A Software Design Specification Template.docx

A Software Design Specification Template.docx

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ASoftwareDesignSpecificationTemplate

ASoftwareDesignSpecificationTemplate

byBradAppleton

Copyright©1994-1997byBradfordD.Appleton

Permissionisherebygrantedtomakeanddistributeverbatimcopiesofthisdocument

providedthecopyrightnoticeandthispermissionnoticearepreservedonallcopies.

TableofContents

∙Introduction

∙DocumentOutline

∙DocumentDescription

oIntroduction

oSystemOverview

oDesignConsiderations

▪AssumptionsandDependencies

▪GeneralConstraints

▪GoalsandGuidelines

▪DevelopmentMethods

oArchitecturalStrategies

oSystemArchitecture

▪SubsystemArchitecture

oPoliciesandTactics

oDetailedSystemDesign

▪DetailedSubsystemDesign

oGlossary

oBibliography

Introduction

Thefollowingisanattempttoputtogetheracomplete,yetreasonablyflexibletemplateforthespecificationofsoftwaredesigns.Whereverpossible,Ihavetriedtoprovideguidelines（insteadofprescribingrequirements）forthecontentsofvarioussectionsandsubsectionsofthedocument.Somemayprefertorequiremoredetailedsubsectionsofaparticularsection,choosingoneormoreofthesubsectiontopicsfromthelistofguidelinesprovided.Inthissense,thisdocumentisreallyatemplateforatemplate.

Indevisingthistemplate,Ihavegleanedinformationfrommanysources,includingvarioustextsonSoftwareEngineering（Pressman,Sommerville,andVanVliet）,Object-OrientedDevelopment（Booch,Rumbaugh,Berard,andWirfs-Brock）,variousSEIreports,DoD-StdandMil-Stddocumentationrequirements（2167/2167A）,andIEEEdocumentationstandards（particularlyIEEE-1016forsoftwaredesigns,andIEEE-830forsoftwarerequirements）.Ihavemadeeveryeffortnottoassumeorimposeaparticularsoftwaredevelopmentmethodologyorparadigm,andtoplacemoreemphasisoncontentthanonformat.

Itismydesirethatacompletedsoftwaredesignspecificationmeetthefollowingcriteria:

∙Itshouldbeabletoadequatelyserveastrainingmaterialfornewprojectmembers,impartingtothemenoughinformationandunderstandingabouttheprojectimplementation,sothattheyareabletounderstandwhatisbeingsaidindesignmeetings,andwon'tfeelasiftheyaredrowningwhentheyarefirstaskedtocreateormodifysourcecode.

∙Itshouldserveas"objectiveevidence"thatthedesignersand/orimplementorsarefollowingthroughontheircommitmenttoimplementthefunctionalitydescribedintherequirementsspecification.

∙Itneedstobeasdetailedaspossible,whileatthesametimenotimposingtoomuchofaburdenonthedesignersand/orimplementorsthatitbecomesoverlydifficulttocreateormaintain.

Pleasenotethattherearenosectionsinthisdocumentfordescribingadministrativeorbusinessduties,orforproposingplansorschedulesfortestingordevelopment.Thesectionsinthisdocumentareconcernedsolelywiththedesignofthesoftware.Whilethereareplacesinthisdocumentwhereitisappropriatetodiscusstheeffectsofsuchplansonthesoftwaredesign,itisthisauthor'sopinionthatmostofthedetailsconcerningsuchplansbelonginoneormoreseparatedocuments.

DocumentOutline

Hereistheoutlineoftheproposedtemplateforsoftwaredesignspecifications.Pleasenotethatmanypartsofthedocumentmaybeextractedautomaticallyfromothersourcesand/ormaybecontainedinother,smallerdocuments.Whatfollowsisjustonesuggestedoutlineformattousewhenattemptingtopresentthearchitectureanddesignoftheentiresystemasonesingledocument.Thisbynomeansimpliesthatitliterallyisasingledocument（thatwouldnotbemypersonalpreference）:

∙Introduction

∙SystemOverview

∙DesignConsiderations

oAssumptionsandDependencies

oGeneralConstraints

oGoalsandGuidelines

oDevelopmentMethods

∙ArchitecturalStrategies

ostrategy-1nameordescription

ostrategy-2nameordescription

o...

∙SystemArchitecture

ocomponent-1nameordescription

ocomponent-2nameordescription

o...

∙PoliciesandTactics

opolicy/tactic-1nameordescription

opolicy/tactic-2nameordescription

o...

∙DetailedSystemDesign

omodule-1nameordescription

omodule-2nameordescription

o...

∙Glossary

∙Bibliography

Theaboveoutlineisbynomeansexclusive.Aparticularnumberingschemeisnotnecessarilyrequiredandyouaremorethanwelcometoaddyourownsectionsorsubsectionswhereyoufeeltheyareappropriate.Inparticularyoumaywishtomovethebibliographyandglossarytothebeginningofthedocumentinsteadofplacingthemattheend.

Thesametemplateisintendedtobeusedforbothhigh-leveldesignandlow-leveldesign.Thedesigndocumentusedforhigh-leveldesignisa"livingdocument"inthatitgraduallyevolvestoincludelow-leveldesigndetails（althoughperhapsthe"DetailedDesign"sectionmaynotyetbeappropriateatthehigh-leveldesignphase）.

