Team Wireless Technologies

With time the software that businesses utilize will need to be modernized or upgraded to efficiently meet the ever changing demands and expectations of customers. “A systems development life cycle is composed of a number of clearly defined and distinct work phases which are used by systems engineers and systems developers to plan for, design, build, test, and deliver information systems”  (Wikipedia).To implement a successful System Development Life cycle (SDL) we have to target the six functional areas that will be crucial to the overall achievement of the task at hand. These six steps are listed as follows:

System Investigation: Notes are made from observing staff use the software, and questionnaires are given. Interviews from the staff and management reveal their view points as well as identify the shortcomings and other limitations from the existing system.

System Analysis: Reports are produced and contain a full analysis of the existing system including the process, issues and problems.  

System Design: System specifications are agreed upon and approved. To ensure the safety the budget and schedule of the project, after specifications are approved they are locked and will not change.

System Program and Testing: Programming teams are employed and translate design specifications and write them into hundreds of thousands of computer code. This process takes skill and usually is very time consuming. Testing is done to ensure that the code is written correctly and that there are no bugs or errors.

Implementation: There are a few different strategies that can be used to implement the new system. A Direct Conversion is when the old system is stopped and the new system begins at a certain time. A Pilot Conversion is when the new program is introduced to one functional area, assessed, then if in favor introduced to the rest of the sections. A Phased Conversion is when components of the new system are introduced in stages until the whole system is up and running.  

Operation and Maintenance: Audits are performed to evaluate the new systems capabilities and if it is being used properly. The debugging and updating process is a constant that will have to continue for the life of the system.

In summary, the SDL that you choose should benefit your business and address the needs that you consider to be the most important. SDLs can be modified at any point in time to address the ever changing needs of your business.

References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_development_life_cycle

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