What is SDLC: The main stages of Software Development Life Cycle

What is SDLC?

The SDLC is a complex of processes that are planned and carried out in strict order, each of them takes some time and guarantees the high quality of the final product.

What are the stages of the Software Development Life Cycle?

This cycle usually has 7 stages, which we will describe below.

Stage #1: Planning

This stage involves planning and drafting of the SDLC process which will be used by the development team. Meetings with developers and product managers to plan the project, discussion of needed resources, deadlines and environment for the development process is also needed to be done at this stage.

Stage #2: Analysis

At this stage, you need to collect all the needed information and resources. Consider system requirements and the determination of the system.

This stage is also needed to find some good alternatives which can be a good part of the project and will surely satisfy the customer’s expectations. At this step, there is drafting a Software Requirements Specification (SRS) document which includes software, hardware and network requirements.

Stage #3: Designing

After the analysis of all needed resources has ended, the next step is to prototype the future product. This stage covers this need by designing the overall system and covering some aspects (network requirements, user experience and user interface, database planning, integrations of modules).

Stage #4: Software Development

As long as the design and all the needed information has been obtained, the stage of coding is beginning. Developers not only code but also must check through the SDLC and SRS documentation to ensure that the requirements are met. Depending on which software is being developed, programmers use many different languages. To get a really high-quality product, developers must have expertise in what they are doing.

Stage #5: Testing

When the coding stage is done, the testing stage begins. Testing of the software is done by developers with the use of SRS documents to check if all the features of the application are included. If there are some problems in the software while testing, they reduce bugs and other problems. This stage may take longer depending on the next options:

• the number of requirements;
• experience of developers;
• the complexity of the application.

Stage #6: Integration

After the software is developed and all the bugs and problems during the previous stage have been reduced, the stage of integration begins. This stage requires the integration of modules to the final application and then checking if everything works properly. If all the requirements are met the application becomes ready for release.

Stage #7: Maintenance

After launching the application, developers who did development work now switch to the maintenance part. Among the duties developers now have to do are the following:

• reducing bugs that were undetected at the testing stage;
• solving issues found by users;
• upgrading and improving the system.

That was a short list of the main steps required. If you want to learn more about the software development lifecycle, read the article here.