System Design Document

Question

I did some searching on the site for an answer to help guide me, but my efforts netted 0 results.

I need to write a system design document for a client that is bringing their entire operation in house. At the current moment they have outsourced all of their programming to offshore developers, and I fear that many of the issues with offshoring your development will creep up. Regardless, what are some good and/or mandatory pieces of this design document. I have to pitch this to a CEO that is not exactly technical.

For what it's worth it will be a .net application. Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Not sure what you are looking for exactly. A few things you should cover in any system design:

• Hardware (what will you need) for initial design/testing, ramp-up, and sustaining
• Project phases (prototype [how will you prove this is a good project], phase 1, phase 2, etc, maintenance)
• Resources (mostly around people), break this down by phase
• Design assumptions (technology, people, cost, time, etc)
• Risks (by far usually the most thorough section) what can you foresee being a problem and how will you mitigate it
• Costs (both for doing the project, and for not doing the project)
• Scope, what will you cover what will you not cover and why

Depending on how complex the project is, and what the scope of the project is you will probably have much more rigid requirements for documents at the specification, and analysis levels.

Hope that helps.

Answer 2

I would check out IEEE or military standards--unfortunately it looks like you'll need to pay to get the IEEE documentation, but MILSTDs should be available online for free somewhere. When faced with a task like this I usually start with a standard template and then whittle it down to what's really necessary for the system I'm working on.

Answer 3

Check out the 4+1 Architectural View Model:

Wikipedia entry

Original paper

I find it inspiring for answering the kind of questions you are probably looking after. Adapt to your needs.