SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT LIFE CYCLE

(SDLC)
Definition: The System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is a systematic process used by
software developers and project managers to design, develop, test, and deploy information systems
or software. It provides a structured approach for building applications that meet specified
requirements while ensuring the highest level of quality, efficiency, and predictability in the
development process.

Importance of SDLC: SDLC is crucial because it:

1. Improves Project Control: SDLC helps teams to define clear stages with defined tasks,
objectives, and deliverables, making the project more manageable.
2. Enhances Quality and Efficiency: Structured planning and well-defined phases minimize
errors and optimize the workflow, resulting in higher-quality software and faster delivery.
3. Facilitates Team Collaboration: Each phase defines the roles and responsibilities of team
members, allowing for effective collaboration.
4. Ensures Requirement Fulfillment: SDLC ensures that end-user requirements are
gathered, understood, and fulfilled systematically, leading to higher customer satisfaction.
5. Reduces Risks and Costs: By identifying and addressing potential risks early, SDLC
reduces the chance of costly project failures and ensures better resource allocation.

Why Structured Development Models Are Essential: Structured models, such as

Agile, Waterfall, and V-shaped, provide guidelines and frameworks that help manage complex
software projects. They ensure that:

• Development is Predictable: Models establish clear milestones, making project timelines

and budgets easier to estimate.
• Changes Are Manageable: Each model has built-in procedures for adapting to changes,
whether through iterative updates or controlled change management.
• Quality Assurance Is Built-In: Testing phases within models ensure the product meets
quality standards before it reaches end users.

Phases of SDLC:

1. Planning:
o This is the initial phase where project objectives, scope, resources, and timelines
are defined. Feasibility studies are conducted to assess whether the project is viable.
2. Analysis:
o In this phase, detailed requirements are gathered from stakeholders to understand
what the software should accomplish. Requirements are documented, analyzed, and
validated for completeness.
3. Design:
 o Based on the requirements, system architecture and design specifications are
created. This includes the software’s UI, data structure, and algorithms, laying out
how the system will function.
4. Development (Coding):
o Developers write code to implement the design specifications. This phase turns
design documents into functional software modules. It often involves
programming, code review, and integration.
5. Testing:
o The software undergoes rigorous testing to ensure it is free of defects and meets the
requirements. Testing includes unit testing, integration testing, system testing, and
user acceptance testing (UAT).
6. Deployment:
o Once tested, the software is deployed to a production environment, making it
accessible to end users. This phase may include release planning and user training
if necessary.
7. Maintenance:
o After deployment, the software enters the maintenance phase, where it is
monitored, updated, and improved based on user feedback. Bug fixes, security
patches, and upgrades are conducted to ensure the software remains functional and
relevant.

SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT MODELS

1. WATERFALL MODEL

The Waterfall Model is a classical software development methodology. It was first introduced by
Winston W. Royce in 1970. It is a linear and sequential approach to software development that
consists of several phases. It must be completed in a specific order. This classical waterfall model
is simple and idealistic. It was once very popular. Today, it is not that popularly used. However, it
is important because most other types of software development life cycle models are a derivative
of this. In this article we will see waterfall model in detail.

The Waterfall Model is a linear, sequential approach to software development where each phase
must be completed before the next begins. This model emphasizes a structured flow where
requirements are fully defined upfront, and each stage has a distinct endpoint.

The waterfall model is useful in situations where the project requirements are well-defined and the
project goals are clear. It is often used for large-scale projects with long timelines, where there is
little room for error and the project stakeholders need to have a high level of confidence in the
outcome.

Features of Waterfall Model

Following are the features of the waterfall model:
1. Sequential Approach: The waterfall model involves a sequential approach to software
development, where each phase of the project is completed before moving on to the next
one.
 2. Document-Driven: The waterfall model depended on documentation to ensure that the
project is well-defined and the project team is working towards a clear set of goals.
3. Quality Control: The waterfall model places a high emphasis on quality control and
testing at each phase of the project, to ensure that the final product meets the requirements
and expectations of the stakeholders.
4. Rigorous Planning: The waterfall model involves a careful planning process, where the
project scope, timelines, and deliverables are carefully defined and monitored throughout
the project lifecycle.

Overall, the waterfall model is used in situations where there is a need for a highly structured and
systematic approach to software development. It can be effective in ensuring that large, complex
projects are completed on time and within budget, with a high level of quality and customer
satisfaction.

Importance of Waterfall Model

Following are the importance of waterfall model:
1. Clarity and Simplicity: The linear form of the Waterfall Model offers a simple and
unambiguous foundation for project development.
2. Clearly Defined Phases: The Waterfall Model phases each have unique inputs and
outputs, guaranteeing a planned development with obvious checkpoints.
3. Documentation: A focus on thorough documentation helps with software comprehension,
maintenance, and future growth.
4. Stability in Requirements: Suitable for projects when the requirements are clear and
stable, reducing modifications as the project progresses.
5. Resource Optimization: It encourages effective task-focused work without continuously
changing contexts by allocating resources according to project phases.
6. Relevance for Small Projects: Economical for modest projects with simple specifications
and minimal complexity.

