Difference Between Product and Process

In the software development, there are four P’s crucially used – People, Project, Product and Process. In this article, we will discuss the about the terms, product and process and the difference between them. The main difference between the product and process is that the product is the result of the software project which is constructed by the distinct type of people. On the other hand, the process is used to guide the project in quantitative steps to obtain the appropriate product.

Content: Product Vs Process

1. 1. Comparison Chart
   2. Definition
   3. Key Differences
   4. Conclusion

Comparison Chart

Basis for comparison	Product	Process
Basic	End product of the project.	Used to create the project.
Focus is on	End result	Evolution steps
Tend to be	Short term	Long-term
Follows	Firm deadlines	Consistent routines
Goals	Successful completion of the job.	Successful growth in the particular skills.

Definition of Product

Product in the context of software engineering involves any software constructed on the basis of the client’s request. A product can also be computer-based systems, problem-solving software, and so on. The planned and controlled software project is a product, in other words, a product is the outcome of the project.

Prior to project planning the product’s purpose and scope is established, devoiding that information it would not be possible to construct an accurate estimate of the cost, compelling evaluation of the risk, decomposition of the project tasks, manageable project schedule, etcetera. A software product is comprised of the several entities including code such as requirement specification, design, test documents and user manuals.

To produce a complying product the customer and developer should define the objective and scope of the product. Here objective describes the aim of the product without contemplating the method of achieving it. While the scope specifies fundamental data, functions and behaviour and bounding these features in a quantitative manner.

Definition of Process

A Process facilitates the software development by rendering the structure of the thorough plan for the software development. A set of framework tasks are employed to all the types of the software project. The process acts as a template which can be reused through constructing its instances and used to direct the project.

It can be analogous to the class where the objects are created with the help of creating the instances of a class in the object-oriented paradigm. A process handles not only the first development cycle but also the later cycles, the instance of the process takes progressive alterations in the requirements of the software.

The activities included in the software process are:

• Software specification (requirement engineering) – Describes the chief functionalities of the software and the restrictions around them.
• Design and implementation – The designing and programming of the software are done in this phase.
• Verification and validation – The designed and programmed software must assure that it fulfils the required specifications and clients needs.
• Software evolution – Software must be modified according to time and satisfies the client and market requirements change.

Conclusion

A product is the artefact produced in the life of the project, for example, models, source code, documentation and executed. In contrast, the process is a series of the stages includes operations, constraints and resource produce a specific output.