The Systems Development Life Cycle A structured approach must be used in order to ensure success in the process of system

development. A Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is a very formal and precise system development process that defines a set of activities, methods, best practices, deliverables, and automated tools that system developers and project managers are to use to develop and maintain information systems and software. The SDLC consists of a series of steps used to manage the phases of development for an information system. The four main phases are:

Analysis Design Implementation and Testing Maintenance

At any stage, however, we might discover previously unidentified problems and a return to previous stages may thus prove necessary. The following figure shows the different phases of the SDLC.

Figure 8-2 Phases of the SDLC The purpose of viewing system development in this way is to set up a general framework within which system development can proceed. This technique helps to achieve greater control on the computerization project. Thus, the amount of time to be allocated to each phase can be agreed upon. Furthermore, the completion of each phase is a milestone which consists of monitoring the project progress by:

Ensuring that the time frames specified for each phase is being respected as far as possible Checking that the tasks and activities enumerated for that phase have been completed Checking that the deliverables/progress reports have been submitted to the appropriate persons Making a decision about whether we proceed to the next phase

Systems Analysis is the study of the current system functions in order to identify the problems encountered or needs. As a result, new requirements are specified and alternatives for system improvement are considered. The new requirements guide the System Design process which consists of modeling the new system and specifying the hardware and software considerations. During System Implementation, new hardware and software are acquired, developed and tested. The new information system is installed and people are trained to use it. System

Maintenance is an ongoing phase, whereby the system is periodically evaluated and updated as needed.