HAND IN REPORT

- VisualDeck -
MEMBERS: HENRY & JK

Development of your Software for the Foreign Market

1. Explain your development situation. Are you a large company with many employees or
are you a small company? Discuss what type of program you are developing. Is it a
mainstream application that is set to compete with large software packages or is it a
smaller application that integrates with an established package like Microsoft Office?
Consider off-the-shelf versus custom-built.

VisualDeck
VisualDeck is a newly emerged, presentation based company founded in Australia, providing
full-time job positions to over 140 employees. Our company is currently considered juvenile and
because of this, it is a small but exponentially growing company with hopes of expanding
outside of Australia, internationally into foreign shores. VisualDeck, as a presentation-based
company centralises on not only facilitating the development process of business and general
presentations, but additionally to provide users with various tools and features that can be
utilised in a way that makes designing a presentation to appear appealing, simple and easy
through our gathered statistics. VisualDeck is set to be a mainstream application that is readily
available for the general public to take advantage of or to be assimilated into a company, and
so, it is an off-shelf software.

Why did we choose VisualDeck?

Due to the increase in population and the changing nature of the work industry,
technology-based presentations are being more widely used. This is due to the fact that the
traditional way of making a physical presentation also requires physical objects. By making
presentations on a software platform, images and even animations can be easily inserted,
enhancing the efficiency of the presentation while also reducing costs. Furthermore, users can
use the readily available templates to start making presentations without having to design them
from scratch. With this, a professional-looking presentation can easily be created even by those
who're unfamiliar with the software itself.

Targeted demographic
Although VisualDeck is intended for users of all ages, it is undeniable that the most active
internet users are children and young adults. With the schooling system gradually incorporating
technologies into each lesson, the demand for presentation software drastically increases. This
makes software such as VisualDeck more appealing to the education system as students don’t
have to spend too much time in order to create great-looking presentations. The idea of
potentially getting more marks out of their assignment while reducing the time spent on it can be
appealing to many, attracting more subscribers to the software. Moreover, teachers can also
benefit from VisualDeck as they can create a more engaging learning experience for students
by incorporating animations and images into the lesson.

Plans for VisualDeck

With VisualDeck being a medium-sized company, it’d be able to stand on its own against other
competitors. Bugs or errors reported to the company by the users will immediately be fixed by
groups of skilled professionals within the company. This way, unintended errors can be
minimised, reducing the risk of losing the user’s data. Since VisualDeck is an off-the-shelf
software, meaning it is tailored to suit the needs of the general public and not any specific
individuals, the software will be available on a subscription plan. To attract new users, everyone
can use the free version of VisualDeck, however, they have to upgrade to a paid subscription to
access premium features. As a result of this, people are encouraged to try the software, and if it
is to their satisfaction they could potentially make a subscription.

2. Once you have explained your software project, you are to discuss in detail which
development approach you would use for your given situation (i.e. end user for a small
program). You must justify your choice of approach through reference back to your
development situation. (Include diagrams, pictures, etc.

Of the array of unique development approaches, the structured waterfall approach reigned
supreme as the most advantageous approach to be incorporated into VisualDeck for more
reasons than one. As our company is still at its juvenile stage, it is imperative that the foundation
our company is built on, be structurally organised with all the requirements met before
proceeding with any further development, hence the waterfall approach has been chosen due to
its suitability with the nature of our company.
Requirements phase
This is the first step of the waterfall approach. Here, the team members of VisualDeck discuss
and gather information about the demand and the profitability of the project. Unimportant
features that are costly to implement and not beneficial to the software may be discarded.
Feasibility studies are conducted to determine the factors that could influence the project’s
success. This include: Scheduling Feasibility, Operational Feasibility, Economic Feasibility, and
Technical Feasibility. By the end of this phase, the team members should have a plan on who’s
working on each stage and create a timeline for the project.

System design phase

The system design phase comes after the requirements phase. This is when the team specifies
what hardware and software the project will require in order to meet the requirements stated in
the requirements phase. There are 2 steps to the system design phase: high-level and
low-level. The low-level design phase refers to when the team builds a specific part of the
project. An example is having a team committed to designing a ‘share’ function that allows
VisualDeck users to collaborate with each other. The creation of the graphical user interface
(GUI) and the layout of VisualDeck begin in this phase.

Implementation phase
Once the design phase is complete, the implementation phase commences. This is where the
designs and solutions are put into action. Functions and features designed in the second phase
are coded and incorporated into the software. Hardware such as computers and servers is
installed, and the systems are integrated into daily work processes. An example is the 'share'
function designed in the second phase. After the solution has been created, in the
implementation phase, the function is programmed and made available to VisualDeck.

Testing phase
Proceeding after the implementation phase, team members of VisualDeck will test the software
for any underlying defective codes that may have been overlooked in the preceding phases
through various layers of testing methods in order to sift out chronic errors. We at VisualDeck, to
ensure our software is in its most perfect and cleansed state, incorporate a multitude of testing
methods. That is, unit testing, integration testing, system testing and automation testing.
Deployment phase
Once all preceding phases have been successfully undergone and the software has been
thoroughly tested for any potential errors and has been approved of, only then can it be
deployed into a live environment, available to be used by the general public.

Maintenance phase
After the project is successfully deployed, regular maintenance should be done to ensure that
the software is working properly. Oftentimes, bugs and errors that weren't found during the
testing stage are discovered. This is why constant maintenance is crucial as the errors can be
fixed as soon as possible. Furthermore, as the software and hardware got older, it might need
repairs or upgrades in order to retain its functionality. The maintenance phase deals with the
change in the requirements and equipment that need to be made to the service over its lifetime.

ORGANISATION
The linear, requirement progression of the waterfall approach ensures that the framework of our
company is consistently well structured and ridgid throughout, to produce an extremely stable
end product with no inconsistencies of quality, to better the satisfaction of our users. This level
of organisation within our company will maximise our project control and management as
milestones would be clearly defined, making it easier to monitor the progress being made.

ERROR DETECTION
Before the implementation stage, the gathering and analysing of the requirements proceed first.
These two processes occur in thorough detail, and as such, a thorough understanding of the
requirements is obtained that can help to identify and purge any potential errors or code during
the early development process before it can be entered into the implementation phase where it
could have further detrimental effects.

To summarise, the waterfall model is a methodical approach where the project won’t move to
the next stage until the current stage is complete. Since VisualDeck has over 140 employees,
multiple teams can be created, and each will be assigned to their specialised tasks. This makes
the approach suitable for VisualDeck as it allows professionals to focus solely on their part,
reducing potential errors and mistakes. The adoption of the waterfall methodology proves to be
a strategic decision for the interest of VisualDeck as its organised progression aligns seamlessly
with our organisational goals, ensuring a robust foundation for our software, all whilst raising our
customer satisfaction.