PROGRAM SUITE SPECIFICATION
Once the final system proposal has been accepted by management the systems
analyst has the task of specifying the computer functions of the system to the
programmers.
The Program Suite Specification must provide sufficient information to the
program development team about the computer functions of the system to enable
programs to be developed and tested to a defined level.
The content will, therefore, vary
between different installations and between different teams.
Much will depend upon the
point at which program development is distinguishable from system development. Other
factors are organisational structure, experience of the people involved and design novelty.
At one extreme the information that has to be communicated may be little more
than a statement of the objectives to be met by programming activity, together with a
broad description of input, output and maintained files.
At the other extreme the
information may be so detailed and complete that coding can commence following
receipt and examination of the specification.
Where programming is a function of a
multi-discipline "project team', and there is no readily distinguished transfer of re-
sponsibility, there may be no need for a formal Program Suite Specification.
The specification will be produced to form the basis of sub-contracting
responsibility for programming work The handover of the specification represents an
identifiable control point in a development project and usually involves locally-defined
procedures such as for authorisation, specification appraisal and acceptance and handling
of queries.
Local standards must-also provide for specification maintenance.
The content of the Program Suite Specification will be a subset of the documents
maintained in the New System File, the subset being determined in the light of local
requirements.
For ease of subsequent referencing and maintenance the specification
should be organized in the same sequence as the System File from which it is derived.
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