msc in information technology msc in computing science professional software development (it/cs psd) 2007-08 assessed exercise 3(ae3) report last update: 11/3/08 background in this exercise, you will write a short report that describes and evaluates some software development techniques and notational tools. aims of the assessed exercise the main aim of this exercise is to provide you with an opportunity to demonstrate your understanding of some of the key concepts in the psd course and to reflect critically on the role and value of these concepts. background you have been approached by a friend who runs a small software development company which is developing customised business information systems to help manage complex business processes such as monitoring the tasks involved in the sales and service of a car from purchase to eventual replacement. typically, these applications involve the use of a business process "engine" that is driven by a specification of the business process. applications are written in java. a recent project involved creating a system to enable staff in a university department to monitor the process of setting, checking and marking examinations. the system ran to 40k lines of code, involving 4 programmers full-time over 12 months. each project tends to be very different from the last in term of the application domain (car purchase and service, university exams, rental and maintenance of holiday flats), although it has proved possible to share some basic code from one project to another (e.g., basic user interface features, database management). your friend has commented to you that it''''s often difficult to pin down client requirements and that those requirements are often subject to change. the company is small, with seven full-time technical staff, all of whom are good programmers (as is your friend) and experienced in java. it is anticipated that two additional programmers will be hired during the next six months. however, none of the staff have any background or experience in structured software development processes or software engineering. once give a task, programmers work on their own. no formal analysis or design is done. no formal project management or control is undertaken. their company could be said to be at the bottom level in terms of the capability maturity model. your friend was considering introducting uml into his comnpany, but then read alex bell''''s "death by uml fever". although he still doesn''''t understand uml particularly well, this article made him unsure if he should use uml.your friend knows that you have recently taken a course in professional software development and he has asked you to advise him on his uml decision. what you must do write a short briefing report for your friend. your report should: provide a brief description of uml and the main components with which you are familiar, critically assess the value of uml for software development in your friend''''s company, focusing on the components with which you are familiar, identify other software development techniques or issues that you believe your friend should also take into account, in addition to or in place of uml, in order to improve his company''''s software development process. your report should compare uml to these other techniques/issues with respect to their relative importance for your friend''''s company. in preparing your report, you can make use of your experience of uml and programming the content of psd the course textbooks additional resources as appropriate (starter readings have been handed out with the exercise and sources of further readings are indicated on the course website). the report should be no longer than 2,000 words. you may use illustrative diagrams. marking the exercise will be assessed in terms of three elements, indicated here with their relative weighting in the overall assessment: uml description (30%) uml evaluation (35%) other issues (35%) note that each component assessment will consider the quality of your argument(s) and will include an assessment of your use of supporting references. resources references to several useful papers, including bell''''s paper, can be found at http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/~pdg/teaching/itpsd/ex/ae3/ae3_starter_readings.htm Deadline 5pm, Monday 21 April. How You Should Submit Your Work Unless advised otherwise, your submission must be submitted in printed form in the course submission box in Lilybank Gardens. Contact a staff member if you''''re not sure where to find the box.