Appendix DMcGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright © 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Appendix D

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SDLC

• The systems development life cycle is the foundation for many systems development methodologies such as RAD and agile

Systems development life cycle – the overall process for developing information systems from planning and analysis through implementation and maintenance

Appendix D

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SDLC

Appendix D

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PHASE 1: PLANNING

• Planning phase – involves establishing a high-level plan of the intended project and determining project goals

• Primary planning activities include1. Identify and select the system for

development2. Assess project feasibility3. Develop the project plan

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PHASE 2: ANALYSIS

• Analysis phase – involves analyzing end-user business requirements and refining project goals into defined functions and operations of the intended system

• Primary analysis activities include:1. Gather business requirements2. Create process diagrams3. Perform a buy vs. build analysis

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PHASE 3: DESIGN

• Design phase – involves describing the desired features and operations of the system including screen layouts, business rules, process diagrams, pseudo code, and other documentation

• Primary design activities include:1. Design the IT infrastructure2. Design system models

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PHASE 4: DEVELOPMENT

• Development phase – involves taking all of the detailed design documents from the design phase and transforming them into the actual system

• Primary development activities include:1. Develop the IT infrastructure2. Develop the database and programs

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PHASE 5: TESTING

• Testing phase – involves bringing all the project pieces together into a special testing environment to test for errors, bugs, and interoperability, in order to verify that the system meets all the business requirements defined in the analysis phase

• Primary testing activities include:1. Write the test conditions2. Perform the system testing

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PHASE 6: IMPLEMENTATION

• Implementation phase – involves placing the system into production so users can begin to perform actual business operations with the system

• Primary implementation activities include:

1. Write detailed user documentation2. Determine implementation method3. Provide training for the system users

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PHASE 7: MAINTENANCE

• Maintenance phase – involves performing changes, corrections, additions, and upgrades to ensure the system continues to meet the business goals

• Primary maintenance activities include:1. Build a help desk to support the system users2. Perform system maintenance3. Provide an environment to support system

changes

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SOFTWARE PROBLEMS ARE BUSINESS PROBLEMS

• Primary reasons for project failure include

Unclear or missing business requirements Skipping SDLC phases Failure to manage project scope

o Scope creep – occurs when the scope increases

o Feature creep – occurs when extra features are added

Failure to manage project plan Changing technology