Rapid (software) prototyping (RSP) is a group of techniques applied
in Software Engineering to quickly build a prototype (aka mockup, wireframe)
to verify the technical or factual realization and feasibility of an
application architecture, process or business model.
A similar notion is the one of
Proof-of-Concept (PoC), which
attempts to demonstrate by building a prototype, starting an experiment or
a pilot project that a technical concept, business proposal or theory has
practical potential. In other words in Software Engineering a RSP encompasses the techniques by
which a PoC is lead.
In industries that consider physical products a prototype is typically a
small-scale object made from inexpensive material that resembles the final
product to a certain degree, some characteristics, details or features being
completely ignored (e.g. the inner design, some components, the finishing,
etc.). Building several prototypes is much easier and cheaper than building the
end product, they allowing to play with a concept or idea until it gets close to
the final product. Moreover, this approach reduces the risk of ending up with a
product nobody wants.
A similar approach and reasoning is used in Software Engineering as well.
Building a prototype allows focusing at the beginning on the essential
characteristics or aspects of the application, process or (business) model under
consideration. Upon case one can focus on the user interface (UI) , database
access, integration mechanism or any other feature that involves a challenge. As
in the case of the UI one can build several prototypes that demonstrate
different designs or architectures. The initial prototype can go through a
series of transformations until it reaches the desired form, following then to
integrate more functionality and refine the end product gradually. This
iterative and incremental approach is known as rapid evolutional prototyping.
A prototype is useful especially when dealing with the uncertainty, e.g. when
adopting (new) technologies or methodologies, when mixing technologies within an
architecture, when the details of the implementation are not known, when
exploring an idea, when the requirements are expected to change often, etc.
Building rapidly a prototype allows validating the requirements, responding
agilely to change, getting customers’ feedback and sign-off as early as
possible, showing them what’s possible, how the future application can look
like, and this without investing too much effort. It’s easier to change a design
or an architecture in the concept and design phases than later.
In BI prototyping resumes usually in building queries to identify the source of
the data, reengineer the logic from the business application, prove whether the
logic is technically feasible, feasibility being translate in robustness,
performance, flexibility. In projects that have a broader scope one can attempt
building the needed infrastructure for several reports, to make sure that the
main requirements are met. Similarly, one can use prototyping to build a data
warehouse or a data migration layer. Thus, one can build all or most of the
logic for one or two entities, resolving the challenges for them, and once the
challenges solved one can go ahead and integrate gradually the other
entities.
Rapid prototyping can be used also in the implementation of a strategy or
management system to prove the concepts behind. One can start thus with a narrow
focus and integrate more functions, processes and business segments gradually in
iterative and incremental steps, each step allowing to integrate the lesson
learned, address the risks and opportunities, check the progress and change the
direction as needed.
Rapid prototyping can prove to be a useful tool when given the chance to prove
its benefits. Through its iterative and incremental approaches it allows to
reach the targets efficiently
A Software Engineer and data professional's blog on SQL, data, databases, data architectures, data management, programming, Software Engineering, Project Management, ERP implementation and other IT related topics.
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About Me

- Adrian
- Koeln, NRW, Germany
- IT Professional with more than 25 years experience in IT in the area of full life-cycle of Web/Desktop/Database Applications Development, Software Engineering, Consultancy, Data Management, Data Quality, Data Migrations, Reporting, ERP implementations & support, Team/Project/IT Management, etc.
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