Aldrin Manginon Dec.

2,2010
John Willy Dalay
Bsa–II Prof. Ambrocio

7 Stages of System Development Life Cycle

The Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC), or Software Development Life Cycle in systems
engineering, information systems and software engineering, is the process of creating or altering systems, and
the models and methodologies that people use to develop these systems. The concept generally refers
to computer or information systems.
1. Project planning, feasibility study- Establishes a high-level view of the intended project and
determines its goals.
2. Investigation of the current event-This is one of the most important stages of SDLC. The
developers of SDLC understood that though the tasks and objectives of a new system may be radically
different from the old system, the underlying data will probably change very little. By coming to a full
understanding of the data requirements at an early stage, the remaining analysis and design stages can be
built up on a firm foundation. Refines project goals into defined functions and operation of the intended
application. Analyzes end-user information need.
3. Business system options- Having investigated the current system, the analyst must decide on the
overall design of the new system. To do this, he or she, using the outputs of the previous stage, develops a set of
business system options. These are different ways in which the new system could be produced varying from
doing nothing to throwing out the old system entirely and building an entirely new one. The analyst may hold a
brainstorming session so that as many and various ideas as possible are generated. Describes desired features
and operations in detail, including screen layouts, business rules, process diagrams, pseudocode and other
documentation.
4.Requirement Specification- This is probably the most complex stage in SDLC. Using the
requirements developed in stage 1 and working within the framework of the selected business option, the
analyst must develop a full logical specification of what the new system must do. The specification must be free
from error, ambiguity and inconsistency. By logical, we mean that the specification does not say how the
system will be implemented but rather describes what the system will do.
5.Technical system options- Brings all the pieces together into a special testing environment, then
checks for errors, bugs and interoperability. This stage is the first towards a physical implementation of the new
system. Like the Business System Options, in this stage a large number of options for the implementation of the
new system are generated. This is honed down to two or three to present to the user from which the final option
is chosen or synthesised.
6.Logical Design- Though the previous level specifies details of the implementation, the outputs of this
stage are implementation-independent and concentrate on the requirements for the human computer interface.
The three main areas of activity are the definition of the user dialogues. These are the main interfaces with
which the users will interact with the system. The logical design specifies the main methods of interaction in
terms of menu structures and command structures. The other two activities are concerned with analyzing the
effects of events in updating the system and the need to make enquiries about the data on the system. Both of
these use the events, function descriptions and effect correspondence diagrams produced in stage 3 to determine
precisely how to update and read data in a consistent and secure way.
7. Physical design- This is the final stage where all the logical specifications of the system are
converted to descriptions of the system in terms of real hardware and software. This is a very technical stage
and a simple overview is presented here. The logical data structure is converted into a physical architecture in
terms of database structures. The exact structure of the functions and how they are implemented is specified.
The physical data structure is optimized where necessary to meet size and performance requirements. he
product is a complete Physical Design which could tell software engineers how to build the system in specific
details of hardware and software and to the appropriate standards.
Design Tools

Flowcharting- The flowchart is a means of visually presenting the flow of data through an information
processing systems, the operations performed within the system and the sequence in which they are performed.
In this lesson, we shall concern ourselves with the program flowchart, which describes what operations (and in
what sequence) are required to solve a given problem. The program flowchart can be likened to the blueprint of
a building. As we know a designer draws a blueprint before starting construction on a building. Similarly, a
programmer prefers to draw a flowchart prior to writing a computer program. As in the case of the drawing of a
blueprint, the flowchart is drawn according to defined rules and using standard flowchart symbols prescribed by
the American National Standard Institute, Inc.
The Process Symbol represents any process, function, or action and is the most
frequently used symbol in flowcharting.

The Document Symbol is used to represent any type of hard copy input or output (i.e.
reports).

Off page Connector Symbols are used to indicate the flowchart continues on another
page. Often, the page number is placed in the shape for easy reference.

The Input/Output Symbol represents data that is available for input or resulting from
processing (i.e. customer database records).

Comment Symbols are used when additional explanation or comment is required. This
symbol is usually connected to the symbol it is explaining by a dashed line.

The Decision Symbol is a junction where a decision must be made. A single entry may
have any number of alternative solutions, but only one can be chosen.

The Connector Symbol represents the exit to, or entry from, another part of the same
flowchart. It is usually used to break a flow line that will be continued elsewhere. It's a
good idea to reference page numbers for easy location of connectors.

Pseudocode- Pseudocode is a compact and informal high-level description of a computer

programming algorithm that uses the structural conventions of a programming language, but is intended for
human reading rather than machine reading. Pseudocode typically omits details that are not essential for human
understanding of the algorithm, such as variable declarations, system-specific code and subroutines. The
programming language is augmented with natural language descriptions of the details, where convenient, or
with compact mathematical notation. The purpose of using pseudocode is that it is easier for humans to
understand than conventional programming language code, and that it is a compact and environment-
independent description of the key principles of an algorithm. It is commonly used in textbooks and scientific
publications that are documenting various algorithms, and also in planning of computer program development,
for sketching out the structure of the program before the actual coding takes place.
 Project management is the discipline of planning, organizing, securing and managing resources to
bring about the successful completion of specific engineering project goals and objectives. It is sometimes
conflated with program management, however technically that is actually a higher level construction: a group of
related and somehow interdependent engineering projects.

A traditional phased approach identifies a sequence of steps to be completed. In the "traditional

approach", we can distinguish 5 components of a project (4 stages plus control) in the development of a project:

 Project initiation stage;

 Project planning and design stage;
 Project execution and construction stage;
 Project monitoring and controlling systems;
 Project completion.

References;
Discovering Computers (2008)
by: Shelly Cashman Vermant
Google / Wikipedia