Comparison Of Predictive And Adaptive System Development Approaches

Systems Development Approach

Home Design Limited is an Australian company with its headquarters in Brisbane. The company provides home-wares to the retail stores across Brisbane. The company has its sources in China and Italy that deliver the home-wares through postal services. Jim Daly is the business owner and the organization is currently in its expansion phase. The organization is expanding its customer base and the manual processes that are followed are no longer applicable as per the business requirements. It has, therefore been recommended to set up automated customer relationship management and purchasing project in the organization.

Jim Daly along with her new purchasing manager, Max Drummond and the customer manager, David Smith are working on the approaches and strategies that shall be followed in the project.

The development of the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system can be done with the aid of two different approaches as predictive approach and adaptive approach. There are various models and methodologies that have been defined under each of these two approaches.

There are certain phases that are involved in the projects that are executed as per the predictive approach. The first phase that is involved in the predictive approach is the initiation phase in order to get the project identified and approved. It is followed by planning, analysis, design & development, initiation and deployment phases (Zamli, 2005).

There are various models that have been created to carry on with the project as per the predictive approach. One of the most widely used models is the Waterfall model that follows predictive approach to the system development. This model presents a defined structure and flow that shall be followed in order to carry on with the development and execution of the project (Okoli & Carillo, 2012).

In case of the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system for Home Design Limited, the Waterfall Model can be used for the development of the system. It is because of the reason that the model is easy to use and apply and is also simple to understand. Jim along with her core team comprises of the resources that are from the non-technical background. The waterfall model will allow them to have a clear understanding of the processes that are followed. Also, the CRM system is required to be developed before the purchasing project and it is necessary to have the phases and deliverables completed as per the due date. The Waterfall model will be able to provide the deliverables as per the scheduled delivery. The phases that are present in this model also do not overlap with each other (Petersen, Wohlin & Baca, 2009).

Predictive Approach

There are, however, certain drawbacks that are associated with this model in association with the CRM system for Home Design Limited. The requirements that are associated with the project are still not finalized. There may be certain changes that may come up during the project life cycle which will get difficult to incorporate in the project at the advanced stages. The Waterfall model is more applicable to the projects that may have a defined scope without lesser possibilities for the changes. Also, the technology that shall be applied to the project and the CRM system is not clearly understood (McCormick, 2012).

Some other models that come under this approach is the prototype model, incremental model and iterative model.

The second category of the system development approaches that may be applied and used in the case of the CRM system for Home Design Limited is the adaptive approach.

There are various models that come under this approach of system development. Agile methodology for system development is one of such methodologies that can be applied in this case.

Agile methodology using the Scrum framework is the methodology in which there are no defined processes or phases that are followed. Instead, an ad-hoc approach is used in this case and the development process is carried out in the series of sprints. These sprints are the iterations that are used in the project life cycle and there is a sub-set of the entire requirements set that shall be met in these iterations (?ukasiewicz & Miler, 2012).

In the case of the CRM system for the organization, the requirements may change in the advanced stages as the project scope is not clear. Agile methodology provides a mechanism to develop the project in a scalable manner, that is, the incorporation of the requirements will be easy with this model. The project client will also be kept in close contact throughout the life cycle of the project which will lead to higher customer satisfaction as a result. A rapid and continuous delivery of the system will be provided to make sure that the customer has a complete idea of the processes that are being implemented (Szalvay, 2004).

There are certain drawbacks of the agile methodology as well. The methodology does not lay focus on the design and the documentation phases which may lead to certain issues. Jim will like to have a complete account of the processes followed at every project stage which will not be delivered in this case. The cost of the entire project may also go up (Li, 2014).

Recommendations & Conclusion

As per the nature of the project, the methodology and approach that is more applicable is the adaptive approach to system development. It is because of the reason that the project scope and project requirements are not clearly defined. Also, the effort that shall be put in along with the technology that shall be used is also not clear. With the use and implementation of the predictive approach, these factors may lead to the downfall of the project. It is because of the reason that the predictive models will not be able to incorporate such massive changes during the project execution. On the other hand, the adaptive models will make it possible to handle the project changes during any of the project stages. It will also provide the project team with the freedom and independence to take better decisions and will provide them with enhanced problem-solving abilities.

Domain Model Class Diagram 

Design Class Diagram  

Use Case Diagram 

References

Li, J. (2014). Agile Software Development. Retrieved 9 August 2017, from https://www.snet.tu-berlin.de/fileadmin/fg220/courses/WS1112/snet-project/agile-software-development_li.pdf

ÅÂukasiewicz, K., & Miler, J. (2012). Improving agility and discipline of software development with the Scrum and CMMI. IET Software, 6(5), 416. https://dx.doi.org/10.1049/iet-sen.2011.0193

McCormick, M. (2012). Waterfall vs. Agile Methodology. Retrieved 9 August 2017, from https://www.mccormickpcs.com/images/Waterfall_vs_Agile_Methodology.pdf

Okoli, C., & Carillo, K. (2012). The best of adaptive and predictive methodologies: open source software development, a balance between agility and discipline. International Journal Of Information Technology And Management, 11(1/2), 153. https://dx.doi.org/10.1504/ijitm.2012.044071

Petersen, K., Wohlin, C., & Baca, D. (2009). The Waterfall Model in Large-Scale Development. Retrieved 9 August 2017, from https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-642-02152-7_29

Szalvay, V. (2004). An Introduction to Agile Software Development. Retrieved 9 August 2017, from https://www.danube.com/docs/Intro_to_Agile.pdf

Zamli, K. (2005). Enacting the Waterfall Software Development Model Using VRPML. Jurnal Teknologi, 43(1). https://dx.doi.org/10.11113/jt.v43.781

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