Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)

The ultimate goal of software development is to produce the desired product in quality, functionality, and performance. The process of software development is not like working on a blank canvas. Software development is inbound with various software development stages and processes. Software development process steps directly impact product quality and team performance.

Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)

Software Development Process is a structured sequence of phases in software engineering to develop the desired software product. There are various models for such practices, each explaining approaches different jobs or activities that happen through the process. The process of software development contains a series of steps that can be followed to design and develop qualitative software. The system or application development life cycle is not only effective to ensure that your system caters to the requirements of your business and consumers, but it is also helpful in supporting the app once it is released.

This blog will shed some light on the process of software development and its importance.

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The process of software development makes things easier and eliminates the number of issues encountered. In today’s time, the number of companies and projects that fail to constantly stick to a software development process is bewildering. Application development initiatives are envisaged and performed by using the unreliable or fly-by-night approach. The reason behind this is consumers may find it difficult to understand and see the value of the different terms and concepts during the development process such as analyses, use-case analyses, design specifications, business requirements, product testing, etc. which are required to create a qualitative product. Building a product without adhering to a software development process or software development methodology (SDM) often resulted in systems or products that are over budget, late delivered, and in some cases, it does not match the needs.

Sticking to a well-defined process approach allows software developers to provide better estimates, deliver secure systems, have a clear understanding of the job in front, keep the client informed, and discover hazards earlier. Professional and expert software developers identify potential risks and problems before they transpire, which improves their ability to proactively manage errors against their happening, and build more effective techniques when they do occur. This shows that they are completely aware of the process of software development and its importance.

When the software application development method is not properly implemented, numbers of problems become more and more pervasive as the development process continues. For example: when the development team doesn’t communicate properly with consumers, it often creates end products that don’t suit the desired needs of the customers. In addition, improper implementation of basic methodology or processes can lead to software deployments with many defects. Delivering a low-quality, less functional, and unstable product to clients gives a bad reflection on the company as well as the developers.

Software life cycle models illustrate different stages of the software development cycle and the sequence in which those stages are carried out. Each stages of software development give deliverables (tangible or non-tangible) which are needed by the subsequent phase in the life cycle of software. Requirements are interpreted into the design and as per design code is produced in the development phase. Once coding and development are done, the testing validates the deliverable of the implementation stage against requirements.

There are total six stages in every Software development life cycle

• Requirement gathering and analysis

This is the first step in software development where business requirements are gathered. Meetings between stakeholders, managers, and users are arranged to measure the requirements. Common queries are discussed among them such as who is going to use the software? What is the purpose of the software? How will they employ the system? What data should be input/output into the software? After gathering the requirements, those requirements are analyzed for their feasibility of including and implementing them in the system. At the end of this phase, a requirement specification document is formed which serves the aim of guideline for the subsequent phase of the process.

• Design

System and software design is created in this software design stage using the requirement specifications document which was analyzed in the former phase. Software Design aids in identifying system and hardware requirements. It also supports defining the whole system architecture. Specifications of system design serve as input for the next stage of the process.

• Implementation/Coding

Once system design specifications are received, the work is classified in modules to start real coding. This stage is the main focus of the developers as the code is created in this stage. This phase is the most time-consuming out of all phases of the software development methodology.

• Testing

When the code is produced, it is checked against the requirements to ensure that the end product is actually meeting the needs gathered and addressed during the requirements stage. In this phase, integration testing, unit testing, system testing, and acceptance testing are carried out.

• Deployment

Once the testing is done successfully, the product is delivered and deployed to the client for their use.

• Maintenance and support

When the client starts implementing the developed product then the real issues come up. Thus, maintenance and support are also offered by the development company.

This forms part of the processes followed in the creation and development of various software solution created by Liorra Tech. We aim to provide the best possible solutions thereby ensuring our clients receive only the best quality and workmanship. At Liorra we strive to innovate in our space, so contact us today for all your software development needs.

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