Artifact:  Software Development Plan

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.
Role:	Project Manager
Templates:	HTML
Examples:	Software Development Plan Template for Small Projects is a partially completed Software Development Plan suitable for helping small projects get started more quickly.
Purpose Enclosed Artifacts Timing Responsibility Tailoring Additional Information

Input to Activities: Define Assessment and Traceability Needs Develop Development Case Develop Iteration Plan Assess Iteration Monitor Project Status Develop Quality Assurance Plan Establish Change Control Process Write Configuration Management (CM) Plan Establish Configuration Management (CM) Policies Develop Deployment Plan Define Bill of Materials Project Planning Review Lifecycle Milestone Review Project Acceptance Review Agree Mission Obtain Testability Commitment Acquire Resources Prepare for Phase Close-Out Prepare for Project Close-Out Schedule and Assign Work

Output from Activities: Compile Software Development Plan Define Project Organization and Staffing Initiate Project Plan Phases and Iterations Acquire Resources 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.

Enclosed Artifacts

• Artifact: Iteration Plan
• Artifact: Measurement Plan
• Artifact: Development Case
• Artifact: Business Modeling Guidelines
• Artifact: User-Interface Guidelines
• Artifact: Use-Case Modeling Guidelines
• Artifact: Design Guidelines
• Artifact: Programming Guidelines
• Artifact: Test Guidelines
• Artifact: Manual Styleguide
• Artifact: Infrastructure Plan
• Artifact: Product Acceptance Plan
• Artifact: Configuration Management Plan
• Artifact: Documentation Plan
• Artifact: Quality Assurance Plan
• Artifact: Subcontractor Management Plan
• Artifact: Process Improvement Plan

Note: Although the RUP  recognizes the possible need for an Infrastructure Plan, Documentation Plan, Subcontractor Management Plan, and Process Improvement Plan, they are currently outside of the scope of the process and no explicit guidance is provided for their creation or for their contents.

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.

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