Planning
Business projects start with a certain idea. Planning stage
involves a brief defining what the project is intended to do as well as its
benefits to the business organization. It defines the purpose, and the aims
that project will accomplish (Lewis, et al., 2008).
Systems Analysis
and Specification
The Systems Analysis process involves conducting the
feasibility study to determine the significance of entire system in an
organization. The proposed system is defined regarding referring inputs and
outputs to the system. System users define the outputs and become the System
Specifications. The stage gives precise and clear details about what the new
system will be required to do (Abdulhak, & Kang, 2012). The deliverables in this stage include a
logical model of the new system. Approval of the requirements gets agreed upon,
and the specifications are used to design models done by the system designers.
Systems Design
The stage deals with implementation of the requirements of
proposed new system. The stage defines how the logical model is implemented
through programming which gives physical system. It involves system designers
developing models and prototypes. They are checked and tested to evaluate if
they meet all requirements and specification defined (Pollard, Gupta, &
Satzinger, 2010). The systems design process may also involve performing
simulations on the designs and models developed. The one that comes closest to
the proposed system and most cost effective regarding equipment, tools, and
personnel is selected. Modular programming is applied where it is broken down
into more detailed specifications.
Development
Development stage involves a physical transformation of
design into development fully functioning program. The process is done through
writing code. The designs and specifications deliverables provide enough details
for the programmers to write codes and test individual modules. Developed
modules in various units are tested to ensure that they meet the requirements
and the specification of the users (Pollard, Gupta, & Satzinger, 2010).
Testing
During the testing process, there are different levels of
testing which includes unit testing which is usually performed in the
development stage. The second type of testing is called link testing that is
implemented to ensure that programs work together and communicate with each
other. It guarantees that the input data passed from one program to another is
in the correct format. Another important type of testing is called user
acceptance testing which is carried out by the various users in stages to
guarantee and ensure that the system is usable (Felderer, & Katt, 2015).
During this stage, modifications are passed back to the system design stage.
The changes required are made as required and later passed to the development
team.
Implementation
After the process of testing user’s satisfaction is
determined and when approved, the entire system, or parts of it, is installed
in various departments. The implementation process ensures that the users can
start using the system to conduct various business activities. The two main
approaches applied during implementation a project includes. A phased approach
which involves installation of stand-alone subsets of the system which are
implemented over a given period (Felderer, & Katt, 2015). The second one is
the big bang approach which involves installation of the whole system to
operate all business operations at once.
Maintenance
Maintenance involves providing deliverables and documentation
of the developed system. The detailed description of the system is presented to
system users to enhance activities such as training.
Four Steps SDLC
Model
Requirements Analysis
The business requirements analysis stage analyses a series of
business problems and define their possible solutions. The business problem and
possible solutions are presented to management regarding business proposals or
improvement options. The various proposals and options are supported by
deliverables and other technical documents which include high-level Data Flow
Diagrams (DFD's), Logical Data Models (LDM), as well as Work Practice Models
(Abdulhak, & Kang, 2012). Requirements analysis stage contain a report with
financial and risk assessments based on presented and supported analytical
outline on hardware and software requirements and implementation descriptions.
The requirements and analysis stage involves conducting data and information
collection from users to specify the requirements and specifications as well as
analyzing the flow of data and information in various systems. The session
involves deriving various system functions and developing user role
specifications based on organization operations.
Systems Design
The session comes up with full developed prototypes and
process specifications. The session expands on the business idea with links to
the feasibility study. The session involves making drawings for the purpose of
referencing during the development stage. Design stage states the objectives
and the scope of the project. It defines how long development stage will take
to implement the design. The main role of the designer in the design stage is
to provide an architectural design that resembles the current proposed system
at a high level. The various drawings used include second class Data Flow
Diagrams (DFD) (Felderer, & Katt, 2015). They are used to describe and show
how the current system performs by illustrating the known problems. The
structural designs are carried out for all projects, functions, and operations.
