What is Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) and Process ? 2024

Published on: October 14, 2024
Written by: Darshan Saroya
Software Development Lifecycle

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Everyone has an idea about software development. Not exactly the procedure! But something the developer writes like code, and as output the software is developed. Only people with complete knowledge or expertise in developing the software. Knows about the software development lifecycle.

With changes in technologies, the market has different kinds of software available. The users can choose from the varieties of options available You can steal users on the basis of the language used & type of the services provided. In the landscape of development . It requires an effective software development process. It fosters growth & perfection on every stage. In the aspects of performance & security. Their are various factors involved in the software development lifecycle. If You were thinking or wanted to gather knowledge regarding this. You are on the right track. This blog will teach you about software development procedures. You should take care while hiring for software development services. This will help you a lot in your product development.

What is the software development process?

What is the software development process?

Software development lifecycle (SDLC) or software development procedure consists of few development stages. Some steps are from developing the software to deployment of the software. The main aim is to develop in a short period of time. As every step is important. The first step helps to create vision, and the next step is the product vision.

The software development process models change with time. It depends on the need & demand of the market. Likewise, the project features & nature are treated as important factors of determination. Less planning is required in small projects, and big projects require complex & huge planning. A huge amount of analysis & knowledge is required in software development.

The number of steps may vary from project to project, and it depends on the company. Majorly, it involves 7 steps, from planning to maintenance. All the steps involved have their own role in the software development lifecycle. Let’s understand these steps in depth.

It includes 7 stages in software deployment lifecycle models

It includes 7 stages in software deployment lifecycle models

1.Planning:

The base and important point in the software development lifecycle. It involves communication between the clients & developers. Resource planning is the procedure that involves figuring out the resources needed. The resources like budget, team members required in development, tools, scheduling, etc. In completion of the project. In this, the client provides a brief knowledge of software needs. Than the vision & features of the software. With full knowledge of the requirements and needs of the software development. On the basis of that, the cost and the blueprint of the software development are created. The price distribution is shared with the client. A communication method is called finalized in this session.

2. Required analysis for the development:

In the second stage of the software development model, the developers shape the product. It includes the functionality & features to develop the software. This step marks all the requirements for designing the software. Steps used in the software development procedure. At this stage, the developers create the SRS (software requirement specification) documents. The detailed information of the software, hardware, & network requirements. In this stage, allocations of resources are made on the basis of the requirements of the team members. This helps in efficient utilization of the resource. In the software development procedure.

3. Designing & prototyping:

The third stage of software development is lifecycle design & prototyping. The software development process is where the UI/UX design builds the interface & portal of the software. This is also known as preparing for a prototype. It is used in software development procedure.
The prototype means the appearance of the software. Choosing of theme, color, buttons, animation, transition, navigation, & elements to be used.

Then this report is sent to the client for approval of the appearance and checking the features & functions of the software. This way, they collect the feedback from the client. The core development starts after the approval of the report.

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4. Software Development

The fourth stage is the important stage of the software development lifecycle. The important step of the whole procedure. In the software process model, the coding of the model is done. The software development model consists of front-end and back-end developers. The front-end developers develop the interface for user interaction.
The pages, button, animation, and transition effect to all the screens. This all-development is called front-end development.

The second phase of development is back-end development. In this, the developers build the functionality of the software. The clicks to execute the functionality of the software development lifecycle models. The developers can use technology on the basis of software requirements & features, or it also depends on client preferences. This phase also consists of the integration of APIs, third-party support, & installing the payment method gateway. This helps to improve the working of the software development procedure.

The phase can use two types of methodology in design: the agile method or two-block method; if not this, then the single block method or waterfall method in coding. The aim of using this methodology for the development team is to follow software development process steps. The business holders or the client engage regularly so that the software meets the requirement. The output of this phase is called testable functional software. Testable functional of the software development lifecycle models.

