7 Phases of the Software Development Life Cycle

Software development life cycle lays the foundation for all software development methodologies. The SDLC covers almost everything from budgets to documentation writing. It starts with taking customer needs into account, and on that basis, it develops a model that implements and tests those needs.

Working like an assembly line and moving from one station to another, the 7 phases of the software development cycle are important now more than ever. In our growing economy and fast-paced lifestyles, deadlines have to be met, and nothing can be put on hold. Just how it is unwise to rush into battle without a plan, creating any software without a plan in place can often lead to a train wreck catastrophe.

“The Seven Phases of the Software Development Life Cycle”, or SDLC for short, create an outline for the flow of work and how things should happen and in what order. But in practice, what are the seven phases?

Well, they consist of these stages:

• Planning – coming up with an idea according to a specific need or concern;

• Requirements – the clients present their needs and provide a hard due date to launch their program or software;

• Design and Prototyping – laying the foundations of the work, testing different techniques and seeing what is going to come;

• Software Development – all the heavy lifting is done and the code is written;

• Testing – the software is run through vigorous tests to iron out the kinks and flag any bugs;

• Deployment – the proposed software is released into the public or handed over to the client;

• Support – the program is checked to see if any unforeseen circumstances or problems have come about.

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1. Planning

In the planning phase, we pull all the resources together to understand the scope and gravitas required for undertaking the desired software or project. It is also known as a “feasibility study” to understand the requirements of our client and how much money, time and resources we can contribute towards the success of their product. So three things must be kept in mind when we are in the planning phase:

• Identification of the system for development;

• Feasibility assessment;

• Creation of project plan.

Furthermore, in this phase we also weigh in on our options to see whether starting the development of a software or program is worth it to their investors or business as a whole. It also serves as a phase to assess our company’s business and software capabilities.

2. Requirements

The Requirements phase is often the bridge between the business team and software engineers. Our IT team speaks with the Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) to understand what we expect from them. Then the IT team goes ahead and creates a well-researched and well-documented list of all the requirements and needs. They also provide the numbers and figures and calculate the amount of “manpower” to be needed to complete the job.

3. Design and Prototyping

For the businessmen and marketers, this is the last hands-on phase for them. During this part, a desired plan of action is outlined and a proper step by step guide is created, with a complete due date and proposed systems that are going to be installed.

The designed prototype will be put forth, and our software and network capabilities will be assessed. Two things that are involved in the Design and Prototyping phase are:

• Design of IT infrastructure;

• Design of the system model.

Our team runs the program through the network to understand whether the company’s servers can handle the load or not, and if any changes need to be done.

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4. Software Development

Probably the most critical phase is Development, where the real work begins. This phase is also extremely intensive, requiring all hands on deck to ensure the success of the product. Software development is divided into two sets of tasks:

• Development of the IT infrastructure;

• Development of the database and code.

Just as integral a kitchen is to a restaurant, the software development phase serves as the basis for the entire operation.

5. Testing

The testing phase, also known as the troubleshooting phase, serves as the “spell checker” to make sure the product designed is indeed the desired product. Often done by our quality control team, they run the programs across different servers that ensure the software has been tried and tested as well as meets the client’s demands.

The testing phase usually ends up being one of the most stressful. It is the defining moment to see whether our software and IT teams’ hard work was a success or not. The testing is usually conducted for as long as it’s needed or feasible to perfect the desired product and meet the client’s guidelines or standards.

6. Deployment

One of the most daunting phases, Deployment, releases the created program into the wild and switches it from running on test servers to up and running “real-time” ones. This process is usually done during off-peak hours when online traffic is at a minimum, and the least number of users will be affected if a problem occurs. Possibly more so than the last one, the deployment phase is risky and can either revolutionize the way a program works or corrupt it to the point of immediate repair.

7. Support

Support, or Operations and Maintenance, is the perfect bookend to a long and often painstakingly process of theorizing, creating, programming, testing, and eventually releasing our well-designed software into the world. The aim of the last stage is to keep the client’s software afloat and tweak, and change anything that needs to be done. In this final step our team can fine-tune their program to boost performance or edit some things to make them more user-friendly. The three crucial sub-phases of the maintenance phase are as follows:

• Support of the system users;

• Support of system maintenance;

• Support of system enhancements and adjustments.

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Operations and Maintenance phase serves as a milestone to the team’s hard work and ensures the survival of the program long past its launch date.

Conclusions and Future Outlook

SDLC has become the standard in maximizing output potential for our company. The seven phases of the software development cycle are crucial in ensuring that Technorely can work with a client to meet its needs promptly. Every step is important, and no action should be skipped or overlooked.

SDLC is a tested workflow initiative used to create programs and publish them into the world for hundreds of people to use. According to our clients’ reviews, all of them are extremely satisfied with the SDLC-followed services provided by our company.   

Taking everything into consideration, with cumbersome workflows and hard deadlines to meet, software engineering is a monumental task. With computers being ever-present in the world around, the need for programs to run these computers has become of utmost importance. To compartmentalize the workflow and ensure a fluent and smooth transition from ideas to develop to a completed product, Technorely follows all the phases of SDLC to provide state of the art, cost-effective services, and it obviously provides excellent results.