Systems Development Life Cycle Research T13.2

Systems Development Life Cycle Research

Information systems store the key to all business processes in the 21st century. Ensuring these systems coincide with an organization’s business strategy is crucial to receiving the most returns on your investment. Understanding how the system development life cycle is the determining factor if an organization succeeds.

The system development life cycles (SDLC) are composed of the following: Analysis, Design, Implementation, Testing and Evaluation. The “SDLC” is a process known to system professionals as a development tool for creating information systems. Using the knowledge attained from SDLC one can create an efficient and high performing system that exceeds their customer expectations. In other words, creating a system that will cut, costs, and works efficiently in a high risk environment. Most of these systems are complicated pieces of software but with technology moving forward usability is greatly enhanced.

System analysis
The objective of system analysis is to find any outstanding issues within an information system and apply solutions to positively enhance efficiency. This step is composed of breaking apart the information into small increments and analyzes the data, and determines what needs to be done to ensure the system is running in accordance to the organizations requirements. Upon, receiving requirements from the client or organization; the team analysis can confirm the system is running error free under their guidelines.

Design
The role of system design describes the new information system as either a compilation of knowledge. On this step the design functions are described in complete detail such as the organizations screen layouts, rules, diagrams, and other company information. The design component uses the list of requirements identified by the client or organization. Each requirement has its own sets of design components. The design elements can be considered as software features in detail, business diagrams, business rules (similar to what we had in our expert systems task). These design elements are intended to describe the software in sufficient detail that skilled programmers may develop the software with minimal additional input design.

Implementation
Once in the implementation cycle, the client or organization can adjust and enable system features, installations, and receive a formal greeting ensuring the user that the system is operating accordingly. Usually the design and system tests are done prior to implementation to make sure that all the requirements are met and security is in accordance to their business specifications. At this time new applications can be added to the information system.

Testing and Evaluation
During this time the system is put into use. This can be done in various ways. The new system can phased in, according to application or location, and the old system gradually replaced. In some cases, it may be more cost-effective to shut down the old system and implement the new system all at once. Once the new system is up and running for a while, it should be exhaustively evaluated. Maintenance must be kept up rigorously at all times. Users of the system should be kept up-to-date concerning the latest modifications and procedures.