upstream process; upper process
In software engineering, refers to the early stages of development such as requirements analysis and design, as opposed to downstream implementation and testing.
Design mistakes in the upstream process have a major impact on later stages.
This project places importance on the upstream process.
Refers to the downstream process, i.e., later stages such as coding and testing, in contrast to 上流工程.
Compound of 上流 (upstream) and 工程 (process, stage). The term is used metaphorically in software engineering to describe early development phases.