The Development Project: Build, Testing and Evaluation

What The Development Project: Build, Testing and Evaluation covers

The Development Project: Build, Testing and Evaluation is examined in Unit A2 2, Application Development — an internally assessed coursework portfolio. It covers choosing software to develop the solution, building the solution, test data and the types of testing, carrying out and recording the testing, Documenting a strategy for system implementation, Evaluating the solution against the user requirements, identifying extensions to the system, the electronic user guide, Bringing the system into use and supporting it and documentation for the completed system.

The 10 subtopics

Each one has its own page.

• Choosing software to develop the solutionRapid application development tool, throwaway prototyping and evolutionary prototyping.Open →
• Building the solutionIncremental development, version control and internal comments in code.Open →
• Test data and the types of testingWhite box testing, black box testing and unit testing.Open →
• Carrying out and recording the testingRunning each test against its expected result, capturing evidence, recording a failure with its cause and the change made, re-running the fix and the tests around it, and tracing every requirement to a test.Open →
• Documenting a strategy for system implementationImplementation strategy, data transfer and fallback plan.Open →
• Evaluating the solution against the user requirementsTaking each requirement in turn with the evidence for it, reporting shortfalls honestly, gathering the client's own assessment against real tasks, and reviewing the process as well as the product.Open →
• Identifying extensions to the systemWorthwhile extension to a library system, extension that would need substantial redesign and future-proofing a design.Open →
• The electronic user guideElectronic user guide, context-sensitive help and difference between a user guide and technical documentation.Open →
• Bringing the system into use and supporting itCorrective maintenance, adaptive maintenance and service level agreement.Open →
• Documentation for the completed systemWhat is handed over with a finished system, what the technical documents must record about the data and the processing, why decisions and their reasons are written down, and the test of whether the documentation is adequate.Open →

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Take The Development Project: Build, Testing and Evaluation further

The same content, four other ways.

Commonly confused

Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.

• Regression testing vs Retesting a fix

  Regression testing: repeating checks that already passed, to show nothing else broke. Retesting a fix: repeating the single check that failed, to show the fault is gone.

• A pilot vs Running two systems side by side

  A pilot: giving the new software to part of the organisation while the rest carries on as before. Running two systems side by side: having everyone doing the work twice for a period.

• Evaluation vs Testing

  Evaluation: a reasoned judgement of how well the agreed requirements were met. Testing: the systematic search for faults that supplies its evidence.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   On what grounds is development software chosen for a solution?

   Model answer

   Software is chosen on whether it can deliver the designed functionality, whether it runs on the hardware available, whether it is affordable or already licensed, whether the developer and the future maintainer can use it, and whether it produces data in the formats other systems need.

2. 2

   Why is the choice of software made after the design rather than before it?

   Model answer

   Choosing first makes the design fit the tool, so features are included because the package offers them and requirements are dropped because it does not. Designing first states what is needed, and the package is then judged against it.

3. 3

   When is a database package the right choice for a solution?

   Model answer

   A database package suits a solution whose core is storing related records and producing queries and reports from them, because the tables, forms, queries and reports are built in and the developer writes far less code.

4. 4

   When is a general-purpose programming language a better choice?

   Model answer

   A language is better where the solution needs complex processing, an unusual interface, or integration with other systems, because a database package constrains what can be built to what its own tools support.

5. 5

   When might a spreadsheet be an appropriate development tool?

   Model answer

   A spreadsheet suits a solution that is essentially calculation and modelling over a modest amount of data with a single user, and is a poor choice for anything with related records, several users, or a need for referential integrity.

6. 6

   What is a rapid application development tool?

   Model answer

   A rapid application development tool builds much of the interface and data handling automatically from the data structure, so a working version appears quickly and can be shown to the user, at the cost of less control over the detail.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

The Development Project: Build, Testing and Evaluation revision questions

What does The Development Project: Build, Testing and Evaluation cover in CCEA A-Level Digital Technology?

10 subtopics: choosing software to develop the solution, building the solution, test data and the types of testing, carrying out and recording the testing, documenting a strategy for system implementation, evaluating the solution against the user requirements, identifying extensions to the system, the electronic user guide, bringing the system into use and supporting it and documentation for the completed system. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.

How is The Development Project: Build, Testing and Evaluation organised?

By the CCEA 2650 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.