system+Design

The purpose of System Design is to create a technical solution that satisfies the functional requirements for the system. At this point in the project lifecycle there should be a Functional Specification, written primarily in business terminology, containing a complete description of the operational needs of the various organizational entities that will use the new system. The challenge is to translate all of this information into Technical Specifications that accurately describe the design of the system, and that can be used as input to System Construction. The Functional Specification produced during System Requirements Analysis is transformed into a physical architecture. System components are distributed across the physical architecture, usable interfaces are designed and prototyped, and Technical Specifications are created for the Application Developers, enabling them to build and test the system. Many organizations look at System Design primarily as the preparation of the system component specifications; however, constructing the various system components is only one of a set of major steps in successfully building a system. The preparation of the environment needed to build the system, the testing of the system, and the migration and preparation of the data that will ultimately be used by the system are equally important. In addition to designing the technical solution, System Design is the time to initiate focused planning efforts for both the testing and data preparation activities. List of Processes

This phase consists of the following processes: Prepare for System Design, where the existing project repositories are expanded to accommodate the design work products, the technical environment and tools needed to support System Design are established, and training needs of the team members involved in System Design are addressed. Define Technical Architecture, where the foundation and structure of the system are identified in terms of system hardware, system software, and supporting tools, and the strategy is developed for distribution of the various system components across the architecture. Define System Standards, where common processes, techniques, tools, and conventions that will be used throughout the project are identified in an attempt to maximize efficiencies and introduce uniformity throughout the system. Create Physical Database, where the actual database to be used by the system is defined, validated, and optimized to ensure the completeness, accuracy, and reliability of the data. Prototype System Components, where various components of the solution may be developed or demonstrated in an attempt to validate preliminary functionality, to better illustrate and confirm the proposed solution, or to demonstrate “proof-of-concept.” Produce Technical Specifications, where the operational requirements of the system are translated into a series of technical design specifications for all components of the system, setting the stage for System Construction. The following chart illustrates all of the processes and deliverables of this phase in the context of the system development lifecycle.