Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)

What is Software Development Life Cycle?

• Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is a pictorial and diagrammatic representation of the software life cycle.
• Software industries use SDLC to design, develop and test high-quality software.
• SDLC represents all the methods required to make a software product transit through its life cycle stages.
• It also defines the structure in which these methods are to be undertaken.

Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) comprises of seven distinct phases:

1. Planning
2. Analysis
3. Design
4. Development
5. Testing
6. Deployment
7. Maintenance

Phase 1: Planning

1. In the planning phase, project goals are determined and a high-level plan for the intended project is established.
2. Planning is the most fundamental and critical organizational phase.
3. The three primary activities involved in the planning phase are i. Identification of the system for development ii. Feasibility assessment iii. Creation of project plan

Phase 2: Analysis

Phase 3 : Design

1. In the design phase, we describe the desired features and operations of the system.
2. This phase includes business rules, pseudo-code, screen layouts, and other necessary documentation.
3. The two primary activities involved in the design phase are i. Designing of IT infrastructure ii. Designing of system model

Phase 4: Development

1. In the development phase, the transformation of all the documents from the previous phase into the actual system.
2. The two primary activities involved in the development phase are i. Development of IT infrastructure ii. Development of database and code

Phase 5: Testing

1. In the testing phase, all the pieces of code are integrated and deployed in the testing environment.
2. To check the errors, bugs, and defects testers follow software testing life cycle activities.
3. The two primary activities involved in the testing phase are i. Writing test cases ii. Execution of test cases

Phase 6: Deployment

1. During this next phase, the system is deployed to a real-life environment where the actual user begins to operate the system.
2. All data and components are then placed in the production environment. This phase is also called referred to as ‘delivery.’

Phase 7: Maintenance

1. To make sure the system continues to work and stay updated to meet the business goals any necessary enhancements, corrections, and changes will be made in the maintenance phase.
2. The three primary activities involved in the maintenance phase are i. Support the system users ii System maintenance iii. System changes and adjustment

Waterfall model

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