AN OVERVIEW OF PROCESS MODELS

Several process models were discussed and developed to provide a set of activities that permits the development of software systems from user requirements. Almost all processes follow the development of software through the following phases: analysis, design, and implementation, in addition to system testing.

Analysis is the phase during which user requirements are determined and requirement specifications are documented. User requirements are typically collected in a language that is familiar to the user, where a user in this context could mean a real user, the company, or a vendor that requests the software to be developed to automate certain services. The requirements describe what the system is requested to deliver as automated services. Requirements are documented in a specification language that is understood by the designers and developers and that steps away from the user, creating, more or less, a gap between the language and requirements expressed by the user and language and tools applied by analysts, designers, and implementers. The output of this phase is a requirement specification document.

The design phase follows analysis. During design a system designer relies on system specifications reached during the analysis phase to lay out the design of the system.