System Analysis and Design: Cloud Computing

This report proposes critical aspects to consider when implementing the NewAccess project including non-functional requirements, strengths and weaknesses of cloud computing, security requirements, and the type of system development life cycle approach that Headspace can adopt.

Running head: SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN: CLOUD COMPUTING 1
System Analysis and Design: Cloud Computing
Student Name
Institutional Affiliation

SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN: CLOUD COMPUTING 2
Executive Summary
Cloud computing is now being considered by several enterprises as a solution to their
increasing information needs such as data storage, shared application, back up and disaster
recovery strategies. Additionally, cloud computing offers high level of availability, flexibility,
and scalability. The main benefits that the cloud-based solution will offer include wide
availability, cost effectiveness, backup and disaster, and high scalability. However, it is also
faced with numerous challenges concerning data privacy, ownership, interoperability, technical
issues, and trust. As such, it is recommended that Headspace adopt cloud-based solution. This
report seeks to propose to Headspace the critical aspects that should be considered when
implementing the NewAccess project including non-functional requirements, strengths and
weaknesses of cloud computing, security requirements, and the type of system development life
cycle approach that Headspace can adopt.

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Table of Contents
Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................2
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Non-functional Requirements..........................................................................................................4
Review of cloud-based....................................................................................................................6
Strengths of Cloud-Based Solution..............................................................................................6
Weaknesses of Cloud-Based Solution.........................................................................................7
System Development Life Cycle (SDLC).......................................................................................8
Advantages of adaptive SDLC.....................................................................................................8
Disadvantages of Adaptive SDLC...............................................................................................9
Advantages of Predictive SDLC................................................................................................10
Disadvantages of Predictive SDLC............................................................................................10
Best Approach Headspace.........................................................................................................10
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................11
References......................................................................................................................................12

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Introduction
Technology evolution and the continued innovation in the IT industry has led to the
emergence of cloud computing which many institutions, enterprises, and governments are now
shifting their IT infrastructure to. The increasing dependence by many organizations has led to
the need to have systems and applications that can be accessed by millions of users without
affecting the overall performance and productivity while maintaining high level availability
(Viswanathan, 2018). This report seeks to propose to Headspace the critical aspects that should
be considered when implementing the NewAccess project including non-functional
requirements, strengths and weaknesses of cloud computing, security requirements, and the type
of system development life cycle approach that Headspace can adopt.
Non-functional Requirements
When considering a cloud-based solution, many at times people tend to focus more on
the functional requirements which are the features and abilities expected by users to be
performed by the system, that is, what the system should do. Functional requirements tend to
vary across the different departments and employees. However, every solution has non-
functional requirements that are also very crucial and should never be abstracted or overlooked
(Crudele & Castiglioni, 2014). an application may have met all the functional requirements but it
will be considered a failed project if it does not meet the non-functional requirements. In
traditional software development, the developers have often modified the shape and size of the
application in order to respond to the non-functional requirements. Non-functional requirements
define the features that a cloud solution should have and the functional constraints. They include,
but not limited to, security, usability, performance, and reliability.

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These requirements have a huge impact on the acceptability of the system by the intended
users. For example, a system might have addressed all the functional requirement but the fact
that it may not be user friends, have a poorly design interface, or hard to use may lead to it being
rejected. The non-functional requirements are discussed below:
Usability: different users have different usability requirements, for instance the
requirements of ER departments is totally different from that of the accounting department even
though they share a common system. Usability requirements describe how the interface of the
various users should look like (Eriksson, 2011). The cloud-based solution being considered by
Headspace to accomplish the NewAccess project should be easy to use and allow the users to
interact with the system with little or no support.
Reliability: this is a very essential requirements that ensures that users can be able to trust
the system that it will be there whenever they need it. The biggest concern in a cloud solution is
reliability specifically because it addresses the critical solution to the business. Undesired
downtimes of the application may shutter off a lot of customers and lead to the company
incurring heavy loses. Headspace being an institution that deals with critical services that they
offer to the mentally challenged youth require a cloud solution that over high-level availability
and ensure that the services are available whenever they are needed (Jayachandran, 2016).
Performance: users expect an application to process their request using the shortest time
possible. With the increasing bandwidth and speed of the internet, users adopting cloud solution
expect that the cloud solution should have lighting response from the application. users expect
the same performance and processing speed regardless of the amount of processing requirements
that they are carrying out. As such, Headspace should ensure that the cloud solution being
considered should not have performance bottlenecks and that the cloud provider supports micro

SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN: CLOUD COMPUTING 6
services architecture, asynchronous processing, multi-data availability among others (Phalnikar
& Jinwala, 2015).
Security: this is a crucial requirement that Headspace should put more emphasis on. This
is because Headspace will be dealing with medical data which are very sensitive and should be
protected from threats and hackers. The cloud-based solution should guarantee data security and
ensure that security features such as two-factor authentication has been implemented to ensure
that only authorize users are allowed to access the data.
Review of cloud-based
Advances in technology has brought about numerous new opportunities to enterprises to
create new services, share data, communicate, and develop new products. Cloud computing
provide ubiquitous processing power to process numerous requests every time. This has
facilitated the exchange of information and data storage anywhere and anytime at high speed
(Avram, 2014). Cloud computing has the capacity to merge data storage and computational
power in an IT infrastructure that is dynamically scalable, that is, the application or system is
flexible enough to grow when required which has enable business services to be decoupled from
the infrastructure. This has changed the paradigm in computing and has led to the emergence of
vendors that offer cloud computing on pay-per-use enterprise model, providing the clients with
huge storage capacity and high computational power.
Strengths of Cloud-Based Solution
Cost Effectiveness: this is the most cost-effective technological solutions for any
business. It is cheap to use, upgrade and maintain. Procuring and maintain the traditional
applications is expensive because of the numerous licenses that have to be procured and the

SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN: CLOUD COMPUTING 7
regular maintenance that the system has to undergo. In cloud computing all the maintenance and
upgrades are done by the cloud provider which significantly reduces the costs that Headspace has
to incur (Kumar & Salimath, 2012). Additionally, the institution will only pay for what it uses.
Data Availability: cloud-based solutions offer a high rate of service, application, and data
availability anytime and anywhere. This is very crucial for the Headspace because the data and
records needed to offer the best services of the mental patients should be available at all times.
Additionally, Headspace workers working offsite should be able to access the data from any
location (Linthicum, 2018). This increases the quality of services offered to the patients.
Unlimited Data storage: Headspace will be handling huge amount of data in which
traditionally it would have to procure hard disks with large capacities. However, by adopting
cloud solution, this limitation is removed because of the unlimited storage space provided for the
customers by the cloud provider (Phalnikar, 2016).
Scalability: cloud computing offers high level of flexibility to facilitate modification and
adjustments of the applications and services to meet the growing needs. With cloud computing
expansion/scaling IT infrastructure is very simple because of the user-friendly interfaces
provided by the loud providers that enables that users to scale their services by a click of a
button. Emerging issues and problems that enterprises and institutions normally face as they
grow are resolved by employing cloud solutions. Since the cloud environment provide the
resources quickly, the need of capacity planning is completely done away with.
Weaknesses of Cloud-Based Solution
One of the major issues that is facing cloud-based solution is data ownership and privacy.
By outsourcing the data storage to third parties (cloud provider), the question of who own the

