Table of Content
Introduction
The inception phase addresses business risks so we focus on mitigating the risks that the project may be either
economically undesirable or technically infeasible. So during this phase it is crucial that we discuss with
stakeholders their needs and the problems that our solution is attempting to solve. We scrutinize all aspects of the
project as well as identify the major use cases.
One of the risks identified in building the catalog manager application is
the software development's team unfamiliarity with web services architecture and technology, which may preclude them
from delivering the web services component on time. To mitigate this, we decide to provide early training on web
services to the team members in iteration one of the elaboration phase, prior to developing the web services component.
Identifying the major use cases for a catalog order system such as the
Catalog Manager, entails getting everyone's agreement that a customer should be able to list the items in a catalog as
well as order a certain quantity of a specific item. Moreover a customer service representative should be able to
replenish (restock) depleted items in the catalog. Figure 4 shows the use case diagram for the Catalog Manager
application.
Figure 4. Use Case Diagram for the Catalog Manager Application
The following sections outline the Catalog Manager inception phase iterations and milestone, work products deliverable
and the different tools used during the phase.
Iterations in Inception
The inception phase has only one iteration that can be summarized as
follows:
Inception Iteration
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Description
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Risks Addressed
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I1 Iteration
(Preliminary Iteration)
(weeks 1-3)
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Define and approve Business Case
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Define high-level product
requirements
The Vision document contains key features and constraints.
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Define project scope
A Use Case Diagram includes key Actors and Use Cases. Only a brief description is provided
for each Actor and Use Case.
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Plan the overall project and next
iteration
A high-level Software Development Plan, a Risk List, and an Iteration Plan for the first
elaboration iteration are created.
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Create the first draft of the
Test Plan
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Define application-specific
terminology
Important terms are defined in the Glossary.
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Clarifies user requirements up front.
Develops realistic Software Development Plans and
scope.
Determines feasibility of project from a business
point of view.
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Figure 5. Inception Iteration
Inception Phase Milestone
The inception phase for the Catalog Manager concludes with the
Lifecycle Objective Milestone which indicates whether to proceed or abandon the project. At this stage
we propose a single solution that:
All stakeholders agree on these points prior to taking the project to the
next step, i.e. developing the architecture approach in the elaboration phase. If all stakeholders do not agree on
these points then a decision to cancel the project is made. This may in fact be a desirable outcome of the inception
phase, since terminating a project at this stage is the least expensive option of all the phases.
Work Products Produced in Inception
The table in Figure 6 summarizes the work products produced during the
inception phase and their state of completion. Once the decision is made to move on to the next phase, in our case the
elaboration phase, then we must also create the plan for the first iteration of the elaboration phase (E1 Iteration
Plan).
Figure 6. Inception Phase Work Products
The following tools are used to develop the work products in the inception
phase:
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