SWE 214 Introduction to Software Engineering (022)

Exam I

(15%)

(75 Minutes)

Student ID: Name: KEY

Question Max Mark

1 20

2 20

3 20

4 20

5 20

Total 100

29 March 2003
Question 1 [10, 10]

(a) State two attributes of quality software and describe the consequences of not having them.

Maintainability
Dependability
Efficiency
Usability

(b) You have an impatient, result-oriented client who keeps on changing requirements. Which
process model would you adopt to keep the development under control? Why?

Evolutionary Delivery
Question 2 [20]

Describe the root causes of project success and failure.

Project failures: causes

o Incomplete requirements
o Lack of user involvement/responsibility
o Unrealistic customer expectation
o Changing requirements and specifications
o No longer need the capabilities provided
o Technology illiteracy
o Spread of application domain knowledge

Project success: causes

opposite
 Question 3
[20]

What do we mean by a proper requirements engineering process? What are the consequence
of not having one?

A proper requirements engineering process:

The structured set of activities involved in developing system requirements

Without a proper requirements engineering process:

o Projects go over budget and/or take longer time than first predicted
o People involved in system analysis complain that they do not have enough time
or resources to do their job properly
o Requirements documents are often not understandable or incomplete
o The system design process suffers from rework due to requirements errors or
incompleteness
o Resulting systems lack some functionalities or have unused functionalities
o System maintenance costs goes skyrocket
o The cost of system changes/improvement is hard to evaluate
Question 4 [20]

Briefly explain the five steps of problem analysis.

Step1 : Gain agreement on the problem definition

o Write a simple and clear definition of the problem description
o Establish an order of importance for all features of the system
o Come to an agreement with all stakeholders
Step 2 : Identify the root causes of the problem
o Make sure that the problem identified is the real problem
o Sometimes, a problem hides other more important problems
o Addressing the wrong problem leads to failure
Step 3 : Identify stakeholders and users
o Stakeholder: anyone who could be affected by the new system or has input to
provide in the implementation of the new system
Step 4 : Define the system boundary
o System boundary describes an envelope in which the solution is contained.
Step 5 : Identify the constraints on the system
o Constraint : a restriction on the degree of freedom we have in providing a
solution
Question 5 [20]

A university wishes to increase security in its car park. It has been decided to issue an identity
card to all employees. The cards record the employees name, department and identity number.
A barrier, a card reader and a sensor are placed at the entrance of the car park. The driver
inserts the numbered card into the card reader. The card reader checks the card number. If the
number is valid, the reader sends a signal to raise the barrier and the vehicle can enter the car
park. The sensor sends a signal to the barrier to lower when the vehicle has entered. There is an
identical system at the exit.
When there are no spaces in the car park a sign at the entrance displays Full and is only
switched off when a vehicle leaves.
Special visitors cards, which record a number and the current date, also permit access to the
car park. Visitors cards may be sent out in advance or collected from reception. All visitors
cards must be returned to the reception when the visitor leaves the site so that they can be
deleted from the list of valid cards.

(a) Draw a UML use case diagram for the university car park system

(b) Write a step by step use case description for one of the use cases from the use case diagram
produced in (a).
(b)
Enter Car Park
Primary Flow of Events:
1. (start) Inset card into the card reader
2.