Functional Design Document - Executive Summary

Introduction

The Functional Design document builds upon the previously-released Conceptual Design document. It provides finer technical detail, and will act as a road-map for our designers to follow.

Management Plan

The Management Plan includes important details about updates since the last document was completed, as well as general information about Wintersoft's organization. Some key points:

• Revisions and additions since the previous document are included, to allow readers to jump directly to new information.
• Many sections of the Management Plan have been updated to give the reader a better indication of the "game plan" Wintersoft is following.
• An evaluation of The University of Atlantis' latest feedback is included; it is important that the project meet their specifications.

Context Diagrams

These top-level diagrams show the functionality of the users without specifying the flow of data. Key points:

• A legend has been added to improve readability.
• Student and Administrator interaction with the system are explained.

Entity Relationship Diagrams (ERDs)

This portion of the document shows how the various "entities", or components within the system will interact. This section has been revised since the last document. Key points:

• The overview shows how the major entities are related. Some new entities have been added.
• The other diagrams show the important attributes of each entity.

Data Dictionary

To help clarify the previous section, the Data Dictionary gives a clear explanation of what attributes each entity has. This document gives a more formal definition of the attributes every entity has, and the changes made to the ERDs also apply here.

Data Flow Diagrams (DFDs)

These display the flow of data between processes. They show the flow of data from the users and databases and how this data is handled by the system. Two of the diagrams have been updated in this document to accomodate the requests of the University of Atlantis.

Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs)

Prototypes of the system layout are important to give an early indication of the system's proposed appearance and usage. In this document, the GUIs have been updated, and more closely reflect the appearance of the final system.

Pseudocode

This section covers the code that will be required for Project Atlantis from a high-level perspective. The pseudocode written here may act as a prototype once we begin programming the actual system.

Test Plan

The test gives an indication of how Wintersoft plans to ensure that Project Atlantis will measure up to the appropriate standards. It will also help to streamline the testing phase in general. Key points:

• Product Testing concentrates on the functionality that is important to the University of Atlantis.
• Unit Testing will help ensure that the system works well, and can be quickly and easily integrated.
• The Integration Testing Plan will help WinterSoft to ensure that the parts of the system work in perfect harmony.

Conclusion

WinterSoft continues to make progress and we look forward to the beginning the implementation and testing phases of the project.