HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE SPECIFICATION

The design phase is also the time to begin selecting and acquiring the hardware and software that will be needed for the future system. In many cases, the new system will simply run on the existing equipment in the organization. Other times, however, new hardware and software (usually, for servers) must be purchased. The hardware and software specification is a document that describes what hardware and software are needed to support the application. There are several steps involved in creating the document. Figure 8-11 shows a sample hardware and software specification.

First, you will need to define the software that will run on each component. This usually starts with the operating system (e.g., Windows, Linux) and includes any special purpose software on the client and servers (e.g., Oracle database). Here, you should consider any additional costs such as technical training, maintenance, extended warranties, and licensing agreements (e.g., a site license for a software package). Again, the needs that you list are influenced by decisions that are made in the other design phase activities.