Lecture 14 - Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) Flashcards
What is the Systems Development Life Cycle? (SDLC)
Systems development life cycle (SDLC): is a structured, step-by-step approach for developing information systems. It is called a waterfall methodology because each phase is followed by another, from planning through to implementation.
What are the Seven Phases of SDLC?
- Plan
- Analysis
- Design
- Develop
- Test
- Implement
- Maintain
What is the Systems Acquisition Life Cycle?
Systems acquisition life cycle (SALC): very similar to the traditional SDLC, but does not include a step for actually building systems.
o Instead, available software packages are assessed and purchased.
o A firm must still use steps of SDLC to determine what kind of system they need, when they need it, etc.
What are three of the most important activities involved during the planning phase? (PHASE 1)
- Define the system to be developed, using:
Critical Success Factors - Set the scope of the project, to help avoid:
Scope creep
Feature creep - Develop the project plan (lead by project manager), including:
Tasks,
Resources, and
Timeframes
What are 4 types of Test conditions?
- Unit testing – testing individual units of code
- System testing – verifying that the units of code function correctly when put together in a system
- Integration testing – verifying that separate systems work together
- User acceptance testing (UAT) – determining if the system satisfies the business requirements and enables users to perform their work correctly
What are 2 important activities in Implementation?
- Writing detailed user documentation on how to use the new system.
- Training users, either on-line or in workshops.
Phase 2: Analysis
Two main activities:
- Gather the business requirements, including:
Joint application development (JAD) session, if needed. - Prioritize the requirements
Requirements definition document: Users sign off.
Phase 3: Design
Two Main activities:
The design phase builds a technical blueprint of how the proposed system will work. IT specialists do most of the activities. User involvement begins to decrease.
The two primary activities include design of the:
1. Technical architecture (hardware, software, and telecommunications equipment required to run the system).
2. System models (sample screens, reports, software, databases, etc.)
Phase 4: Development
Two Main activities:
The development phase takes the details of the design documents and changes them into an actual working system. This phase is usually done by IT specialists. The two primary development activities are building the:
- Technical architecture
- Database and programs.
Phase 5: Testing
Two Main activities:
The testing phase verifies that the system works and meets all of the business requirements that were in the requirements definition document.
1. Creating the Test Plan: writing the test conditions
(steps the system must perform along with the expected results of each step)
2. Doing the testing.
There are 4 ways to implement a new system:
- Parallel Implementation
- Plunge Implementation
- Pilot Implementation
- Phased Implementation
- Parallel Implementation
- Parallel implementation using both the old and new system simultaneously
- Plunge Implementation
- Plunge implementation discarding the old system and immediately starting to use the new
- Pilot Implementation
- Pilot implementation starting with a small group of users and gradually adding more users
- Phased Implementation
- Phased implementation installing one part of the system before another parts