Phases of Waterfall Model

The Waterfall Model has six phases which are:
1. Requirements: The first phase involves gathering requirements from stakeholders and
analyzing them to understand the scope and objectives of the project.
2. Design: Once the requirements are understood, the design phase begins. This involves
creating a detailed design document that outlines the software architecture, user interface,
and system components.
3. Development: The Development phase include implementation involves coding the
software based on the design specifications. This phase also includes unit testing to ensure
that each component of the software is working as expected.
4. Testing: In the testing phase, the software is tested as a whole to ensure that it meets the
requirements and is free from defects.
5. Deployment: Once the software has been tested and approved, it is deployed to the
production environment.
6. Maintenance: The final phase of the Waterfall Model is maintenance, which involves
fixing any issues that arise after the software has been deployed and ensuring that it
continues to meet the requirements over time.

The classical waterfall model divides the life cycle into a set of phases. This model considers that
one phase can be started after the completion of the previous phase. That is the output of one phase
will be the input to the next phase. Thus the development process can be considered as a sequential
flow in the waterfall. Here the phases do not overlap with each other. The different sequential
phases of the classical waterfall model are shown in the below figure.
mugaboronald12@gmail.com

2.AGILE MODEL

In earlier days, the Iterative Waterfall Model was very popular for completing a project. But
nowadays, developers face various problems while using it to develop software. The main
difficulties included handling customer change requests during project development and the high
cost and time required to incorporate these changes. To overcome these drawbacks of the Waterfall
Model, in the mid-1990s the Agile Software Development model was proposed.

What is Agile Model?

The Agile Model was primarily designed to help a project adapt quickly to change requests. So,
the main aim of the Agile model is to facilitate quick project completion. To accomplish this task,
agility is required. Agility is achieved by fitting the process to the project and removing activities
that may not be essential for a specific project. Also, anything that is a waste of time and effort is
avoided. The Agile Model refers to a group of development processes. These processes share some
basic characteristics but do have certain subtle differences among themselves.

Steps in the Agile Model

The agile model is a combination of iterative and incremental process models. The steps involve
in agile SDLC:
• Requirement gathering
• Design the Requirements
• Construction / Iteration
• Testing/ Quality Assurance
• Deployment
• Feedback
 1. Requirement Gathering: In this step, the development team must gather the
requirements, by interaction with the customer. development team should plan the time and
effort needed to build the project. Based on this information you can evaluate technical and
economical feasibility.
2. Design the Requirements: In this step, the development team will use user-flow-diagram
or high-level UML diagrams to show the working of the new features and show how they
will apply to the existing software. Wireframing and designing user interfaces are done in
this phase.
3. Construction / Iteration: In this step, development team members start working on their
project, which aims to deploy a working product.
4. Testing / Quality Assurance:- Testing involves Unit Testing, Integration Testing,
and System Testing. A brief introduction of these three tests is as follows:
• Unit Testing: Unit testing is the process of checking small pieces of code to ensure
that the individual parts of a program work properly on their own. Unit testing is
used to test individual blocks (units) of code.
• Integration Testing: Integration testing is used to identify and resolve any issues
that may arise when different units of the software are combined.
• System Testing: Goal is to ensure that the software meets the requirements of the
users and that it works correctly in all possible scenarios.
5. Deployment: In this step, the development team will deploy the working project to end
users.
6. Feedback: This is the last step of the Agile Model. In this, the team receives feedback
about the product and works on correcting bugs based on feedback provided by the
customer.

PROTOTYPING MODEL

Prototyping is defined as the process of developing a working replication of a product or system

that has to be engineered. It offers a small-scale facsimile of the end product and is used for
obtaining customer feedback. The Prototyping concept is described below:
The Prototyping Model is one of the most popularly used Software Development Life Cycle
Models (SDLC models). This model is used when the customers do not know the exact project
requirements beforehand. In this model, a prototype of the end product is first developed, tested,
and refined as per customer feedback repeatedly till a final acceptable prototype is achieved which
forms the basis for developing the final product.

In this process model, the system is partially implemented before or during the analysis phase
thereby allowing the customers to see the product early in the life cycle. The process starts by
interviewing the customers and developing the incomplete high-level paper model. This document
is used to build the initial prototype supporting only the basic functionality as desired by the
customer. Once the customer figures out the problems, the prototype is further refined to eliminate
them. The process continues until the user approves the prototype and finds the working model to
be satisfactory.

For those looking to implement prototyping in their software development process, the System
Design Course offers practical insights and strategies to effectively apply this model in real-world
projects.

