Application Development Activities


The activities for application development do not need to be performed linearly. Figure 12.4 indicates which activities can be performed concurrently. The list below briefly describes the activities associated with Step 12, Application Development.

Figure 12.4. Application Development Activities

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  1. Determine the final project requirements.

    If you built a prototype, review the prototype results and determine what changes were requested and what issues were logged during that activity. This will give you an understanding of the stability of the requirements. In addition, adjust your design or renegotiate the requirements based on what worked and what did not work during the prototype.

  2. Design the application programs.

    While reviewing the prototype results and the required query and report mock-ups, design the access and analysis components of the BI application, including the final reports , queries, front-end interface (GUI, Web), and online help function. Develop a test plan with detailed test cases.

  3. Build and unit test the application programs.

    Create test data and write the programs and scripts for the reports, queries, front-end interface, and online help function. Be sure to unit test the programs and scripts not only to prove that they compile without errors but also to verify that they perform their functions correctly, trap all potential errors, and produce the right results.

  4. Test the application programs.

    Perform integration or regression testing on all programs and scripts in the sequence in which they will run in the production environment. Load the development databases with sample "live" data, and test the programs and scripts against them. Check the actual test results against the expected test results, then revise and retest the programs and scripts until they perform as expected.

    Be sure to performance test some of the more complicated programs that have many JOINs and that read high-volume tables. A performance test will indicate how the BI application will perform when fully loaded in the production environment. The easiest way to run a performance test is through a stress test simulation tool.

    The final tests should be the QA test with the operations staff and the acceptance test with the subject matter expert and the business representative. Besides determining whether the access and analysis programs function correctly, acceptance testing should determine the overall usability of the BI application and the interfaces to the BI application, especially for Web-based development.

  5. Provide data access and analysis training.

    Identify the training needs of the help desk staff, "power users," knowledge workers, business analysts, and business managers. Schedule the training sessions, either in-house or with a vendor. If the training is provided internally, create the training materials and conduct the training sessions. Be sure to measure the effectiveness of the training, including the effectiveness of the style in which the training is delivered, the content of the material, the pace with which the material is covered, and the quality of the workbooks (e.g., too much text or not enough explanations ).



Business Intelligence Roadmap
Business Intelligence Roadmap: The Complete Project Lifecycle for Decision-Support Applications
ISBN: 0201784203
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 202

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