In this tutorial, we will discuss SDLC(software development life cycle), how is the software made, and what steps from software goes through to develop accurate software.
SDLC(Software Development Life Cycle)
SDLC is a process in which software goes through various steps to develop as per the client’s requirements. Software development not only requires coding skills, yes it is necessary and it’s the main part of developing software but SDLC is also necessary because without it we can’t analyze what we have to make or Is we are developing the right thing.
Why do we need SDLC?
We need SDLC to develop high-quality software, complete it in a given time period, and also make it within the budget.
We can build software without SDLC, but in this, there is a risk of budget overload, poor quality software, not as per client requirements, and many more issues.
In SDLC, we care about all of these functions, that what is the actual requirement of the client from the software, how we want, how much budget he has agreed to, and whether we are developing the right thing.
Let me explain with an example:
Assume you are the builder who builds a school, college, and shopping mall, and a client comes to you and asks you to develop a School. Then what will you do- Will you directly start to build the school or first make the list from a client of what design he wants and how much is his budget?
- You will first ask about his budget.
- Then you will ask what design and how many classes and the room will be there in school.
- After that, you will make a blueprint of that design and show it to your engineer and the workers.
- After that, you will analyze the requirements and collect the raw material for that.
- After that, you will start building.
All these processes come under the Building Life Cycle, as the same happens with Software you have to follow the SDLC process for the software development.
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Phases of SDLC
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- Feasibility Analysis
- Requirement Analysis
- Gathering and Analysis
- Specifications
- Design Documents
- Development Phase
- Software Testing
- Software Maintenance
Feasibility Analysis/Planning
Feasibility Analysis is the most important and the first step of every software development life cycle.
It’s a senior-level department, where the main and basic information about the software is collected from the client. This is the main part as all the information and steps are managed by the senior project managers.
In infeasibility analyses, we make a good or bad impression on clients as this is the first impression on clients here all the feasibilities are checked as we ensure the client that we are able to solve all his problems regarding this software. Infeasibility check all the resources regarding the software are checked.
Here are some feasibility Checks:
Economically Check: Every customer wants his project under his budget and the companies have to develop the software under the client’s budget otherwise there is a bad impression on the company’s image, and there is a risk of the canceled project from the client side.
Time Check: Time plays a very important role in software development, companies have to complete the project or software within the given time by the customer or client.
Operational Check: In this, we check whether the software is according to the customer’s requirements or not. We have to ensure the project is as per the customer’s needs, he wants.
Legal Checks: This is an important check as every software or project that you are launching in the market should meet the cyber laws rules and other policies.
Technical Check: This software is checked that is it running on all the platforms of a computer system or does it supports mobile applications also, we have to check all the requirements according to clients that this software should support all the platforms.
Requirement Analysis
After completing the feasibility check our next step is to software development is an analysis of Requirements in software development.
The aim of requirement analysis is to understand what exactly customers want and then document them properly
In this process, two phases are checked.
- Requirement Analysis
- Requirement Documentation(SRS)
Requirement Analysis
The analysis of requirements is important let me tell you, In requirement analysis software companies talk and have discussions with the client about what design he wants, what structure or how many pages, menus, and supported system he wants.
Let’s take an example a customer who came to you and asked to develop a food delivery app for him. Then after the feasibility check, you will require the requirement analysis and ask the customer what he wants in this app.
Then the customer says he wants a logo of his Food delivery Shop a front page, some menus, an image section of food, checkout, and a payments gateway with all the features of Paytm and Google Pay or another payment gateway.
Requirement Documentation (SRS)
After the analysis of software from the customer, comes to the SRS- Software Requirements specification.
This SRS means, collecting all the information from customers and writing it in a systematic order in some documents. This is the key to the project, after all this document is important and this will help developers to do coding for the software.
After identifying requirements from the customer SRS document is ready and then the next phase starts.
Design Documents
After collecting the SRS requirements from the Customer the Design Phase starts the designer team designs the software according to the SRS document. The designing team designs the software or project in their system using various software like Photoshop, Figma, and Illustrator or they make Algorithms, Flowcharts, Pseudocode, DFD, and ER diagrams.
Designing is also important because if there is a small mistake or misunderstanding of the project then the whole project goes out of customer requirements as the design is directly handed over development team for the actual phase of software development.
Development Phase/Implementation
Once the design team completes the design phase development starts.
They develop the software or any other project that the client has ordered.
The programmer’s team received the blueprint of the project and started coding according to the design. They have told and mentioned already before the statement of the project to develop it in which language whether it is Python, C, C++, Java, or any other language.
This is the main part of software development and programmers start their coding with all the developer’s team including Senior and Junior level Developers, and also the freshers.
Software Testing
After the Development phase is complete the Testing Phase starts.
In this, the software testing team Tests whether the software is running as per customers’ requirements and is this software running properly.
Testing is so simple word that everyone questions “Why should we do testing?”
After the development phase, the software is tested by the testing team and there are many defects or some phases are not running and not working because the developers are not “GOD” They can also make a mistake, so that’s why the tester tests the software.
As we cannot directly hand software to customers we have to do some more steps for this because this can down the image of the company.
After the testing team checks the software and if there is any error or anything which is not as per the customer’s requirements then the testing team hands over it to developers and tell them that this particular thing is not working.
Then the developer again codes for it and removes the bug or error from it, then it is again handed over to the testing team and the testing team checks it and if there is any problem again they again hand it over to the developer’s team.
This goes again and again until the bug or error is removed.
Software Maintenance
After the development and testing team finishes their work the software is handed over customer, but the SDLC is not over here, this is the maintenance period in which the software is handed over customer but it will be the maintenance from time to time.
Software maintenance is a period of time when bugs arrive that were not developed during the testing phase, so it is handed over to the customer for their feedback to ensure them how the software is developed and, is it as per his requirements or not.
Regular maintenance or weekly maintenance is the perfect satisfaction for the customer and it will build the reputation of the company
Here are the phases for which software maintenance is needed.
- For any error or bug corrections
- Upgradation in software.
- Speed of software to be faster.
- Payment gateway security up-gradation from time to time.
- Design changes over a period of time.
- Modifying the components
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SDLC(Software Development Life Cycle)