Ch3 Generic Life Cycle Stages Flashcards
What is the definition of “life cycle”
The series of stages through which something (a system or manifactured product) passes.
What is the purpose behind defining the system life cycle
To establish a framework for meeting the stakeholders’ needs in an orderly and efficient manner for the whole life cycle. This is usually done by defining life cycle stages and using decision gates to determine readiness to move from one stage to the next.
What is a decision gate?
An approval event in the project cycle, sufficiently important to be defined and included in the schedule by the project manager, executive manager, or the customer. Decision gates ensure that new activities are not pursued until the previously scheduled activities, on which new activities depend, are satisfactorily completed and placed under configuration control.
What are the primary objectives of decision gates?
1) Ensure that the elaboration of the business and technical baselines are acceptable and will lead to satisfactory verification and validation; 2) Ensure that the next step is achievable and the risk of proceeding is acceptable; 3) Continue to foster buyer and seller teamwork; 4) Synchronize project activities.
What are the two decision gates that every project must have as minimum setup?
Authority to proceed and final acceptance of the project deliverable.
What are the generic life cycle stages that can be adopted?
1) Concept,
2) Development,
3) Production,
4) Utilization,
5) Support,
6) Retirement
What are the purposes of the Concept stage?
1) Define problem space (through exploratory research and concept selection), 2) Characterize solution space, 3) Identify stakeholders’ needs, 4) Explore ideas and technologies, 5) Refine stakeholders’ needs, 6) Explore feasible concepts, 7) Propose viable solutions
What are the purposes of the Development stage?
1) Define/refine system requirements, 2) Create solution description (architecture and design), 3) Implement initial system, 4) Integrate, verify and validate system
What are the purposes of the Production stage?
1) Produce systems, 2) Inspect and verify
What are the purposes of the Utilization stage?
Operate system to satisfy users’ needs
What is the purpose of the Support stage?
Provide sustained system capability
What is the purpose of the Retirement stage?
Store, archive or dispose of the system
What is the definition of “iteration”?
“Iteration” is the repeated application of and interaction between two or more processes at a given level in the system structure or hierarchy.
What is the definition of “recursion”?
“Recursion” is the repeated application of and interaction of processes at successive levels in the system structure.
What characterizes sequential methods?
Sequential methods are characterized by a systematic approach that adheres to specified processes as the system moves through a series of representations from requirements through design to finished products. Specific attention is given to the completeness of documentation, traceability from requirements, and verification of each representation after the fact.
