© Blackboard, Inc. All rights reserved. Back to the Feature: An Agile, User-centric Software Development Lifecycle Cindy Barry Senior Product Manager Martha Cooley Senior Product Manager

2 Agenda » Introduction to the Blackboard SDLC » Blackboard Requirement Stages » Phased Development » Client Involvement » Question and Answers

3 Introduction to Blackboard’s SDLC » Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC): Framework for understanding and building software Requirements » » Outline use cases » » Workflows Quality Assurance » » Group and rank use cases » » Determine test case coverage Framework Engineering » » Define conceptual model Documentation » » Determine audience and documentation needs

4 » » Iterative: The application is developed in small sections. Common SDLC Models » » Waterfall: Linear and sequential. » » Agile: Plan, build, evaluate, adapt, repeat.

5 Blackboard’s Methodology » Application Pack Strategy » Targeted releases » Limited scope » Increased frequency » Two per year » High quality » Feature Teams » Includes Requirements, Developers, Quality Assurance, Performance, and Documentation » Increased communication and collaboration AdaptivePredictive WaterfallAgile Iterative

6 Requirements Stages » Product Roadmap » Product Requirement Document (PRD) » Business Priority Table (BPT) » Functional Requirement Spec (FRS) » Technical Design Document (TDD)

7 Roadmap » Feature lists collected from numerous sources » Roadmap Committee » Client-facing departments » Analysis of client needs » Direct Client Feedback » Focus groups » Blackboard Days » Blackboard Idea Exchange » Client Enhancement Requests » ListServ’s

8 Product Requirements Document » High-level description of release features » All features listed and ranked » External client-facing » Internal infrastructure and framework » No development until feature approved Sign Off Business Priority Table » » Determine business needs per feature » » Detail List of Client-facing Requirements » » Prioritize Requirements per feature » » Must Have, Scheduled, Proximity

9 Functional Requirements Specification » Create Use Cases » One or more use cases for each Business Priority Table item » Create user “stories” » Rough Scope » Requirements, Engineering, Quality Assurance, Performance » Re-evaluate feature list » PRD and BPTs updated, if needed » Collaborate with Clients » Product Development Partnership (PDP) » Continuously updated Sign Off

10 Functional Requirements Specification: Components Introduction Feature Priority List Explicitly Out of Scope Description of Feature Who will use, When, Why, Where will it appear Risks Use Case Outlines Workflow Diagram Behavior Overview Provide a description of functionality and how it is used in the problem domain Actors Functional Description Page Level Specifications Continuously updated

11 Functional Requirements Specification: Sample Visio Diagram

12 Technical Design Document » » Engineering documents technical design details » » Technical Design Document: Components » » Design Assumptions and Constraints » » Programming Interfaces, Operations, Classes » » Database Specifications » » Unit Tests » » Performance Considerations » » Data Models and UML » » API Impacts » » Continuously updated

13 Phased Development » Full project team engaged » Requirements, Engineering, Quality Assurance, Performance » Rough Scope of Requirements » Phased milestones » Re-evaluate feature list based on scope » Dedicated development environment (DevPod’s) » Three per team, one for each OS » Requirements and Dependencies » Project team reviews and contributes to FRS and TDD Sign Off Sign Off

14 Phased Development continued » Requirements » One phase ahead of development » Detail functionality, workflows, page design for use cases » Engineering » Build unit tests, build functionality, API test harness, validate » Quality Assurance » Detail uses cases for phase functionality, audit requirements » Test against development builds (DevPods) » Manual and automated test cases » Performance » Build and run performance tests » Phase Audits » Requirements / Engineering / QA » Show and Tell » Move onto next phase

15 Verification » Quality » Entrance and Exit Criteria » Cycles » Run test cases and Performance tests » Find, fix, and verify issues » Go/No Go at each Cycle » User testing of features » Internal demo box » Beta: User acceptance testing » Early Availability » General Availability Quality Cycle 1 Cycle 2 Cycle n Beta Early Availability Acceptance

16 Client Involvement » Blackboard Idea Exchange TM (BIE) » Focus Groups, Surveys: help decide what to build » Product Development Partners (PDP): help build » Product testing (Beta and Early Availability): help test » Blackboard Days, Conferences, Client Visits » Clients us » » Clients: Support » Report issues and enhancements

17 Thank you » Questions » Contact Information » » x2873 » » x2465