System Development Life Cycle

System Development Life Cycle

The system development life cycle is the process of stages that occurs during the development of a new system. There are 5 main stages of the system development life cycle which include; Requirements analysis; Design; Implementation; Testing; and evolution. This breaks the project down into tasks which can then be worked upon. 

Within my ICT course work: developing a stock control system, I used the system development life cycle to break down and work through my work. First I completed the requirement analysis stage within my work. In this stage I analysed the requirements of the system I was to create. To do this I interviewed the client seeing exactly what he wanted from the system, giving me a set of requirements that he wanted the system to meet. I was then able to analyse these requirements and from this create a final set of requirements for the system that I was to meet. 

Within the coursework after the completion of the requirement analysis stage I then completed the design stage of the systems development life cycle. In this stage I created a set of designs that I could create an implement in future stages to create the system. Within this stage I also gained client input making sure the designs for each part of the system were suitable and I also had to make sure the designs would meet the requirements of the system set in the previous stage. Within the design stage I also created a testing plan that will be used to test the system, making sure it  meets all requirements in the future testing stage. 

After the completion of all the designs for the system I moved onto the next stage of the systems development life cycle: Implementation. Within this stage I then used the designs to create each part of the system that is specified, making sure they meet the requirements set in previous stages. I developed all aspects of the system within this stage, making sure the system had all adequate inputs and outputs that were required. 

After the development of the system in the implementation stage I moved onto the testing phase, within this phase I tested each aspect of the system. Using the test plan created in the design phase I went through each test for the system making sure the system works and meets all requirements. If the system did not pass the set tests I would make adequate changes to make sure the system is able to pass the test and can meet requirements.

System Development Life Cycle Task 

Developers will use the System Development life cycle to break down projects into set easy to follow stages that the developer can work through. Using this method it means if there are multiple developers they can easily separate the tasks so the project is completed overall and the tasks can be combined at the end. 

Using the system benefits developers as it gives them a simple set of stages that the developers can work through, helping to improve the efficiency of the project and making sure nothing is missed within the project. Using this life cycle also means that documentation or products are made frequently at the end of each stage that can be reviewed by the clients, This means that tweaks can easily be made at the end of each stage ensuring, the project meets the clients needs and requirements. Finally, using this cycle means if there are multiple developers each developer could be given a part of the system to work on and these tasks could be combined at the end of the project, saving time. 

However, if there were multiple developers each completing a different task it means that they would have no work once they have completed there task, unless multiple projects were being run at once. It may also be more time consuming as it means there are a set of stages that the developers should work through which may not be completely necessary, wasting time. Finally; another disadvantage is that is it encourages stiff implementation instead of creativity. There are requirements that must be met and that is all that developers complete.