Software Introduction

Introduction:-The process that deals with the technical and management issues of software development is called a software management.

software development is called a software process. Clearly, many different types of activities need to be performed to develop software. All these activities together comprise the software process.As different type of activities are being performed, which are frequently done by different people, it is better to view the software process as consisting of many component processes, each consisting of a certain type of activity Each of these component processes typically has a different objective, though they obviously cooperate with each other to satisfy the overall software engineering objective.Processes and Process Models:-A successful project is the one that satisfies the expectations on all the threegoals of cost, schedule, and quality. Consequently, when planning and executing a software project, the decisions are mostly taken with a view to ultimately reduce the cost or the cycle time, or for improving the quality. Software projects utilizea process to organize the execution of tasks to achieve the goals on the cost, schedule, and quality fronts.A project's process specification defines the tasks the project should perform, and the order in which they should be done. The actual process exists when the project is actually executed. Although process specification is distinct from the actual process, we will consider the process specification for a project and the actual process of the project as one and the same, and will use the term process to refer to both of them. It should, however, be mentioned that although we are assuming that there is no difficulty in a project following a specified process, in reality it is not as simple. Often the actual process being followed in the project may be very different from the project’s process specification. Reasons for this divergence vary from laziness to lack of appreciation of importance of process to "old habits die hard." Ensuring that the project is following the process it planned for it is an important issue for organizations in the business of executing projects, and there are different ways to deal with it.A process model specifies a general process, usually as a set of stages in which a project should be divided, the order in which the stages should be executed, and any other constraints and conditions on the execution of stages. The basic premise behind a process model is that, in the situations for which the model is applicable, using the process model as the projects process will lead to low cost, high quality, or reduced cycle time. In other words, a process is a means to reach the goals of high quality, low cost, and low cycle time, and a process model provides generic guidelines for developing a suitable process for a project.A project's process may utilize some process model. That is, the project's process has a general resemblance to the process model with the actual tasks being specific to the project. However, using a process model is not simply translating the tasks in the process model to tasks in the project. Typically, to achieve the project's objectives, a project will require a process that is somewhat different from the process model. That is, the project's process is generally a tailored version of a general process model. How the process model has to be tailored for a particular project, of course, depends on the project characteristics. What we need to understand is that a project’s process may be obtained from a process model, by tailoring the process model to suit the project needs.