5.Testing

The step where the developers team tests the software before the deployment in the market. The aim of these steps is to check the functionality of the software. It helps the software development process models to be bug- or error-free. This also helps in improving the smoothness of the software. It involves multiple levels of testing to assure it is error-free. It makes the software development process steps easy. In this, developers also check the speed of the software. The quality analysis members take control of this procedure. Unknowing, if the software is working slowly, then might affect the user experience. This leads to a delay in software development lifecycle models. It may also lead to less usability among the users. Not only speed, the loading time also matters. If the loading speed of the software is higher. It needs to be improved in the software development models. One more testing type, unit testing, is conducted. This helps to find the bugs in the system to ensure efficiency. As bugs can be removed with the help of this testing. For software development process models. After the unit testing, integration testing is used to check all the components functionality. All the functions should be performed properly. To improve working of software development process models. The testing Phase of sdlc methods is code quality, functional testing, and integration testing After this, the performance testing & security testing are done. In security testing, the developers identify the vulnerabilities of the software. This test includes potential weaknesses, manual testing, running automated scans, & security flaws to check the security of the code. It improves the SDLC methods. The testing can be automated using Codeship. It is an integration tool. The aim of the testing phase is to make software error-free & ready for deployment to the market.

6.Deployment:

Deployment is treated as a final stage of software development lifecycle. It is also called the final stage of software development. This step includes the deployment of the software in the market place for the end-users. If the software requires a particular market place for deployment, like the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.
The developer teams ensure it follows all the set of rules & regulations for the marketplace to deploy it. For example, if we want to use the Play Store, we need to pay $30 approx. and $100/year for the Apple Store approx. for the software.
If the software is created for internal use in the enterprise, then it is installed onto the local network of the business. From where all the users or the organization easily collectively use the software. The deployment phase is automated in some cases, depending upon the enterprise.
Some businesses have high rules & regulations. The process required some documentation for the approval for deployment. In this case, a continuous deployment model is used. Application Release Automation (ARA) in large & medium-sized businesses
The ARA is integrated with integrating tools for deployment to the production environment. The output is then released to the production of the working software.

7.Operations & Maintenance

Deploying the software on the platform makes it error-free. It is also important to provide timely updates for improving the functionality of the software. It might be possible some errors are identified by the end-users and reported. In this case, maintenance of the software plays a crucial role.

Each phase plays a significant role in the software development lifecycle. This all processes helps to organize the software efficiency, creating the high-quality software to fulfill the clients needs.


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Positive & negative of points of working with software development lifecycle

There are, just like the two faces of a coin, not only advantages and upper sides of using a dedicated software development process. To a large degree, teams working on development projects have to undergo various hardships when working with a predefined process of development. So, here are some of the pros and cons of working with the software development life cycle:

Positive Points of Working With Software Development Life Cycle

Predefining the steps from planning to deployment may not work. If any complexity occurs in the steps, it may affect the overall performance of the software. It may also lead to increase in the cost Sometimes some development models are not flexible enough to follow the procedure of working. Predefining the cost is not an effective way. In the end, it might affect the overall budget of the software. After completion of the software testing is done. But it may result in making more changes & may also result in big issues. It may be a complicated part in the development process.

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Software Development Lifecycle Models

Software Development Lifecycle Models
Most software development companies follows some steps in software development lifecycle. There are 8 modes used for the SDLC methods. Let’s look at the different software process models during development:

1.Agile model:

The software software development was drafted & developed in the year 2001. It is an incremental model focused on customer feedback. It breaks the whole process into small portions called iterations. This helps the developers to make changes on every step according to need. Due to this, it may affect the cost & it’s time-consuming.

There are some advantages & disadvantages of the agile model:

Advantages:

As it has an iterative & incremental process. It provides high product quality. Promotes flexibility and scalability in coding in the software process model. Its aim is to provide customer satisfaction in software development lifecycle models.

Disadvantages:

It is a very time-consuming process in the software process model. It may increase the cost from the actual estimated cost of the software process model. Lack of documentation in software development lifecycle models.

