appdev

Emerging Technology

New technologies that are currently developing or will be developed over the next five to ten years, which will substantially alter the business and social environment, or innovations/progressions of existing technologies used creatively for modernity.

Radical Novelty

A characteristic of emerging technology where it takes the form of progressing technology or generates newness by putting existing technology to a new use, fulfilling a given function using a different basic principle compared to previous technologies.

Relatively Fast Growth

A characteristic of emerging technology showing rapid growth rates across dimensions such as involved actors, funding, knowledge outputs, prototypes, products, and services compared to non-emerging technologies.

Coherence

A characteristic of emerging technology defined as a convergence of previously separated research streams and technologies that have moved beyond the conceptual stage, having internal group unity and logical interconnection persisting over time.

Prominent Impact

A characteristic of emerging technology where it provides benefits for a wide range of sectors, transforms an industry, and exerts enhanced economic and socio-economic influence.

Uncertainty and Ambiguity

Characteristics arising because proposed applications of emerging technologies are malleable, knowledge of possible outcomes is incomplete, and potential uses/outcomes may be unintended or undesirable.

Augmented Reality (AR)

A technology that overlays computer-generated display, sound, text, and effects on a user's view of the real world to deliver a unified, enhanced view.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

The simulation of human intelligence processes by machines, including learning, reasoning, and self-correction.

Machine Learning

An application of AI that provides a machine with the ability to learn from experience like humans.

Quantum Computers

Computers that use quantum mechanics to perform calculations far more efficiently than conventional computers, using qubits as their basic unit of computation.

Qubit

The basic unit of computation in quantum computers that can exist in a quantum superposition, acting as a 0 and 1 at the same time.

Industrial Revolution

The systematic transformation of manufacturing through the integration of physical and digital systems to improve quality, lower costs, and increase efficiency.

First Industrial Revolution (Industry 1.0)

The industrial stage beginning in the 18th century marked by the introduction of mechanical production using hydroelectric and steam-powered equipment.

Second Industrial Revolution (Industry 2.0)

The industrial stage beginning in the 19th century that introduced technological systems using electricity for greater production and more sophisticated machines.

Third Industrial Revolution (Industry 3.0)

The industrial stage beginning with the first computer era, using electronics and IT to automate production processes, connectivity, and renewable energy.

Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0)

The current and developing environment driven by disruptive technologies like IoT, robotics, VR, AR, and AI that change traditional production relationships and daily life.

Big Data Analytics

The process of collecting, organizing, and analyzing large sets of data from different resources to discover patterns and useful information to support real-time decision-making.

Internet of Things (IoT)

A computing concept describing physical objects connected to the Internet, enabling interaction, communication, and decentralized analytics/decision-making.

Cloud Computing

A general term for delivering hosted services over the Internet, enabling machine data and functionality to be deployed for data-driven services.

Systems Development

A systematic process of defining, designing, testing, and implementing a new application, consisting of planning, analysis, design, and implementation phases.

Systems Analyst

A role responsible for gathering requirements, analyzing requirements, modeling user needs, and creating blueprints for building a system.

Requirements Determination

The activity of converting high-level user requirements into a list of detailed requirements called a requirements definition report.

Requirement

A statement of what a system must perform or what characteristic it must have.

User Requirements

Requirements determined from discussions with clients to establish their actual needs, written from the perspective of user needs.

System Requirements

Refined requirements used in the design phase to state the functional and non-functional requirements describing how the system will be implemented.

Functional Requirements

Requirements directly related to the process a system has to perform or data it needs to contain.

Non-functional Requirements

Requirements pertaining to behavioral properties or system characteristics, including operational, performance, security, and cultural/political properties.

Operational Requirements

Non-functional requirements specifying the operating environment, OS platforms, system software, and physical surroundings in which the system must perform.

Performance Requirements

Non-functional requirements dealing with issues related to response time, capacity, and reliability of the system.

Security Requirements

Non-functional requirements addressing user access permissions, protection against data loss/disruption, encryption, and virus scanning.

Cultural and Political Requirements

Non-functional requirements dealing with cultural/political factors, language constraints, legal mandates, and company rules.

