What is the purpose of a functional prototype?

A functional prototype serves a specific purpose in the development process by allowing stakeholders to test software functionality and workflow. This type of prototype focuses on providing an interactive model of the product, enabling users to explore features and verify if they meet the desired requirements.

By utilizing a functional prototype, developers and business analysts can gather valuable feedback on how well the software meets the intended use cases, identify any issues with functionality, and refine the workflow based on user interactions. This iterative testing helps to ensure that the final product is both user-friendly and effective in addressing the needs it is designed to fulfill.

In contrast, other options focus on different aspects that do not pertain to the primary goal of a functional prototype. For instance, designing aesthetics pertains more to the visual design phase rather than functionality, creating marketing materials involves promotional aspects removed from the prototype's development, and gathering user preferences without functionality focuses on user opinion rather than testing usability or features. This differentiation highlights why the emphasis on testing functionality and workflow is crucial in the context of a functional prototype.