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.  Role:  Project Manager  Optionality/Occurrence:  Developed during Inception phase, this artifact is updated at each major milestone. Templates and Reports:    Examples:    UML Representation:  Not applicable. More Information:    Purpose Timing Responsibility Tailoring Input to Activities:  Acquire Staff Assess Iteration Conduct Review Develop Iteration Plan Initiate Iteration Iteration Evaluation Criteria Review Iteration Plan Review Organize Review Project Planning Review Schedule and Assign Work Set Up Configuration Management (CM) Environment   Output from Activities:  Acquire Staff Define Project Organization and Staffing Initiate Project Plan Phases and Iterations 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. © Copyright IBM Corp. 1987, 2004. All Rights Reserved.

Rational Unified Process