What Are the 7 Phases of Software Development Cycle (SDLC)?
Software development is a big job. That’s why digital product teams depend on the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC). SDLC is usually a combination of five different methodologies with seven main stages of development. Understanding the SDLC can help product managers complete the project. This helps PMs to understand milestones and communicate the project’s progress to stakeholders. Let’s get started!
Overview of the SDLC Process
The planning phase begins and ends with maintenance. This includes tasks like requirements analysis and design.
Coding, testing, and deployment are also included, as well as specialized services such as backend development services. SDLC models help software development companies meet deadlines and budgets.
This allows the decision-makers to know if they are making a good investment in their software.
Why is the SDLC important in software delivery?
The competition on the market today forces companies to release software more quickly. When racing against your competitors in an extremely demanding market, it can be difficult to maintain high-quality software. How can you maintain the high quality of your software product while still staying ahead in the race?
The process is everything. It is all about the process. SDLC improves communication and collaboration between teams. The SDLC also improves the clarity of the actions taken and the next steps in developing the project. The transparent division of phases and frequent reviews result in seamless work for your specialists. They also reduce the risk of miscommunication and misunderstanding of the project goal.
What Are the Benefits of SDLC?
SDLC allows you to measure and improve the efficiency of your software development processes. This will allow you to maximize efficiency, speed up, and reduce costs at all phases.
Clear Goals
SDLC is a framework that provides clear goals and plans in each phase. IT teams, designers, developers, testers, and other team members must adhere to these goals, plans, and deliverables on time. The developers and engineers can only move on to the next phase when the previous stage is completed and approved by their manager.
Faster Process
The team can complete their task without any doubts when they have detailed instructions. It speeds up the workflow and approval processes so they can move on to the next step.
So, the entire software development services, from testing to building, becomes faster.
Minimum Cost
In the planning phase, SDLC assigns a realistic cost estimate to each project. The document also details how to allocate resources to each stage. This includes the number of team members needed, the time allocated, the tools required, and any other factors necessary to complete tasks.
High-Quality Products
The team can create products more quickly and have enough time to improve them. They will also be able to iterate and refine their features and performance. These factors will help you create a product of high quality that your customers will love.
Customer Satisfaction
Teams can plan to meet the needs of their customers by discussing them and planning accordingly. Software development is done with the customer’s needs in mind. The result would meet their requirements. You can delight your customers by adhering to the SDLC process and producing high-quality applications quickly.
Stages of the Software Development Life Cycle
The seven stages in a Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) include:
1. Analysis
This is where you gather business requirements from the client or stakeholder. In this phase, you will evaluate the feasibility of creating a product, its revenue potential, production costs, and the needs of end users, among other things.
You can use a feature priority framework to decide what you should make and what not to. It considers the cost and time required to create the software or update and the value.
You can then move to the next stage once you have decided whether the software project meets the needs of the business and whether the stakeholder groups are feasible and in alignment with the goals.
2. Plan or Idea
The software development team will plan the best way to create the software with a clear SRS. It is important to optimize software creation based on cost, speed, timeliness, and others while still adhering to client requirements.
The team must estimate the costs, timeframe, resources, and effort required to complete the project. This stage only covers some of the project’s technical details but rather a rough estimate of its feasibility. This phase involves identifying the risks, ways to minimize or mitigate them, and planning quality assurance.
The team will then be able to determine the most efficient way to develop the software with the least amount of risk, time, money, and expenditure.
3. Design
This phase helps to define the overall system architecture. The design phase is used to inform the next stage of the model.
During this phase, two types of design documents are developed:
High-Level Design (HLD),
- Description and name of each Module
- A brief description of the functionalities of each module
- Dependencies and interface relationships between modules
- Database tables and their main elements
- Architecture diagrams and technology details
Low-Level Design (LLD),
- Modules with a functional logic
- Tables that include size and type
- Detail of the interface
- All types of dependency issues are addressed
- List of Error Messages
- Each module’s input and output are complete
4. Software development
The Software Development phase is the longest in the software development cycle. However, it’s also the most predictable. Best software development companies use the design document to write the code for components. Team members are assigned tasks based on their specialization. The front-end software developer is responsible for the creation of an interface and its communication with a server. Database administrators enter the necessary data into the database. Software developers write code using coding guidelines and use various tools. This phase results in a working software product and a Source Code document.
5. Testing
It is crucial to check the code for errors and ensure it meets the requirements. After coding, software development teams test their software and thoroughly evaluate its modules and components.
Software testing is performed in different ways on different software elements. Testing is used to assess the performance and functionality of the software, as well as bugs and errors.
- Functional Testing: Unit tests, system tests, integration testing, interface testing, regression testing, alpha testing, beta testing, smoke testing, and more.
- Nonfunctional Testing: Performance, Stress, Load, Volume, Compatibility, Security, Usability, Reliability, Acceptance, etc.
Software testing can be performed manually or using tools that track and detect issues. Then, the problems are reported and corrected. It is a continual process until the software is bug-free and meets quality standards.
6. Deployment
After fixing any issues and testing the software, it can be deployed in production. You can test user acceptance to see if the software meets customer expectations. Create a replica of your product and allow your clients and developers to test it.
If there is any feedback from the client, the software development team will use it to improve the software. Then, the software is released to the market.
7. Maintenance Stage
The SDLC does not end once the software is released. Developers are also responsible for any modifications required to the software after its deployment.
It can be as simple as resolving bugs that remained after launch and were not patched or addressing new issues that arose due to reports from users. The maintenance process for larger systems can be longer than for smaller systems.
Common SDLC Models
There are many frameworks or “models” of the Software Development Lifecycle that organize the development process differently. These models can help implement SDLC in a structured way. Here are the most common software life cycle models.
1. Agile Model
This model divides the SDLC into multiple development cycles. The team delivers small, incremental changes to the software in each cycle. Agile is an efficient methodology; rapid cycles can help teams identify problems early. However, relying too heavily on customer feedback may lead to excessive scope changes or even project termination. Agile is best suited for software projects that need to be flexible and able to adapt over time.
2. Waterfall Model
This model sequentially arranges the phases, and each phase depends on the results of the last. This model provides a structure for project management but leaves little room for change once a phase has been completed. It is best for smaller, well-defined projects.
3. Model Iterative
This model allows the team to start development with limited requirements and then iteratively improve versions until the software can be used in production. Risk management is easy, but repeated cycles can lead to a scope change or an underestimation of resources. This model is ideal for projects with high flexibility and resources to handle multiple iterations.
4. Spiral Model
This model uses the linear flow of the waterfall model and the repeated cycles of the iterative model to prioritize the risk analysis. This model is best for large projects with frequent changes but can be costly for smaller projects.
5. Big Bang Model
The Big Bang Model allows developers to jump into coding immediately without planning. The Big Bang Model is a unique approach where developers jump into coding without much planning. It may be necessary to rewrite the software if changes are required completely.
Takeaway
The stages of software development life cycles vary according to the needs of each company or business sector. SDLC can be adapted to meet the requirements of clients. It is a good way to divide tasks and responsibilities and execute them according to the main plan. Each step must be carefully considered and executed to ensure a successful launch of the product.
The Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC), or the Software Development Process, is a comprehensive process involving different stages in software development. The document outlines each phase’s tasks — including analysis, building, deployment- and maintenance.
By adhering to an SDLC, top software development companies can meet customer expectations and produce quality software faster and within budget.