Development and Implementation
The implementation stage has two phases the first stage
involves producing an outline designs based on requirements and specification
defined during data and information collection stage. The first stage includes
all the inputs and outputs as defined by users. The detailed designs containing
prototypes for the selected designs are produced to facilitate the direct
integration of data and information. The phase includes deployment process
which is composed of processes such as cleaning and clearing databases.
Deployment process takes into consideration two types of system implementation
which include cut over or production and pilot methodologies (Pollard, Gupta,
& Satzinger, 2010). During the deployment process, some systems may require
special programming or tasks to convert existing data and information into a
format usable by the new system. The requirements and the process of changing
data and information into a format acceptable to aid transfer from the old
system to the new are the processes of conversion. The database backup
operations may be implemented to ensure that data and information within an
organization can be easily retrieved.
Maintenance and
Review
The session involves verification and validation process to
ensure the developed system is high quality and acceptable. Session conducts
system testing ensuring that the entire system as a whole performs according to
various design specifications. Systems recovery procedures are tested in
combination with normal operation procedures. The stage ensures that the system
is put into place. The rest of operations are regarded as maintenance which
ensures continuous improvement of the developed system. Maintenance process
includes regular reviewing and evaluating the system to ensure that it is
achieving its main objectives, through identifying all aspects that can lead to
improvement of all operational problems (Lewis, et al., 2008).
Comparing and
contrasting seven Steps and Four Steps SDLC
Similarities
The similarities that exist between seven steps and four
steps SDLC include that both support procedural development and implementation
of projects and software development processes. Both systems are well implemented using
specific consideration of business users. Their development life cycle involves
ideas developed from users, system users, development team’s experts and
stakeholders. Most of the stages involve are similar and share common
activities and tasks. Some similar phases include systems analysis and
requirement analysis phase, design phase, development, and implementations as
well, as maintenance stage (Kim, & Peterson, 2003). In both systems quality
and the acceptable final system is guaranteed through involving various
deployment approaches for users to test the developed system.
Differences
The differences that exist between seven steps and four steps
SDLC include; seven steps SDLC involve more steps hence more time consuming. It
has more iteration those developers require to pass through. However, four
steps SDLC have less number of steps thus making development process simpler
and more compressed. The seven step
model involves a modular process of system development where experts are
allocated specific units to develop individually. On the other hand in four
steps SDLC all systems developer collaborates in the development process to
design a specific module together. In
seven steps SDLC users are involved during requirements gathering and systems
analysis stages to gather business requirements and specifications. In four
steps SDLC users are involved in all steps and entire development cycle they
are part of the system in the development process (Lewis, et al., 2008). Seven steps model uses reductionism approach
while for steps model applies both reductionism and holism approaches.
References
Pollard, C. E., Gupta, D., & Satzinger, J. W. (2010).
Teaching Systems Development: A Compelling Case for Integrating the SDLC with
the ITSM Lifecycle. Information Systems Management, 27, 2, 113-122.
Kim, C. S., & Peterson, D. K. (2003). A
Comparison of the Perceived Importance of Information Systems Development
Strategies by Developers from the United States and Korea. Information
Resources Management Journal, 16, 2, 1-18.
Abdulhak, S. A., & Kang, D.-K. (2012).
Effectiveness of simultaneous blending of user experience and system
development lifecycle models in application developments. International
Journal of Software Engineering and Its Applications, 6, 2, 167-172.
Lewis, G. A., Morris, E., Simanta, S., & Wrage,
L. (2008). Effects of service-oriented architecture on software development
lifecycle activities. Software Process: Improvement and Practice, 13, 2,
135-144.
Felderer, M., & Katt, B. (2015). A process for
mastering security evolution in the development lifecycle. International
Journal on Software Tools for Technology Transfer, 17, 3, 245-250.
Sherry Roberts is the author of this paper. A senior editor at MeldaResearch.Com in affordable term papers if you need a similar paper you can place your order for custom college papers.
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