Non-functional Requirements of the My Health Record System

Question:

Discuss about the Hybrid Cloud Computing Environment.

Headspace organization is aiming to develop a system named “My Health Record system” that would capture the story of the patients at the very first time it is told. This eliminates the need of retelling the story every time the patient visits a new professional. A cloud-based solution is determined to be used in this project for its accessibility and the cost effectiveness. The report discusses the cloud based solution, which would be perfect to implement in this project along with the SDLC approach that is to be considered for developing the project. The non-functional requirements of the project along with a detailed description of the cloud based solution and SDLC approach are elaborated in the following paragraphs (Steele, Min & Lo, 2012).

The non-functional requirements of the system help in identifying the different criteria that would be important to consider in maintaining a smooth operation of a system. It is very different from the functional requirements as the functional requirements define the essential phases of the non-functional requirement (Chung, Nixon & Mylopoulos, 2012). The different non-functional requirements that are identified for the development of “My Health Record System” are elaborated below.

The functionality of the system defines the different functions that a system performs in order to maintain a smooth operation of the system. The primary functionality that this system must perform is the storage of the patients’ health record. Therefore, it is mandatory for the system to incorporate features such as add, edit and update of data.

Usability of a system is another major criterion for determining the non functional requirements of the system. The system should be easily accessible to the users and therefore, a simple and easy interface can be considered as another non-functional requirement for the project.

The system is designed keeping in mind the advantages of digital data keeping, one of which is the elimination of hassle of manual data access. Therefore, the including an option of data recovery is an essential non-functional requirement that is needed to be considered for the system.

A system is needed to deliver high performance level, as it is one of the major aspects of this system. The data accessibility should be efficient enough and the data should remain accessible 24*7. Therefore, the adaptability of this system to different devices is considered other major non-functional requirements of the system.

The Hybrid Cloud Environment for My Health Record System

The system that is to be developed for storing the patients’ health records into the system. This data is sensitive and therefore proper security measures are essential to implement to protect this data from unauthorized access (Kulkarni et al., 2012). Therefore, it is a major non-functional requirement of the system. Access control is necessary in order to preserve the sensitive nature of the documents that would be stored into the system.

The difference between the functional and non-functional requirement of the project is that the incorporation of non-functional requirements in a project increases the performance and robustness of the system to a greater extent. Functional requirement on the other hand mainly deals with the technical requirements of the system.

Authorization is a functional requirement of the system while ensuring proper security count as a non-functional requirement. Therefore, it can be said that the functional and no-functional requirement of the system is related. Defining the different authorization levels help in access control of the system (Pearce & Bainbridge, 2014).

Usability and functionality of the software refers to the different non-functional requirement of the system, while the functional requirement of the system includes a quick access of the patients’ data stored, in form of summary statement.

Functional requirements are therefore essential for system implementation while the non-functional requirement of the system is responsible for enhancing the performance of the system and therefore, the different non-functional requirements identified for the development of “My Health Record System” should be considered for project development.

The Hybrid cloud environment is chosen appropriate for the project under consideration because of the limitation of the other two cloud environment. The public cloud environment is easier to implement and offers a wide range of advantages, however there are many security concerns associated with the public cloud. Considering the sensitive nature of the data and the medical health records of the patients, it is not a good idea to implement the system on public cloud. Public cloud environment is prone to severe attacks and therefore securing the data over public cloud would be a risky task (AlZain et al., 2012). Therefore, this cloud environment cannot be considered in this case. Private cloud on other hand although is more secure than public cloud environment, implementation of the same is costly and the access to the data is very limited. The limited accessibility of the data can hinder the exact cause of implementation of this system. The main idea behind the implementation of this system is string the health records of the patients so that every time they visit a new professional they need not repeat their stories. Limited access to data can become a hindrance in fulfilling the primary objective of the system and therefore should be avoided.

SDLC Management Approach for My Health Record System

Hybrid cloud is a mixture of public and private cloud that offers all the benefits of a public cloud eliminates the problem of limited accessibility of the system. This allows only the authorized person in accessing the system. Implementation of hybrid cloud therefore is a good alternative to be considered for the system (Galibus & Vissia, 2015). The strength and weaknesses of the hybrid cloud environment is elaborated in the following paragraphs.

The strength of hybrid cloud environment are listed below-

1. The major benefit of implementing this system in a hybrid cloud environment is that it offers all the benefits of a public cloud and the system is secure enough to store the confidential data of the patient (Li et al., 2015).
2. Hybrid cloud is very easy to implement and number of attacks recorded in a hybrid cloud is much less than that of public cloud.
3. The hybrid cloud environment is easier to access as compared to the private cloud (Li et al., 2013).

The weaknesses of implementing the system in a hybrid cloud environment are listed below-

1. A hacker can target the data movement in and out of the public and private cloud environment. with an intension of data stealing.
2. The cost of implementation of hybrid cloud is more than that of public cloud, as the initial investment to the system is considerably high (Chen & Zhao, 2012).

The software development life cycle or the SDLC management approach describes the different phases associated with the software development life cycle such as the planning phase, the implementation phase and the testing phase. Different approaches of SDLC are present out of which the predictive and the adaptive SDCL approaches are elaborated in the following paragraphs.

This approach is called predictive as the different phases of the software development are predicted or determined before the initiation of the project. This is more like the traditional waterfall approach where each phases of the software development follows a definite method. The completion of each phase marks the beginning of the next phase in software development (Tuteja & Dubey, 2012). The scope and project deliverable is clear and pre determined in this approach and therefore this type of SDLC is easier to implement. The pros and cons of the predictive SDLC are elaborated in the following paragraphs.

The advantages of the software development life cycle are listed below-

1. The project is generally completed within the scheduled time by following this approach as the scope and schedule of the project remains clear throughout the project implementation.
2. The project requirements remain clear and unchanged throughout the project and therefore this type of project generally does not require budget revision.
3. Documentation control is another major aspect of this approach, which is a plus point.

The disadvantages of using predictive SDLC approach are listed below-

1. The project scope that is set at the initiation of the project cannot be changed while the project is implemented.
2. The project is needed to follow the planned phases and therefore implementation of a new feature in the software later is not possible.

While the predictive SDLC approach follows the waterfall project methodology, the adaptive SDLC approach is similar to the agile project development methodology. This type of methodology is implemented when the scope of the project is not clear. This allows the benefit of incorporating different features while the project is in the development stage and therefore, sometimes it becomes difficult to complete the project within a set time (Balaji & Murugaiyan, 2012). The pros and cons of adaptive SDLC are elaborated in the following paragraphs.

The different advantages of using the adaptive SDLC management are listed below-

1. The system under development can be modified while the project is being implemented
2. The testing procedures and the presence of feedback path helps in developing a bug free product

The cons of adaptive SDLC are listed below-

1. The project becomes difficult to complete within set time
2. The cost of implementation is high

The project of developing “My health record system” has  clear scope and requirements and is needed to be completed as soon as possible. Therefore, it is recommended to use predictive SDLC approach for the development of this project (Mahalakshmi & Sundararajan, 2013).

Conclusion

Therefore, from the above discussion it can be concluded that the development of this system in a hybrid cloud environment would be beneficial for the organization. The report discusses the pros and cons of developing the system in a hybrid cloud environment along with the recommendation of using a proper SDLC approach of product development. The project is to be developed keeping in mind the identified non-functional requirements of the system.

References

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