Salo, O., Ronkainen, J., & Warsta, J. (2017). Agile software development
methods: Review and analysis. arXiv preprint arXiv:1709.08439.

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Wiedemann, A. (2018, January). IT Governance Mechanisms for DevOps Teams-How
Incumbent Companies Achieve Competitive Advantages. In Proceedings of the 51st
Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences.
Taibi, D., Lenarduzzi, V., & Pahl, C. (2018, March). Continuous Architecting with
Microservices and DevOps: A Systematic Mapping Study. In International Conference
on Cloud Computing and Services Science (pp. 126-151). Springer, Cham.
Chandra, V. (2015). Comparison between various software development
methodologies. International Journal of Computer Applications, 131(9), 7-10.
Stoica, M., Ghilic-Micu, B., Mircea, M., & Uscatu, C. (2016). Analyzing Agile Development-
from Waterfall Style to Scrumban. Informatica Economica, 20(4).
Ali, K. (2017). A Study of Software Development Life Cycle Process Models. International
Journal of Advanced Research in Computer Science, 8(1).
Soni, D., & Kohli, P. J. (2017). Cost estimation model for web applications using agile software
development methodology. Pertanika Journal Of Science & Technology, 25(3), 931-938.
Erich, F. M. A., Amrit, C., & Daneva, M. (2017). A qualitative study of DevOps usage in
practice. Journal of Software: Evolution and Process, 29(6), e1885.
Wu, J. (2017). Distributed system design. CRC press.
Fleischer, C., Sauer, D. U., Barreras, J. V., Schaltz, E., & Christensen, A. E. (2016, April).
Development of software and strategies for Battery Management System testing on HIL
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Renewable Energies (EVER) (pp. 1-12). IEEE.

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