1. Planning
This is the first phase in the systems development process. It identifies whether or not there is the need for a new system to achieve a businesses’ strategic objectives. This is a preliminary plan (or a feasibility study) for a company’s business initiative to acquire the resources to build on an infrastructure to modify or improve a service. The company might be trying to meet or exceed expectations for their employees, customers and stakeholders too. The purpose of this step is to find out the scope of the problem under study and determine solutions. Resources, costs, time, benefits, and more are the items that need to considered at this stage.
2. Systems Analysis and Requirements
The second phase is where businesses will work on the source of their problem or the need for a change. Functional requirements of a system are considered here. It is also where system analysis takes place - or analyzing the needs of the end users to ensure the new system can meet their expectations.
3. Systems Design
The third phase describes, in detail, the necessary specifications, features and operations that will satisfy the functional requirements of the proposed system which will be in place. This is the step for end users to discuss and determine their specific business information needs for the proposed system. It’s during this phase that they will consider the essential components (hardware and/or software) structure (networking capabilities), processing and procedures for the system to accomplish its objectives.
4. Development
The fourth phase is where the IT/IS project will be built and programmed. System designers normally assume responsibility of this role. They prepare the new system.
5. Integration and Testing
The fifth phase involves systems integration and system testing (of programs and procedures) - normally carried out by a Quality Assurance (QA) professional - to determine if the proposed design meets the set of business goals planned in the first phase. Testing may be repeated - to check for errors, bugs and interoperability - until the end user finds it acceptable.
6. Implementation
The sixth phase involves installment of the newly-developed system. This step puts the project into production. Both system analysts and end-users should now see the realization of the project that has implemented changes.
7. Operations and Maintenance
The seventh and final phase is maintenance and future changes, if required. This is the step where end users can fine-tune the system, if they wish, to boost performance, add new capabilities to the system or have additional user requirements.
If a business determines a change is needed during any phase of the SDLC, the company might have to proceed through all the above life cycle phases again. The life cycle approach of any project is a time-consuming process. Even though some steps are more difficult than others, none are to be overlooked, by-passed or stepped over.
Otherwise, an oversight could prevent the entire system from functioning as planned.