Social Fashion Application - Coursework Example

?Design This is a developmental stage that follows the requirement specification and majorly involves feasibility and high level design (Addamio, 2009). System design helps specify system and hardware requirements and also helpful in the definition of the application’s overall architecture. The major goal of a design phase in a software project is to develop a system specification which takes cost, time and resources into account. The system specification is like a collection of the blueprints which the team ought to follow while building the application. At this stage the development team puts together the information gathered during requirement elicitation then designs the system (Gustafson, 2002). This section covers prototyping and storyboarding as the participatory design techniques which provides an opportunity for the designers and users to work together during the development period (Carroll, 1998). The benefits of such an approach include: a) Requirements are likely to be more accurate thus improving the system quality b) Can help avoid certain costly application features which users might not be in need of c) Helps improve the acceptance level of the product Prototype A prototype refers to an application which is rapidly implemented and constitutes only a small section of the expected functionality of the full application (Pomberger, Blascheck G, 1996). It is intended to help elicit for requirements by giving the involved team a chance to get early feedback relating to their ideas (Drjims, 2008). Other than freezing system requirements before design or coding activities can continue, a throwaway prototype should be built to understand the requirements. The development of the prototype will be based on the requirements known at present. Use of the developed prototype gives the clients an opportunity to actually “feel” the application. Prototyping would be ideal for a large application as this one because of the absence of an existing system to help in establishing the requirements. The prototype will not be a complete system and will not contain most of the details. It will just give a system which has overall functionality. Other than the active involvement of users during development and providing an opportunity for the identification of difficult or confusing functions, exposure of end users to the built software prototype also provides an avenue for identification and correction of errors at an earlier stage thus avoiding rework at later dates. However, this approach has the risk of increasing an application’s complexity as the scope of the application can go beyond the initial plans The reason why the prototype model would be appropriate for the Social Fashion Application is that the targeted users need to interact a lot with the desired application. The web interfaces in this application, requires a great level of interaction with the targeted users. Building an application which requires limited training and able to support ease of use among users would take a lot of time in case the development team ignores this model. Story Boards Storyboarding refers to a reiterative and interaction design method which employs a set of pictures or sketches in demonstrating the end to end solution towards a given task scenario. (CRM, 2006) Storyboarding is helpful in exploring potential experiences prior to investing in software development and as well as understanding the human context within which the application will be used. It can be useful in discovering the best design approach being that it is an earlier process thus reducing the development cost (What are Story Boards Good for?) The storyboards can be better alternatives compared to use cases, user stories or task scenarios because the preparation of any of the documents can always be frustrating then possibly end in a software product that is not satisfactory. Also, they can be used to complete the any of the business requirements documents mentioned above. Stories work effectively in the software world for being able to help the production team improve on the design ideas (Verma, 2012) and are reflections of our manner of living. They are the conventional way to relate man’s experience and even prior to the use of words for communication, pictures were used in enabling people to talk about their experiences. It is therefore natural and sensible relating human experiences pertaining to software. Representative Screens There will be three representative screens drawn in this paper. The screens can be useful in giving illustrations on how an application meets some of the previously stated requirements (Design Considerations for an Interactive Multimedia Kiosk). The screens are drawn based on the three persona examples described in the second section of this document and will be drawn using Presentation assistant software freely downloadable at http://www.presentation-assistant.com/screen-draw.htm To write a comment by a Standard User Fig 1.4 showing a write comment screen In the write comment screen 1. The representative provides the name in the name field 2. The representative enters the comment in the comment field 3. The representative clicks POST The system requirements supported by this representative screen are: Fault and Error Tolerance All form fields have the phrase “this field is required” to remind users of the need to fill the form fields The CANCEL button help to perform undo operations Reliability After clicking POST all friends of the representative will be able to view the posted comment and so the application shall have behaved as expected Uploading the latest Collection of Gucci by a Fashion Agenesis Fig 1.5 showing upload latest collection of Gucci screen In the upload collections screen 1. The representative enters the product brand name 2. The representative uploads the image associated with the product brand name 3. The representative clicks on SAVE The system requirements supported by this screen are Fault and Error Tolerance An error notification on a failed upload operation then the user is reminded to try again. The clause “required” used near the form filled to remind the user that the form must be filled Efficiency A reminder of the type of images that can be uploaded to minimize on errors Language The page contents are presented in the English language because that is what most of the targeted users are comfortable with To moderate discussion by the Administrator Fig 1.6 showing moderate discussion screen In the moderate discussion screen To delete a discussion topic 1. The representative selects a check box associated with a given discussion topic 2. The representative clicks DELETE To switch to the mobile version of the application 1. The representative clicks CHANGE DISPLAY MODE To logout 1. The representative clicks on Logout located at the top right section of the screen The system requirements supported by the screen are Help Content A faster means of accessing the context specific help contents. Access to help contents is made optional to avoid causing unnecessary overhead on the application’s resources. Scalability The administrator has the option of viewing the discussion topics for the past 1 or so months thus making the application to be scalable. Efficiency A brief reminder of the way to attain a delete operation so a new user does not have to learn using the system thus enhancing efficiency. Security The screen shows the authentication status on the top right hand side section meaning that application prevents unauthorized access to its data and only displays the page contents to the Administrator after successful authentication. Flexibility Flexibility has been enhanced by a shortcut navigation button CHANGE DISPLAY MODE to help access the mobile version of the application. Review of Work Software maintenance forms the largest percentage of the software cost. 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