Elaboration Phase

The elaboration phase is where the project starts to take shape. In this phase the problem domain analysis is made and the architecture of the project gets its basic form.

This phase must pass the Lifecycle Architecture Milestone by meeting the following criteria:

• A use-case model in which the use-cases and the actors have been identified and most of the use-case descriptions are developed. The use-case model should be 80% complete.
• A description of the software architecture in a software system development process.
• An executable architecture that realizes architecturally significant use cases.
• Business case and risk list which are revised.
• A development plan for the overall project.
• Prototypes that demonstratively mitigate each identified technical risk.

Following are the engineering disciplines followed in this phase of the project lifecycle

• Analysis And Design Discipline

  The goal of analysis and design is to show how the system will be realized in the implementation phase. The aim is to build a system that:

  • Performs
    • in a specific implementation environment.
    • the tasks and functions specified in the use-case descriptions.
  • Fulfills all its requirements.
  • Is easy to change when functional requirements change.

Analysis and design results in a design model and optionally an analysis model. The design model serves as an abstraction of the source code; that is, the design model acts as a 'blueprint' of how the source code is structured and written. The design model consists of design classes structured into packages and subsystems with well-defined interfaces, representing what will become components in the implementation. It also contains descriptions of how objects of these design classes collaborate to perform use cases.