The General Design phase in PSDP has a very specific purpose.

During the General Design you decide on and document the development toolset including operating system and general architecture of the software.

In the case where you still need to explore a specific toolset and architecture, you need to create two or more General Design documents complete with Pros and Cons for each proposed general design.

Either way, this information is rolled into the detail design document.

The purpose of general design is to choose an architecture and development toolset. We can, for example, contrast the pros and cons of using an embedded database like dbiSam or ADS along with Delphi version using Visual Basic.Net and Access.

• One or more General Design Specifications (based on PSDP template)

During this phase the low level design of the project is documented. Because we use a JAD/RAD approach, this low level design document is not as detailed as it would be for a water-fall approach. However, all design details will be documented and delivered along with the final work product.
 
Deliverables:

• Detailed low level design specification

• Updated requirements specification

• Firm implementation estimate

Note The Design Specification will either include screen shots of proposed GUI in document or a running mock up GUI will be shipped with the Design Specification.

Detail design can be very detailed or left at a high level. For most projects, the following represents the minimum we want to do for every project.

• Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD)

• UML Class Hierarchy Diagram

• UML Deployment Diagram

• GUI Prototype (very important -- do not connect to database)

ERD Note Alternatively, you can create the database and let it serve as a living document. However, the database MUST not be used until the start of the initial coding phase.

UML Note A sufficient number of other UML diagrams should be created to adequately document the detail design.