Theorderingofthesectionsinthisdocumentattemptstocorrespondtotheorderinwhichissuesareaddressedandinwhichdecisionsaremadeduringtheactualdesignprocess.Ofcourseitisunderstoodthatsoftwaredesignsfrequently（andoftenfortunately）don'talwaysproceedinthisorder（orinanylinear,orevenpredictableorder）.However,itisusefulforthepurposeofcomprehendingthedesignofthesystemtopresentthemasiftheydid.Frequently,oneofthebestwaystodocumentaproject'sdesignistokeepadetailedprojectjournal,log,ordiaryofissuesastheyaremulledoverandbandiedaboutandtorecordthedecisionsmade（andthereasonswhy）inthejournal.Unfortunately,thejournalformatisnotusuallyorganizedthewaymostpeoplewouldlikeitforaformalreview.Insuchcases,forthepurposeofreview,thejournalcanbecondensedand/orportionsofitextractedandreorganizedaccordingtothisoutline.However,ifthisisdonethenyouneedtochoosewhethertoupdateandmaintainthedesigndocumentinthejournalformat,ortheformalreviewformat.Itisnotadvisabletotryandmaintainthedesigndocumentinbothformats.（Ifyouhaveanautomatedmethodofconvertingthejournalintoaformaldocument,thenthisproblemissolved.）

DocumentDescription

Hereisthedescriptionofthecontents（bysectionandsubsection）oftheproposedtemplateforsoftwaredesignspecifications:

Introduction

Provideanoverviewoftheentiredocument:

∙Describethepurposeofthisdocument

∙Describethescopeofthisdocument

∙Describethisdocument'sintendedaudience

∙Identifythesystem/productusinganyapplicablenamesand/orversionnumbers.

∙Providereferencesforanyotherpertinentdocumentssuchas:

oRelatedand/orcompaniondocuments

oPrerequisitedocuments

oDocumentswhichprovidebackgroundand/orcontextforthisdocument

oDocumentsthatresultfromthisdocument（e.g.atestplanoradevelopmentplan）

∙Defineanyimportantterms,acronyms,orabbreviations

∙Summarize（orgiveanabstractfor）thecontentsofthisdocument.

Note:

Fortheremainingsectionsofthisdocument,itisconceivable（andperhapsevendesirable）thatoneormoreofthesectiontopicsarediscussedinaseparatedesigndocumentwithintheproject.Foreachsectionwheresuchadocumentexists,areferencetotheappropriatedesigndocumentisallthatisnecessary.Allsuchexternal（orfragmented）designdocumentsshouldprobablybeprovidedwiththisdocumentatanydesignreviews.

SystemOverview

Provideageneraldescriptionofthesoftwaresystemincludingitsfunctionalityandmattersrelatedtotheoverallsystemanditsdesign（perhapsincludingadiscussionofthebasicdesignapproachororganization）.Feelfreetosplitthisdiscussionupintosubsections（andsubsubsections,etc...）.

DesignConsiderations

Thissectiondescribesmanyoftheissueswhichneedtobeaddressedorresolvedbeforeattemptingtodeviseacompletedesignsolution.

AssumptionsandDependencies

Describeanyassumptionsordependenciesregardingthesoftwareanditsuse.Thesemayconcernsuchissuesas:

∙Relatedsoftwareorhardware

∙Operatingsystems

∙End-usercharacteristics

∙Possibleand/orprobablechangesinfunctionality

GeneralConstraints

Describeanygloballimitationsorconstraintsthathaveasignificantimpactonthedesignofthesystem'ssoftware（anddescribetheassociatedimpact）.Suchconstraintsmaybeimposedbyanyofthefollowing（thelistisnotexhaustive）:

∙Hardwareorsoftwareenvironment

∙End-userenvironment

∙Availabilityorvolatilityofresources

∙Standardscompliance

∙Interoperabilityrequirements

∙Interface/protocolrequirements

∙Datarepositoryanddistributionrequirements

∙Securityrequirements（orothersuchregulations）

∙Memoryandothercapacitylimitations

∙Performancerequirements

∙Networkcommunications

∙Verificationandvalidationrequirements（testing）

∙Othermeansofaddressingqualitygoals

∙Otherrequirementsdescribedintherequirementsspecification

GoalsandGuidelines

Describeanygoals,guidelines,principles,orprioritieswhichdominateorembodythedesignofthesystem'ssoftware.Suchgoalsmightbe:

∙TheKISSprinciple（"Keepitsimplestupid!

"）

∙Emphasisonspeedversusmemoryuse

∙working,looking,or"feeling"likeanexistingproduct

Foreachsuchgoalorguideline,unlessitisimplicitlyobvious,describethereasonforitsdesirability.Feelfreetostateanddescribeeachgoalinitsownsubsubsectionifyouwish.

DevelopmentMethods

Brieflydescribethemethodorapproachusedforthissoftwaredesign.Ifoneormoreformal/publishedmethodswereadoptedoradapted,thenincludeareferencetoamoredetaileddescr