The Waterfall software model was first introduced in 1970 by Winston Royce. The Waterfall model consists of simple and separate stages, so Waterfall used to be very popular. In spite of the fact that this model has been replaced by others, it still follows the Waterfall model’s operating principle. So what is the Waterfall software engineering model? Get details about the development stages, advantages, and disadvantages of the model through the article below!
1. What is the Waterfall software engineering model?
The Waterfall software model was extremely popular in the technology world. Source: vecteezy.com
The Waterfall software engineering model, also known as the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), is one of the most popular project management models today. Waterfall is a sequential and sequential management system, the projects implemented by this model take place one after another and one after another.
The Waterfall software engineering model should be used with short projects, requirements do not change frequently, technology is used consistently, and resources are well prepared.
2. Features of the Waterfall model
The Waterfall model has 4 main features, applied in each situation, helping the model ensure the efficiency, timeliness, and progress of major projects as well as customer satisfaction.
These are main features:
- Sequential approach:
The Waterfall model has sequential development stages to create software, each phase is completed before moving on to the next.
- Building document-based software:
The Waterfall model relies on customer requirements documents to clearly define goals and build software in the most specific way.
- Quality review:
The focus of the model is to review and check the quality of the product at each stage and also at the final product finishing stage.
- Strict planning:
To be able to create a technology product, the Waterfall model adheres to a specific, strict process and plan. This plan will stipulate the project scope, implementation time of each stage, and time to hand over the product to the customer, as well as maintenance and monitoring throughout the implementation process.
3. Development sequence in the Waterfall software engineering model
The Waterfall model has 5 stages of development, including: Requirements analysis and description, design, implementation, integration testing, operation, and maintenance.
The Waterfall development model has five main product development phases. Source: geeksforgeeks.org
3.1. Requirements analysis and description phase
At the early stage of the Waterfall software engineering model, a document that guides the project’s progress as well as its implementation timeline and potential is presented. Specifically, the document does not refer to specific procedures and phases of project development or project planning. Project documentation is provided by the customer and the software developer needs to understand the customer’s requirements.
3.2. Stage of designing
After analyzing and understanding the customer’s requirements, the software developer converts those requirements into a suitable form that allows further coding of the programming language.
The design phase will determine the programming language, hardware, data, and services from general to detailed design to suit customer requirements. All these sections are compiled as a Software Design Document.
3.3. Implement and test
At this stage, the design will be done, if the software design document is well prepared, the process will go smoothly. During testing, the modules will be tested separately, and check the interaction between the module and the intermediate output stream.
Testing activities include 3 main categories as follows:
- Alpha Testing: Developers test the system called Alpha testing.
- Beta testing: User experience using the system called Beta testing.
- Acceptance testing: After the system is delivered, the customer tests the final product.
3.4. Integration test phase
This is one of the most important stages of the Waterfall software engineering model development process because the final product is judged by the effectiveness of the testing performed. Good quality output will satisfy customers, reduce maintenance costs, and determine the quality of individual modules.
3.5. Operation and maintenance phase
Maintenance is the final step of the Waterfall software engineering model development process. This is the most important stage of any software development process which accounts for more than 50% of the overall effort to create the final product.
There are 3 main types of maintenance:
- Corrective Maintenance: Conducted to fix bugs that were not found during product development.
- Perfect maintenance: Perfect maintenance improves the function of the product according to the customer’s requirements.
- Adaptive Maintenance: Adaptive maintenance is required for the transition of software to a new environment. Environmental changes can affect the product, so this stage is very important and affects the performance of the product.
4. Advantages and disadvantages of the Waterfall model
The biggest advantage of the Waterfall model is its simplicity and ease of use. Source: projectcubicle.com
4.1. About advantages
- The Waterfall model is simple to implement and the number of resources required is minimal.
- The requirements with the Waterfall model are quite simple and declared and do not change throughout the development of the project.
- The start and end times for each stage are fixed, making it easy to track progress.
- The release date of the output product as well as the development costs are determined from the beginning.
- The Waterfall model makes it easy for customers to control thanks to tight reports.
4.2. About the disadvantages
- No viable software is produced until the end of the life cycle.
- The level of risk is high because the model does not allow identifying challenges and risks in stages.
- Not suitable for large projects.
- Small modifications and errors occurring in the finished product can lead to many problems with the project.
- It is not possible to get valuable feedback from users and stakeholders during development.
- The model does not accept requests to change during development.
5. Application of the Waterfall model
The waterfall model is often applied in small projects. Source: lifewire.com
You can use the Waterfall software engineering model for the following scenarios:
- Projects are large, complex, and require a well-structured, sequential, linear approach. This helps projects to be developed on time and within budget.
- Safety-critical systems such as aerospace and medical systems.
- Government projects, defense – security project.
- Projects with clear and stable requirements documentation.
Conclude
The above article is all information about the Waterfall software technology model. This is one of the most long – standing software engineering models, laying the foundation for modern SDLC models. Depending on the project’s requirements, the Waterfall technology model can work in a variety of situations. Hopefully, this will be the knowledge you are looking for. Follow BAP Software for more useful tutorials!
