The 7 Stages of System Development Life Cycle

Last Updated on 1 year by Touhid

A system development life cycle or SDLC is an organized project management model that defines or involves different stages for developing and implementation of a system successfully. In this post we will explain complete 7 stages of system development life cycle.

7 Stages of System Development Life Cycle

The main aim of system development life cycle in software engineering is to develop a quality-based system in a structure way. It will produce an effective solution within the given resources, budget and timelines.

What are the 7 Stages of System Development Life Cycle? There are 7 stages of system development life cycle, which are as follows:

1. Planning Stage
2. Feasibility or Requirements Analysis Stage
3. System Design Stage
4. Development Stage
5. Testing Stage
6. Implementation Stage
7. Maintenance Stage

1. Planning Stage

Planning is the first and most important stage of the system development life cycle. This stage identifies the necessity whether or not to develop a new system for an organization.

If needed then this stage defines the new system requirements, project schedule and determine its objectives. And if not needed then this stage defines the problem of existing system, scope of existing system and will take an initiative to improve the system.

Planning stage is the vital stage of the system development life cycle process because it determines required resources, timeframe, budget, personnel, technical aspects to complete the project.

During this stage, all security aspects, threats and constraints of system are discussed and considered to develop the system.

Typically, the main purpose of this phase is to find out the problems and decide the solutions to complete the project successfully.

2. Requirements Analysis Stage

Requirements analysis is the second stage of 7 stages system development life cycle. In this phase, the development team will start for analysis of the functional requirements of the system and how they will meet the end user requirements.

Here, the team will gather and analyze the user requirements and prepare a document called Software Requirement Specification (SRS). A software requirement specification is a most critical document that describes how a system should be developed with its all functional requirements.

A SRS is prepare at the end of requirements analysis phase and the document specifies the functional requirements, development framework, hardware and network requirements.

3. System Design Stage

Once the requirements analysis phase is complete then the design phase starts. This design phase of SDLC process includes the design of system’s architecture, network diagram, databases, user interfaces, and system interfaces.

The SRS document turn into logical structure which can developed in a programming language by software developers. The proposed design will be review for correction (if needed) and check the design will meet the all requirements which specified in SRS document.

In this phase, system design is created and ensure the system design will contain the all functional requirements of the application.

4. Development Stage

The fourth phases of system development life cycle is development phase. In this stage, software engineers, database administrator and network engineer start for application development based on system design.

There are different types of programming languages (such as C++, PHP, Java and .Net) and databases (such as MySQL, SQL Server and Oracle). Software developer will choose the right programming language and database according to software requirement specification.

Here, the software engineers will follow the coding standard or guideline and complete the development of the application. After completion of development all the modules and sub modules will be integrated together for training purposes and detects errors.

Software developers also fine-tunes the all technical and physical configurations regarding to software. The new system will be host in client site hosting environment and proper training will be provide by developers.

Learn more about MySQL, SQL Server.

5. Testing Stage

Testing is the fifth phases of SDLC which helps to verify appropriate testing and integration of each element in the system.

The main aim of testing phase of SDLC is to identify all the bugs and errors in the system before the implementation stage starts. If there found any bugs and errors then software developers will address that bugs and errors immediately.

The Software Quality Assurance (SQA) team will involve in this stage who will perform the testing of developed system and determine if the system meets the end user goals.

The testing phase plays an important role in system development life cycle because it improves performance and reliability of developed system. It helps to verify that new system is developed properly that means according to software requirement specification.

There are different types of system testing such as unit testing, integration testing, functional testing, regression and acceptance testing.

6. Implementation Stage

After successful completion of system testing phase, the new develop system will install in client data center for implementation. In this stage, system is released or delivered to the end users for live data entry or in the production environment.

If an organization has an old system so, they can migrate or moving the data in the new develop system. When data migration is complete from old to new system then end user can start for use the new system. It is noted that, 100% data migration is very difficult job.

System engineers are involved in this stage of SDLC who will prepare the hosting environment and install the system in server. They will take necessary action to secure the system in order to protect from cyber-threats or unauthorized access.

Finally, al the system documents and admin access are handover to the organization’s head or dedicated person of the organization.

7. Maintenance Stage

This is the 7^th and last stage of system development life cycle. When the system successfully implemented and installed into the end user environment then the maintenance stage of SDLC will start. The main aim of this stage is to do regular maintenance of system, add new requirements and necessary updates.

The maintenance phase ensure that the system is functional, improving the software/hardware, and updating the system. Software developers will monitor the overall system and add the latest security technologies to protect from cyber security threats.

During this stage, if there any changes need in the system then the software developers are responsible for implementing. In that case, there should have a monthly or yearly maintenance contract between software company and client (software user). After completion of maintenance period, the contract may be extended depend on mutual agreement between both parties.

Importance 7 Stages of System Development Life Cycle

System development life cycle is very much important for an organization who wants to develop and implement a system from scratch. It provides a standard and guide line to develop a system in structure way and it meets the client’s requirements.

SDLC helps to plan the required resources, timeframe, budget, personnel, technical aspects to complete the project. It ensures that system will be deliver within the time frame to the client.

The most important thing is that SDLC provides overall control of the system development process from planning to maintenance stages. System development life cycle ensure that the new system meets the end user requirements and system is free from bugs and errors.

Software engineers will follow the coding standard to develop and complete the development process according to software requirement specification. The testing stage of system development life cycle will ensure that developed system must meets the end user requirements.

Related article: Different Models of Software Development Life Cycle.

Conclusion

Finally, system development life cycle is very important for an organization because it helps to develop a system from scratch. Every stages of system development cycle plays an important role and it helps to develop the system successfully. In this article, we have discussed 7 stages of system development life cycle. If you want to develop a new system for your organization then should develop the system using 7 stages of SDLC. Hope this post will be helpful for you.