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data arises. Before choosing a cloud solution it is important that the cloud provider clearly
defines the issues of data ownership in the service level agreement (Luís, 2011). The fact that
there are no particular standards that govern data ownership in the cloud raises privacy concerns.
As such, Headspace should consider this issue before deciding on the cloud solution.
Other weaknesses that cloud computing faces include data security because of the increases
cyber threats and cybercriminals which can lead to denial of service attacks and technical issues
which may cause service unavailability
System Development Life Cycle (SDLC)
The SDLC offers a logical process for developing and producing software applications
from start to end. It is a method used to create, design and examine high quality software. It
consists of various stages such as planning stage, assessment stage, design stage, implementation
stage and maintenance stage. There are two different methodologies of SDLC namely adaptive
SDLC and predictive SDLC. The practices connected to adaptive methodology provides
potential to adjust to changes and are fully flexible in the complex environments with various
products emerging with little planning and learning. Various stages of adaptive methodology
involve collaborate, speculate and learn. On the other hand, predictive approach is a method that
initially considers project planning before beginning the project. Various processes involved in
predictive SDLC include initiation, planning, assessment, design, implementation and
deployment.
Advantages of adaptive SDLC
Adaptive SDLC provides a design model that is flexible, promoting evolutionary
development and adaptive planning. The project is divided into small modules. Client feedback

SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN: CLOUD COMPUTING 9
and software testing occurs concurrently with development. As such, many benefits are acquired
particularly in project environments where the ability to respond effectively and rapidly to
requirement changes is needed (Karim, Albuolayan, Saba & Rehman, 2016).
In addition, adaptive methodology facilitates communication and interaction.
Collaboration is more essential than design. Since communication between various stakeholders
and designers is key, it is particularly favorable for teamwork-oriented environments (Ed, 2013).
Various developers work on various modules throughout the process of development and then, at
the end of the project, they combine together all the modules into a single software piece.
Disadvantages of Adaptive SDLC
Although the adaptive approach is highly adaptable, it lacks the structure that the
predictive approach has and thus, present some disadvantages. It is difficult to project the
timelines and budget in projects that uses adaptive methodology. Without a solid plan,
everything appears to be nebulous and vague (Beyer, 2010). First, the adaptive method consumes
more time than predictive method. As such, designers need to be fully dedicated from the start to
the end of the project. If a designer leaves in the process of development, then it could cause a lot
of problems.
Advantages of Predictive SDLC
The most important thing in predictive method is the project plan and hence before
starting any kind of development, a clear vision and plan should be established. Since the
predictive approach requires direct and detailed planning, software can be launched quickly.
Besides, budgets and timetables can be estimated more accurately (Sharma & Singh, 2015).
Since the final outcome is known, predictive is more secure as compared to adaptive approach

SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN: CLOUD COMPUTING 10
and a new designer or developer can easily take over the project with minimal interruptions to
the budget and timeline.
Disadvantages of Predictive SDLC
Predictive approach is characterized by rigidness and inflexibility because the end
outcome of the project is known and gives little room for modification and adjustments. With
this approach the project may fail if some requirements are interfered with in the early stages. In
this approach testing of the software product is done in the later stages thus if the product being
develop doesn’t meet the requirements the company will incur loses and would have wasted a lot
of time and human resource.
Best Approach Headspace
The best methodology for Headspace is adaptive SDLC as it is helpful for small and large
projects. The adaptive approach is the best because it is flexible and it involves extensive user
involvement. Therefore, the end product is usually of high quality and customers are satisfied
with it. Besides, adaptive methodologies tend to be faster since all involved parties see consistent
progress in small observable sprints. With continuous and increased user input, an appropriate
solution is likely to be developed and deployed.
Conclusion
Adoption of cloud computing is significantly increasing every day and this can be
considered as a natural data center evolution to support more scalable and flexible storage and
computing resources. The main benefits that the cloud-based solution will offer include wide
availability, cost effectiveness, backup and disaster, and high scalability. However, it is also

SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN: CLOUD COMPUTING 11
faced with numerous challenges concerning data privacy, ownership, interoperability, technical
issues, and trust. As such, it is recommended that Headspace adopt cloud-based solution.

SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN: CLOUD COMPUTING 12
References
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