Requirements Definition Report

A documentation listing the functional and non-functional requirements of a system in an outline format to define its scope and guide development.

Requirements Gathering

The process of cooperating with clients or users to collect information, discover needs, and list business or user requirements.

Interviews

A requirements-gathering technique comprising interviewers and interviewees, following a 5-step process to gather high-level and detailed system information.

Close-ended Questions

Interview or questionnaire questions requiring a specific, concise answer, used when looking for precise facts.

Open-ended Questions

Questions allowing interviewees to respond in open text format based on their complete understanding, used to gather rich details.

Probing Questions

Follow-up questions used during interviews to encourage expansion or clarification on a previous response.

Interview Report

A document created after an interview that details interview notes, collected information, and a summary sent to the interviewee for verification.

Joint Application Development (JAD)

An information-gathering technique allowing a project team, users, and management to work together in structured group sessions guided by a facilitator to define requirements.

Facilitator

An expert in group processes and systems analysis who sets the JAD agenda and guides discussions without participating as a group member.

Scribe

A JAD session role responsible for recording notes, making copies, and using CASE tools to record proceedings.

Questionnaires

A set of written questions distributed in paper or electronic form to obtain information from a large group of individuals.

Sample

A subset of a target population chosen to represent the entire population under study when administering questionnaires.

Document Analysis

A qualitative research technique where project teams review and interpret existing organizational documentation (e.g., reports, manuals, forms) to understand an as-is system.

Observation

The act of watching processes being performed to see the reality of an as-is system and validate information from indirect sources.

Depth of Information

A evaluation characteristic of requirements-gathering techniques referring to how rich, detailed, and explanatory the collected information is.

Breadth of Information

A characteristic referring to the range of information and number of sources that can be easily collected using a specific technique.

Integration of Information

The process of combining gathered information from different sources and resolving conflicting opinions or facts.

User Involvement

The amount of time and energy that target users must dedicate to the analysis process.

Requirements Analysis

The process of analyzing gathered requirements to ensure they are actually necessary, unambiguous, and free of conflicts before system design.

Necessary Requirement

A requirement characteristic indicating that the statement is essential, and its removal would leave a deficiency that cannot be met elsewhere.

Unambiguous Requirement

A requirement characteristic meaning the statement can only be interpreted in one way and uses precise terms.

Consistent Requirement

A requirement characteristic meaning it does not conflict with or overlap other requirements.

Complete Requirement

A requirement characteristic stating that all necessary details needed to meet the user's need are fully described.

Singular Requirement

A requirement characteristic dictating that a statement contains only one single need and avoids conjunctions like 'and', 'or', or 'but'.

Feasible Requirement

A requirement characteristic meaning it is achievable within constraints like budget, time, technology, and legal limitations.

Verifiable Requirement

A requirement characteristic meaning the implemented system can be tested, inspected, or demonstrated to prove the requirement has been met.

Traceable Requirement

A requirement characteristic satisfied by giving the statement a unique identifier to track changes throughout the software development life cycle.

Checklist

A tool consisting of standard questions used by analysts to assess whether each requirement meets quality characteristics.

Unified Modeling Language (UML)

A visual modeling language providing visual representations for developing and documenting object-oriented software and systems.

Use-Case Diagram

A UML diagram used to summarize and demonstrate functional requirements and user interactions from the perspective of the system user.

Actor

A person or external system outside the boundary box representing a role that interacts with the system.

Primary Actor

An actor that initiates interaction with a system or software.

Secondary Actor

An actor called upon by the system for support or service when a primary actor initiates a use case.

Use-Case

A symbol placed inside the subject boundary labeled with a verb-noun phrase representing a specific functionality of a system.

Subject Boundary Bo

xA visual box representing the scope of a system or module, separating internal use cases from external actors.

Association Relationship

A line connecting an actor and a use case indicating interaction between the actor and system functionality.

Include Relationship

A directed relationship dashed arrow with indicating that a base use case requires the functionality of another use case to perform its task

Extend Relationship

A directed relationship dashed arrow with indicating that an extending use case provides optional functionality to a base use case.

Generalization Relationship

A relationship (solid line with open arrowhead) showing a specialized child use case inheriting behavior from a broader parent use case.