2.Waterfall model:

This is the most used & oldest form for software development models used by the companies. It work on the principle to complete the process in phases. After completing one phase, move on to the next phase. Only after ensuring that no changes are needed to be made in the previous phase can move on to the next phase. It carries information related to the previous phase to the next phase.

There are some advantages & disadvantages of the waterfall model:

Advantages:

Due to the structural approach, make work simple. It decreases the chances of error. All goals can be determined easily and measure the progress of the project.

Disadvantages:

Inflexibility in making changes. Comparitive costly. The test is only conducted at the time of the close of the phase.

3.V model:

V model is also knows as a validation model. It’s kind of similar to the waterfall model. The aim of developing this software development process model was to overcome the cons of the waterfall model. As the previous software development models was lacking in testing. All the steps are similar, but just make sure the test is performed after each and every phase. It catches the errors & bugs instantly.

There are some advantages & disadvantages of the V model:

Advantages:

Simple & straight approach . Better tracking in the progress of the project. Easy management of the project.

Disadvantages:

Absence of the early prototype Lack of flexibility High risk chances

4.Big Bang process:

This software process model is helpful to the client who is not clear about the product they want. The model is flexible and can be altered whenever needed. The developers start the project with money & resources. Not focusing on advanced planning of the process. The output may or may not match the client vision, & changes need to be made.

There are some advantages & disadvantages of the Big Bang model:

Advantages:

Simple & easy to execute. No need of planning. Best for smaller projects.

Disadvantages:

It is an expensive model Lack of flexibility due to uncertainty High risk chances

5.Sprial model:

In this, there are 4 stages of the project development. This model is meant for bigger projects. It becomes easy for the development team to build a customized project & to get instant feedback during the software development lifecycle. It improves the risk management in the project development. According to this model, the team analyses the risk at the beginning of every phase.

There are some advantages & disadvantages of the spiral model:

Advantages:

Extensive use of prototype. Best for large & complex projects. Best risk management software development.

Disadvantages:

The model is complex in understanding No deadline of the project No fix number odf spirals

6.Scrum process model:

Scrum is similar to agile methodology. The scrum process consists of several short phases called sprints. It has a time limit of 2 weeks. Each sprint is dedicated to completing the development stage in the particular time onto the full time of overall project development. The development team members decide which part of the project needs to be completed in the sprint. It will start with the planning & full completion. The priority is decided by the project owner.

7.Incremental model:

Incremental model means splitting the software development into projects rather than stages. And all the different stages are launched separately. Clients or the managers decide the features & functionalities of the version in four steps, like analysis, designing, coding, & testing in completion of the project.

There are some advantages & disadvantages of the incremental model:

Advantages:

Features are identified in early stage . Quick initial project release. It helps to measure the work performance.

Disadvantages:

Cost may increase Iterations of planning on every stage

8.RAD model

RAD model means Rapid Application Development. This develops different prototypes & models of software. Then all parts are combined together to develop full software. The changes are made on the basis of client requirements. These are executed on an instant basis.

There are some advantages & disadvantages of the incremental model:

Advantages:

Changes are easy to make and applied instantly. Easy to measure progress of the project. It increases the productivity of the software.

Disadvantages:

It’s complex project & not easy to manage Advance modeling is required in management

Conclusion

The software development lifecycle is somewhat complex work while performing. From the scratch stage of planning to developing the final steps. Understanding all the models & its methodologies. The pros & cons of every model in software development. As technology changes with time, it depends on the SDLC methods. Some models allows to manage & record the progress on each steps. We need to look at some factors in developing the software: cost, time, resources required, and the advantages & disadvantages of the projects. Choosing the model wisely to manage the overall procedure.

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About Author

Darshan

Written By Darshan Saroya

Darshan Saroya is the creator and CEO of the content development company. He writes and has over 7+ years of experience as a content marketer, for technoprofiles.com generating on blogging , article's and website technique.

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