What is SDLC?
The SDLC involves several stages, from planning, testing, deploying, and maintenance. Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is the basic process for successful software development. Unfortunately, in today’s busy world, we are engaging with complex development tools and techniques that we often forget the fundamentals associated with SDLC. The SDLC is a process of different stages that includes planning, designing, developing, testing and deploying and, finally, continuous maintenance so that the application remains updated and performs efficiently.
Understanding the SDLC is vital when you need to find a solution for producing high-quality software that meets a client’s requirements, time frame, cost estimates, business expectations and goals.
Software developers use SDLC methodologies to develop complex applications of varying sizes and scales. The three principal are – Agile, Waterfall and Spiral. Each methodology follows a specific life cycle model, and it aims to ensure the process of software development is booming.
Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)?
Software Development Life Cycle or SDLC is a process or cycle followed to develop software with the highest quality and lowest cost in the shortest time possible. It is a well-structured flow of phases that help a software developer or software development company develop high-quality software that is appropriately tested and made ready for use. The main aim of SDLC is to define all the tasks needed for the seamless and flawless development and maintenance of software applications.
The Different Phases of Software Development Life Cycle:
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Planning and Analysis
Planning and analysis is the first phase of the SDLC process. First, business analysts, project managers and domain experts compile and analyse business requirements. Then, the business analyst discusses the requirement with the project owner and the stakeholders, and after that, the business requirements or project requirement document is developed. Simultaneously, write use cases of the projects too are written by the business analyst and all the information is shared with the project team. The purpose of this project planning and analysis is to prevent blockers, ensure quality work, understand the technical feasibility, and identify potential risks.
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Designing the Product Architecture
The design and product conceptualisation or architecture phase start. Which lead developers and technical architects to sit together to create the initial high-level design plan for the software projects and the system. This phase includes the delivery of requirements used to develop the Design Document Specification (DDS). It is important to add database tables to this document. New transactions are defined, security processes are mentioned, along with software, hardware and system requirements.
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Development and Coding
During development and coding, create all the necessary data and import it by the database admin into the database. Then, determine the programming languages as per the software requirements. Next, the developers create interfaces following the coding guidelines, and after that, they conduct unit testing. This phase is very crucial for developers. It is important for developers to prepare themself for changes and modifications if introduced by the business analyst in this phase.
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Software Testing
After the coding and development phase, the software application enters the testing phase. In this phase, the testing team test the software following the guideline and product requirement. To ensure that the software is meeting the expectations addressed and drafted in the planning phase.
The testing conducted includes
- Functional Testing
- Unit Testing
- Integration Testing
- System Testing
- Usability Testing
- Acceptance Testing
- Performance Testing
- Non-Functional Testing
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Support and Maintenance
In the post-production phase, after delivering and running the software application, it enters the support and maintenance mode. No software application is 100% bug-free or 100% perfect. Requirements keep emerging, and there are possibilities of bugs and blockers. No matter how you develop software and how rigorous QA testing is. It is very natural with the software development process that manages data, integration, security, and real-world usage. Also, it requires constant up-gradation to meet the latest trends and techniques to remain in the competition. Therefore, access to a knowledgeable and reliable support system is essential for routine maintenance and upgrades.
