Waterfall SDLC Documentation for a University Course Registration & Scheduling Web Portal

7. Development Phase: Implementation Plan, Standards, Roles, and Change Control

Development Work Breakdown

1. Repository, environments, CI checks, and configuration structure.
2. Authentication and role authorization.
3. Database schema and migrations.
4. Course catalog and section search.
5. Student schedule builder.
6. Registration validation service.
7. Enrollment and drop transactions.
8. Registrar administration and overrides.
9. Audit logging.
10. Responsive UI completion.
11. Automated unit and integration tests.
12. Operational logging and monitoring hooks.

Team Roles

• Project Manager: schedule, risks, approvals, change control, reporting.
• Business Analyst: requirements, process rules, traceability.
• UX/UI Designer: workflows, responsive design, accessibility states.
• Technical Lead: architecture, code standards, technical decisions.
• Frontend Developer: browser UI and client-side behavior.
• Backend Developer: APIs, business rules, transactions, integrations.
• Database Engineer: schema, indexes, migration and recovery support.
• QA Engineer: test planning, system testing, defect management.
• DevOps / Infrastructure Engineer: environments, deployment, monitoring, rollback.
• Security Reviewer: authentication, authorization, data handling, security findings.

Development Standards

• Code changes require peer review before merge.
• Database changes use versioned migrations.
• Secrets are stored outside source code.
• Server-side validation is mandatory for enrollment rules.
• Authorization is enforced on the server even when the UI hides unauthorized controls.
• New modules include appropriate automated tests.
• Logging must not expose unnecessary sensitive student data.
• Requirement IDs should be referenced in implementation tasks where practical.

Environment Strategy

Local Development
      ↓
Development Environment
      ↓
Integration / QA Environment
      ↓
User Acceptance Environment
      ↓
Production

Change-Control Process

1. A stakeholder submits a Change Request with ID format CR-###.
2. The Business Analyst identifies affected FR, NFR, BR, and acceptance criteria.
3. The Technical Lead evaluates architecture and implementation impact.
4. The QA Lead identifies required test changes and regression scope.
5. The Project Manager evaluates timeline and delivery impact.
6. The Change Control Board approves, rejects, or defers the request.
7. Approved changes update baselined documents before implementation.

Example Change Request

CR-004: Add waitlist functionality. Impact: FR-08, database schema, section UI, registration workflow, notifications, test plan, and deployment migration. Because the capability is not required for the initial release, the board may defer it to a later approved project version.

Development Phase Gate

Development is complete only when all approved baseline requirements are implemented, code review is complete, build and automated test pipelines pass, known defects are documented, and the release candidate is accepted by the Technical Lead for formal Testing.