Steps of Prototyping Model

Step 1: Requirement Gathering and Analysis: This is the initial step in designing a prototype
model. In this phase, users are asked about what they expect or what they want from the system.
Step 2: Quick Design: This is the second step in the Prototyping Model. This model covers the
basic design of the requirement through which a quick overview can be easily described.
Step 3: Build a Prototype: This step helps in building an actual prototype from the knowledge
gained from prototype design.
Step 4: Initial User Evaluation: This step describes the preliminary testing where the
investigation of the performance model occurs, as the customer will tell the strengths and
weaknesses of the design, which was sent to the developer.
Step 5: Refining Prototype: If any feedback is given by the user, then improving the client’s
response to feedback and suggestions, the final system is approved.
Step 6: Implement Product and Maintain: This is the final step in the phase of the Prototyping
Model where the final system is tested and distributed to production, here the program is run
regularly to prevent failures.

Types of Prototyping Models

There are four types of Prototyping Models, which are described below.
• Rapid Throwaway Prototyping
• Evolutionary Prototyping
• Incremental Prototyping
• Extreme Prototyping

1. Rapid Throwaway Prototyping

• This technique offers a useful method of exploring ideas and getting customer feedback
for each of them.
• In this method, a developed prototype need not necessarily be a part of the accepted
prototype.
• Customer feedback helps prevent unnecessary design faults and hence, the final prototype
developed is of better quality.

2. Evolutionary Prototyping
• In this method, the prototype developed initially is incrementally refined based on
customer feedback till it finally gets accepted.
• In comparison to Rapid Throwaway Prototyping, it offers a better approach that saves time
as well as effort.
 • This is because developing a prototype from scratch for every iteration of the process can
sometimes be very frustrating for the developers.

3. Incremental Prototyping
• In this type of incremental prototyping, the final expected product is broken into different
small pieces of prototypes and developed individually.
• In the end, when all individual pieces are properly developed, then the different prototypes
are collectively merged into a single final product in their predefined order.
• It’s a very efficient approach that reduces the complexity of the development process,
where the goal is divided into sub-parts and each sub-part is developed individually.
• The time interval between the project’s beginning and final delivery is substantially
reduced because all parts of the system are prototyped and tested simultaneously.
• Of course, there might be the possibility that the pieces just do not fit together due to some
lack of ness in the development phase – this can only be fixed by careful and complete
plotting of the entire system before prototyping starts.

4. Extreme Prototyping
This method is mainly used for web development. It consists of three sequential independent
phases:
• In this phase, a basic prototype with all the existing static pages is presented in HTML
format.
• In the 2nd phase, Functional screens are made with a simulated data process using a
prototype services layer.
• This is the final step where all the services are implemented and associated with the final
prototype.
This Extreme Prototyping method makes the project cycling and delivery robust and fast and keeps
the entire developer team focused and centralized on product deliveries rather than discovering all
possible needs and specifications and adding necessitated features.

Advantages of Prototyping Model

• The customers get to see the partial product early in the life cycle. This ensures a greater
level of customer satisfaction and comfort.
• New requirements can be easily accommodated as there is scope for refinement.
• Missing functionalities can be easily figured out.
• Errors can be detected much earlier thereby saving a lot of effort and cost, besides
enhancing the quality of the software.
• The developed prototype can be reused by the developer for more complicated projects in
the future.
• Flexibility in design.
• Early feedback from customers and stakeholders can help guide the development process
and ensure that the final product meets their needs and expectations.
• Prototyping can be used to test and validate design decisions, allowing for adjustments to
be made before significant resources are invested in development.
• Prototyping can help reduce the risk of project failure by identifying potential issues and
addressing them early in the process.
• Prototyping can facilitate communication and collaboration among team members and
stakeholders, improving overall project efficiency and effectiveness.
• Prototyping can help bridge the gap between technical and non-technical stakeholders by
providing a tangible representation of the product.

Disadvantages of the Prototyping Model

• Costly concerning time as well as money.
 • There may be too much variation in requirements each time the prototype is evaluated by
the customer.
• Poor Documentation due to continuously changing customer requirements.
• It is very difficult for developers to accommodate all the changes demanded by the
customer.
• There is uncertainty in determining the number of iterations that would be required before
the prototype is finally accepted by the customer.
• After seeing an early prototype, the customers sometimes demand the actual product to be
delivered soon.
• Developers in a hurry to build prototypes may end up with sub-optimal solutions.
• The customer might lose interest in the product if he/she is not satisfied with the initial
prototype.
• The prototype may not be scalable to meet the future needs of the customer.
• The prototype may not accurately represent the final product due to limited functionality
or incomplete features.
• The focus on prototype development may shift away from the final product, leading to
delays in the development process.
• The prototype may give a false sense of completion, leading to the premature release of the
product.
• The prototype may not consider technical feasibility and scalability issues that can arise
during the final product development.
• The prototype may be developed using different tools and technologies, leading to
additional training and maintenance costs.
• The prototype may not reflect the actual business requirements of the customer, leading to
dissatisfaction with the final product.

Applications of Prototyping Model

• The Prototyping Model should be used when the requirements of the product are not clearly
understood or are unstable.
• The prototyping model can also be used if requirements are changing quickly.
• This model can be successfully used for developing user interfaces, high-technology
software-intensive systems, and systems with complex algorithms and interfaces.
• The prototyping Model is also a very good choice to demonstrate the technical feasibility
of the product.