An Intelligent Process Model Choice Tool

The need for a formal development structure to produce high quality software products was addressed in 1970 when Royce described the initial software lifecycle model, the now classic Waterfall model. Building on the initial Stepwise model, the Waterfall model was to be re-introduced in a landmark article1, giving it a world-wide audience and adopting it as the conventional lifecycle model. The Waterfall model was based on a systems approach, more heavily balanced towards analysis rather than synthesis2. This was due to a lack of synthesis support tools, ultimately derived from the lack of computing power at the time. The move in the 80's to distributed high powered workstations meant that computing power had become available to support such synthesis tools. This change, coupled with the fact that the complexity involved in engineering a software product was becoming higher and higher led to the Waterfall model becoming out dated and unable to cope with rising demands.