A presentation and comparison of four information system development methodologies

• Authors: P Mannino
• Venue: ACM SIGSOFT Software Engineering Notes
• Year: 1987

The objective of this paper is to provide a comparison of the following four information processing system development methodologies: The Box Structure Methodology, Application Prototyping, JSD and SASD. Each approach provides a unique and different set of activities that can be followed, with emphasis on different aspects of the life cycle. For this reason, no one methodology is superior in all areas and aspects of the development life cycle. However, each one is superior in its own sense, depending on the type of system being developed. The Box Structure Methodology provides a rigorous coverage of the analysis and design phases in the development life cycle, with the use of design graphics, and a design graphics language. JSD and SASD also use graphical structures as well. However, SASD relies heavily on dataflow diagrams in the analysis and design phases, where as JSD incorporates functions, time requirements, actions, and data into its diagrams in the analysis phase, and then applies them in the implementation phase, without ever going through a design step. Finally, the Application Prototyping development methodology offers an approach that centers around the development of a prototype, which is heavily dependent upon user interaction with the user in the feasibility and analysis phases, but does not offer any design, implementation, or maintenance techniques. A methodology is only approiate for a developer, once he/she has considered these fact, and determined the system's target environment.