What is the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)?
SDLC or Software Development Life Cycle is essentially the process or phases of a model or methodology, which software engineers and developers follow in developing an application or software. In simple words, it is a process consistent of a series of planned activities for planning, creating, testing, deploying and maintenance of software.
SDLC is often referred as software development process, as it consists of all tasks, which needs to be followed while developing an application or software. SDLC is followed within IT development companies to develop, alter, replace or enhance the performance of the software. ISO / IEC 12207 is an international standard for SDLC, which ensures high quality of the newly developed software. It also helps IT development companies in improving the overall quality of their software development services.
What are the major SDLC Models, followed in the IT Industry?
There are various SDLS models, which are currently followed in the IT Industry. Often referred as 'Software Development Process Models', all the process models follow unique software development steps, including 100% success of the development projects.
The major software development life cycle models are-
- Waterfall Model
- Iterative Model
- Spiral Model
- V-Model
- Big Bang Model
Other related models are Rapid Application Development (RAD), Prototype and Agile Models.
The advantages of choosing an appropriate Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) –
- Increased Product Quality
- Increased Development Speed
- Improved Client Relations
- Improved Tracking & Control
- Decreased Project Risks
- Decreased Project Management Overhead
What are the different stages of SDLC?
Stage 1:
Planning and Requirement Analysis
This is the most important stage in the SDLC. This stage needs input from the customers, sales team, industry experts, a marketing team and their survey reports. After which, senior business managers and developers of a software development company plan the project approach and the development model.
Stage 2:
Designing
After the analysis of requirements and finalizing the Design Document Specification (DDS), the product architecture is designed by an expert team. This architecture has to stand upon various parameters such as budget, time, product robustness, risk assessment and design modularity, after which it is considered for the development.
Stage 3:
Development
The actual development of the software or application starts at this stage. The team of engineers and developers follow the coding guidelines set by the organization and use different tools for code generation. The programming code is generated as per the details documented in the DDS. The developers use different high level programming languages as per the requirement.
Stage 4:
Testing
In this stage, the final product goes through a pre-defined road of testing, where defects or bugs in the product are reported and then fixed by the developers. This stage ensures that the final product meets the highest quality standards, which are accepted worldwide.
Stage 5:
Deployment
At this stage, the final product is deployed at the client base. At times, the software is integrated with the client's current application and database. All the deployment and integration works are done under the guidance of expert software engineers and developers.
Stage 6:
Maintenance & Support
Most of the reputed IT development companies also provide complete maintenance and technical support, post deployment of the final product at client base.