Assign.

#2

Glenn Navarro 12/10/2010

IT325/3A Engr. Reynefel B. Elopre

• What is SDLC?

Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is a process used by a systems analyst to

Develop an information system, including requirements, validation, training, and user
(Stakeholder) ownership. Any SDLC should result in a high quality system that meets or
Exceeds customer expectations, reaches completion within time and cost estimates, works
Effectively and efficiently in the current and planned Information Technology
infrastructure, and is inexpensive to maintain and cost-effective to enhance.

Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is a conceptual model used in project

management that describes the stages involved in an information system development
project from an initial feasibility study through maintenance of the completed
application.‡

Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is the process of creating or altering systems,
and the models and methodologies that people use to develop these systems.

• What are the four phases of SDLC?

1. The Planning Phase is the first phase of the SDLC. During this phase, the group
that is responsible for creating the system must first determine what the system
needs to do for the organization.

2. The Analysis Phase is the second phase of the SDLC and is when the group that
has been placed in charge of the project must decide if the project should go ahead
with the resources available. This also includes looking at any existing system to see
what it is doing for the organization and how well that system is doing its job.
3. The Design Phase is the third phase of the SDLC and it involves the actual creation
and design of a system. This involves putting together the different pieces that will
create the system.

In systems design the design functions and operations are described in detail,
including screen layouts, business rules, process diagrams and other documentation.
The output of this stage will describe the new system as a collection of modules or
subsystems.

The design stage takes as its initial input the requirements identified in the
approved requirements document. For each requirement, a set of one or more
design elements will be produced as a result of interviews, workshops, and/or
prototype efforts.

Design elements describe the desired software features in detail, and generally
include functional hierarchy diagrams, screen layout diagrams, tables of business
rules, business process diagrams, pseudocode, and a complete entity-relationship
diagram with a full data dictionary. These design elements are intended to describe
the software in sufficient detail that skilled programmers may develop the
software with minimal additional input design.

4. The Implementation Phase is the final phase of the SDLC and it involves the actual
construction and installation of a system. This phase also includes the maintenance
of the system and any future updates or expansion of the system.

Modular and subsystem programming code will be accomplished during this stage.
Unit testing and module testing are done in this stage by the developers. This stage
is intermingled with the next in that individual modules will need testing before
integration to the main project.

• What is Waterfall Development?

The Waterfall model is a popular version of the systems development life cycle model for
software engineering. Often considered the classic approach to the systems development
life cycle, the waterfall model describes a development method that is linear and
sequential. Waterfall development has distinct goals for each phase of development.
Imagine a waterfall on the cliff of a steep mountain. Once the water has flowed over the
edge of the cliff and has begun its journey down the side of the mountain, it cannot turn
back. It is the same with waterfall development. Once a phase of development is
completed, the development proceeds to the next phase and there is no turning back.

The advantage of waterfall development is that it allows for departmentalization and

managerial control. A schedule can be set with deadlines for each stage of development
and a product can proceed through the development process like a car in a carwash, and
theoretically, be delivered on time. Development moves from concept, through design,
implementation, testing, installation, troubleshooting, and ends up at operation and
maintenance. Each phase of development proceeds in strict order, without any overlapping
or iterative steps.

The disadvantage of waterfall development is that it does not allow for much reflection or
revision. Once an application is in the testing stage, it is very difficult to go back and
change something that was not well-thought out in the concept stage. Alternatives to the
waterfall model include joint application development (JAD), rapid application development
(RAD), synch and stabilize, build and fix, and the spiral model.