This management method is composed of 9 steps divided into 3 parts:
Design with analysis of the need, specifications, architectural design and then
detailed design.
The implementation with coding.
Tests with unit tests, integration, validation and acceptance tests.
The different phases of a Waterfall project
The teams
Each design step must prepare the associated test phase in order to anticipate the phases
and to limit the return to previous phases.
Each step has to be fully validated before starting the next one.
In this method, each team participates in very limited steps (Macro-RACI) :
Role
Need
Specification
Archi Design
Detailed design
Coding
Unit test
Integration test
System test
Acceptance test
Business
X
X
Project manager
X
X
Architect
X
X
Developer
X
X
X
Preparing Phase
Objectives
This phase is to design the general solution.
Needed Inputs
For this phase, only output of the previous phases (start) are required: project charter, business case and the decision.
The deliverables
Deliverable
Business
IT
Transversal general conception (who does what,
takes place mainly with SOA or micro-services architectures).
Contributes with the general need.
Often carried out by functional architects, requires the intervention of the IS teams of the
impacted applications.
General specifications
Contributes with the general need.
Each impacted application carries out the general design of its part.
The mock-ups
Made for high stakes applications
on communication, the business can simply be a contributor if it has little impact
on the process (simplified validation).
Entering the IS application for high-performance applications
communication issues. Can be performed by IS if validation is simplified.
Detailed specifications
Contributes with the general need.
Each application
carries out its detailed design (rather on the integrator side).
Security analysis
contributes.
Responsible.
Security specifications
Informed.
Often designed by the architect.
Architecture specifications
-
Made by the architects,
technical experts and infrastructure.
Strategy for change management
Responsible.
Informed.
Deployment strategy
Contributes or Responsible.
Responsible or contributes.
Migration strategy
Contributes.
Responsible.
Test strategy
Made for the business test.
Responsible for unit tests, integration and validation.
Interface contract and service contract
Contributes.
Responsible.
Following these designs, a new costing can be carried out by integrators, see
whether the risk had been properly considered during the define phase !!
And finally, GO (Business and IS) for switching to build phase.
The committees
At regular intervals, committees are necessary for the proper functioning of a project.
A project committee can take place between the integrator and the project manager and another project committee
between project manager and the business.
These committees allow to :
Monitor the progress of the project: work in progress, status of deliverables
Display next milestones
Addressing the risks
Make decisions on the project and display it
Similarly, but at less frequent intervals, more general monitoring committees
are organized, they allow decisions to be made that are not at the project level
but inter-project.
Example of planning
The different stages of Waterfall design
Be careful, for each deliverable, a validation phase must be planned. For projects to which
I participated, what worked best was :
3 days for the 1st review form.
2 days for re-delivery.
2 days for the validation of the comments taken into account (no news
remarks).
If there are still remarks that are not taken into account, a workshop is scheduled between
the stakeholders to have a deliverable validated in session.
The validation process can therefore take 1.5 weeks, which is not insignificant, especially if
in the case where the next step can only start with a previously validated deliverable.
Build phase
Objectives
The objectives of the build phase are to implement the solution and prepare its deployment.
Inputs needed
The various detailed designs and strategies carried out during the previous phase are necessary.
The deliverables
Deliverable
Business
IT
Change management plan
Responsible.
Informed.
Operating procedures
-
Responsible (integrator).
Checklist of into production conditions
Responsible.
Responsible.
Checklist of commissioning conditions
Responsible.
Responsible.
Application component map
-
Responsible.
Map of inter-application exchanges
-
Responsible.
Deployment plan
Contributes ou Responsible.
Responsible ou contributes.
Tests scenario
Responsible for acceptance tests.
Responsible for
unit, integration and system tests.
Solution delivery report
Informed.
Responsible.
Documentation delivery report
Informed.
Responsible.
And finally, GO (business and IT) for switching to test phase.
Example of planning
The phase of setting up the environments is primordial. First, the development environment
is the easiest: installation of the components / versions planned. It is not necessary to be
production-compliant in terms of overall infrastructure (generally no or few interfaces
in the development environment) but it is necessary to have the right component versions and
tools necessary for packaging and version tracking. The dev environment is generally at the
the integrator's responsibility
The development phase ends with a delivery.
During the build phase, the recipe environment is prepared, it must comply with the expected
but interfaces with other applications can be manual.
The different stages of Waterfall build
Test phase
Objectives
The objective of this phase is to verify that the product is in conformity with expectations.
Needed Inputs
The detailed documentation carried out during the design phase as well as the scenarios of
tests performed during the build phase.
The deliverables
Deliverable
Business
IT
Technical test report
Informed.
Responsible.
Functional test report
Informed.
Responsible.
Training materials
Responsible.
Contribue.
Recovery plan
Informed.
Responsible.
Continuity plan
Informed.
Responsible.
And finally, GO (Business and IS) for switching to build phase.
Example of planning
The test phase begins with the identification or creation of data sets on the test environment.
The tests are then carried out, the identified anomalies are reported and qualified
(severity and precision on the NO GO criterion).
The integrator then delivers corrective versions that are received.
When the conditions are met (available environment and no more blocking anomalies),
the version is deployed on the pre-production environment.
In the same way, tests are carried out, new anomalies may arise due to
production conditions.
Load and security tests can be carried out.
The different steps of the tests
Deploy Phase
Objectives
This phase aims to complete the deployment phase of the solution.
Note the distinction:
Production deployment: the service is installed on the production environment. This allows for
to test without stress the proper functioning of the application. the service is
only accessible internally by IT/business teams.
Pilot deployment: only a few key users use the service to
check its proper functioning in real conditions
Commissioning : the service is accessible and used by the entire
concerned population of users
Inputs needed
Conditions Check-list of production deployment
Conditions Check-list of pilot deployment
Conditions Check-list of commissioning
The deliverables
Deliverable
Business
IT
Check-list of production deployment completed
Responsible.
Responsible.
GO for production deployment
Responsible.
Responsible.
Incident resolution plan
Informed.
Responsible.
Follow-up of the anomaly resolution plan
Informed.
Responsible.
Checklist of commmissioning conditions completed
Responsible.
Responsible.
GO for commissioning
Responsible.
Responsible.
Check-list of RUN switching completed
Responsible.
Responsible.
GO for RUN
Responsible.
Responsible.
Example of planning
The different steps of the deployment of a Waterfall project
Definitions
Some explanations of the terms (select to expand): Production Deployment
It is deployed on production environments BUT is not
not used or used by a small part of the users (this is called the pilot phase).
Commissioning
It is accessible and used by all users.
Report
Document allowing all parties to trace the delivery
of deliverables.
GO
Decision of all parties to proceed to the next step.
GO's decision can be qualified: prior actions must then be taken
(e.g. corrections or rapid corrective delivery planning).
Recovery plan
Comes after the crash of servers, databases, etc., it is a function
of uploading the application from the backups.
Service continuity plan
System adopted to guarantee the expected service rate.
RACI or RAM (responsibility assignment matrix)
Describes who does what on the project. The different responsibilities :
Responsible / Accountable / Consulted / Informed.
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