UNIVERSITY EXAMINATIONS: 2020/2021

EXAMINATION FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN

SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT/ BUSINESS INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY
BBIT 207/BSD 2108/: SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT METHODOLOGY
FULL TIME/ PART TIME/ DISTANCE LEARNING
ORDINARY EXAMINATION
DATE: AUGUST, 2021 TIME: 3 HOURS

INSTRUCTIONS: Answer Question ONE and ANY OTHER

QUESTION ONE (30 MARKS)

a). A company has over the years used software development methods that rely on
documented specifications and designs. Agile methods are being considered seriously in
the pursuit of growth and internationalization of the business.
i) Explains the agile principles for rapid software development and justify its
appropriateness as a method for adoption. (12 marks)
ii) Discuss the view that modern life cycle models with their emphasis on
prototyping, create systems that are often fragmented and difficult to integrate; of
unsatisfactory reliability, performance, and functionality; and of limited
longevity. (8 marks)
b). Describe a methodology which can be considered to reflect the "science" paradigm and a
methodology which can be considered to reflect the "systems" paradigm. Refer to the
main objectives, phases/activities, and deliverables of the methodology in your
description. Justify your classification of the methodologies (10 marks)
QUESTION TWO (20 MARKS)
a). A College was interested in creating a website to allow students to enrol on their training
programmes over the Internet. What should the company consider when deciding on
whether to invest in a custom, packaged or outsourced system solution? (10 Marks)
b). Systems analysts need to communicate and interact extensively with users. However the
"vocabulary" of systems development is often not familiar to users and the organisational
backgrounds and experience of systems analysts may be very different from those of
users. What problems might this cause during the requirements definition phase in
particular, and how might they be overcome? (10 marks)

QUESTION THREE (20 MARKS)

a). The Government has decided to introduce a new system development method for use in
various projects. Identify possible problems and risks which may affect the introduction
of the new method and the measures that could be adopted to avoid the problems and
risks. (6 Marks)
b). Poor user interface design is the reason why so many software systems are never used.
State and explain four human factors that you would take into consideration when
designing a user interface. (8 Marks)
c). An irrigation software system has a module that reads environmental factors
(temperature (T) and humidity in the air (HA) and the humidity in the soil (HS). If HS is
less than x and HS is less than y and the temperature is between t1 and t2, then the
software system will switch on the sprinklers otherwise for the same conditionals of HA
and HS, if temperature is below t1 the software system will switch on the flood watering
systems. After analyzing the given scenario, construct a flow chart diagram for the
system. Ensure that your diagram has the smallest number of items possible.
(6 marks)