Artifact: Software Development Plan


	The Software Development Plan is a comprehensive, composite artifact that gathers all information required to manage the project. It encloses a number of artifacts developed during the Inception phase and is maintained throughout the project.
Other Relationships:	Contains - Problem Resolution Plan - Product Acceptance Plan - Measurement Plan - Risk Management Plan - Quality Assurance Plan
Role:	Project Manager
Optionality/Occurrence:	Developed during Inception phase, this artifact is updated at each major milestone.
Templates and Reports:	- Template: Software Development Plan (Informal) - Template: Software Development Plan
Examples:	- CREG Software Development Plan - Elaboration Phase - CSPS Software Development Plan - Elaboration Phase
UML Representation:	Not applicable.
More Information:	- Guideline: Software Development Plan


Input to Activities: - Acquire Staff - Agree on the Mission - Assess Iteration - Conduct Review - Create Baselines - Define Assessment and Traceability Needs - Define Bill of Materials - Define Monitoring & Control Processes - Define Test Approach - Develop Deployment Plan - Develop Development Case - Develop Iteration Plan - Develop Manual Styleguide - Develop Problem Resolution Plan - Develop Quality Assurance Plan - Develop Requirements Management Plan - Establish Change Control Process - Establish Configuration Management (CM) Policies - Initiate Iteration - Iteration Evaluation Criteria Review - Iteration Plan Review - Lifecycle Milestone Review - Monitor Project Status - Obtain Testability Commitment - Organize Review - Prepare for Phase Close-Out - Prepare for Project Close-Out - Project Acceptance Review - Project Planning Review - Promote Baselines - Schedule and Assign Work - Set Up Configuration Management (CM) Environment - Write Configuration Management (CM) Plan	Output from Activities: - Acquire Staff - Compile Software Development Plan - Define Monitoring & Control Processes - Define Project Organization and Staffing - Initiate Project - Plan Phases and Iterations - Prepare for Phase Close-Out - Prepare for Project Close-Out - Schedule and Assign Work

Input to Activities: - Acquire Staff - Agree on the Mission - Assess Iteration - Conduct Review - Create Baselines - Define Assessment and Traceability Needs - Define Bill of Materials - Define Monitoring & Control Processes - Define Test Approach - Develop Deployment Plan - Develop Development Case - Develop Iteration Plan - Develop Manual Styleguide - Develop Problem Resolution Plan - Develop Quality Assurance Plan - Develop Requirements Management Plan - Establish Change Control Process - Establish Configuration Management (CM) Policies - Initiate Iteration - Iteration Evaluation Criteria Review - Iteration Plan Review - Lifecycle Milestone Review - Monitor Project Status - Obtain Testability Commitment - Organize Review - Prepare for Phase Close-Out - Prepare for Project Close-Out - Project Acceptance Review - Project Planning Review - Promote Baselines - Schedule and Assign Work - Set Up Configuration Management (CM) Environment - Write Configuration Management (CM) Plan

Output from Activities: - Acquire Staff - Compile Software Development Plan - Define Monitoring & Control Processes - Define Project Organization and Staffing - Initiate Project - Plan Phases and Iterations - Prepare for Phase Close-Out - Prepare for Project Close-Out - Schedule and Assign Work

Purpose

The purpose of the Software Development Plan is to gather all of the information necessary to control the project. It describes the approach to the development of the software, and is the top-level plan generated and used by the managers to direct the development effort.

The following people use the Software Development Plan:

The project manager, to plan the project schedule and resource needs, and to track progress against the schedule.
Project team members, to understand what they need to do, when they need to do it, and what other activities they are dependent upon.

Timing

Developed during Inception phase, this artifact is updated at each major milestone.

Responsibility

The Project Manager is responsible for compiling the enclosed documents and making sure the latest versions are made available through the Software Development Plan.

Tailoring

There are situations when a standard is called out in a contract that stipulates the outline and contents of a Software Development Plan. In this case, you would use that instead of the proposed outline shown in the HTML template, but you should form a clear mapping of the information requirements of that standard to the outline in the template provided.

Additional Information

Good software development plans evolve. A useful Software Development Plan is periodically updated (it is not stagnant shelfware), and it is understood and embraced by managers and practitioners.

The Software Development Plan is the defining document for the project’s process. Prepare a single Software Development Plan that:

complies with organizational standards for content
complies with the contract (if any)
provides traceability to, or waivers from, contract and organization requirements
is updated at each major milestone
evolves along with the design and requirements

A standard format promotes:

reuse of processes, methods, experience, and people
accountability for organizational expectations
homogeneous process objectives

A key discriminator of a good Software Development Plan is its conciseness, lack of philosophy, and focus on meaningful standards and procedures.