SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT LIFE CYCLE

Definition – System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is the overall process of developing
information systems through a multi-step process form investigation of initial requirements
through analysis, design, development, implementation and maintenance.
System development stages/steps may vary depending on the choice of the system developer,
however these stages achieve a common goal. Any system development stage category is
applicable to any type of system to be developed.

Seven stages in system Seven stages in system Five stages in system

development development development

1. Problem 1. Initial study/Problem 1. Analysis

identification Identification (Fact finding &
Feasibility study.
2. Feasibility study 2. Analysis 2. Design
3. Analysis 3. System design 3. Development
4. Design 4. Testing 4. Implementation
5. Development 5. Implementation 5. Maintenance
6. Implementation 6. Documentation
7. Maintenance 7. Evaluation

1. PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION

 The purpose of this stage is to verify that a problem or deficiency really exists with the
present system or to pass judgment on the new requirement.

 This stage involves the description of the existing system and its short-comings.
Methods of fact finding
 Observation – Spending some time in the department concerned, seeing at first hand the
procedures used, workloads and challenges encountered.
 Literature review – Reading the documents associated with the system.
 Questionnaire – These can be useful when a lot of people will be affected by the new
system.
 Interviews – The most common and most useful way of fact finding. Interviews must be
well planned.

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 2. FEASIBILITY STUDY
The term feasibility study is also used to refer to the resulting/findings document. These results
of the study are used for making a decision of whether to proceed with the project or not. If it
indeed leads to a project being approved, it will – before the real work of the proposed project
starts – be used to ascertain the likelihood of the project’s success. It is an analysis of possible
alternative solutions to a problem and a recommendation on the best alternative. E.g It can be
decided whether an order processing be carried out by a new system more efficiently than the
existing one.
 Feasible – Able to be carried out or done; possible or reasonable.
 The feasibility study is concerned about the three aspects;- technical, social and economic
aspects of developing a new system.
 Feasibility study is done in order to find out if a plan will work or not.

Technical feasibility – Deals with the question of whether the proposed system will achieve its
objectives; in other words; will it work? Advances in technology may mean that the system that
was not feasible a couple of years ago are now a possibility.

Social feasibility – Is concerned about the effects of the new system to be developed on
employees and customers upon its introduction.

 Will it result in redundancies or a need for re-training or relocation of some workforce

(system users)?
 Will some jobs be ‘disliked’ and will current employees be able to perform effectively any
new tasks introduced by the new system? It is essential that user cooperation is secured
before changes are introduced. Equally, the effects of customer service has to be considered.

Economic feasibility – It considers whether the new system will be cost effective. There are two
types of costs involved; - Development costs and running costs.

The benefits of economic feasibility may also be of two types; - Direct economic benefits such as
reduced costs and Benefits that are hard to quantify such as improved management information
or better customer service.

The feasibility report (Terms of reference)

It is a document which contains the following;

- Objectives: what the new system must achieve, E.g. cost reductions, better service to
customers.
- Better management information, ability to handle increased volumes of business.
- Constraints: any restrictions on cost, equipment to be used, areas of business which are
left unchanged, etc.
- Timescale: when is a solution required?

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 - Reports or output that is required.
- Problems that have been identified from the current system.
- Suggested solutions considered by the management.
- A list of some of the alternative solutions considered and why these alternatives were
rejected.

3. ANALYSIS
It is the separation of the current system into parts that determine how it works. (Input, process,
output, system flow charts, data flow diagrams)
These includes the identification of a proposed solution to the problems identified in the current
system.
Included in the analysis phase are:-
- Objectives: what the new system must achieve, E.g. cost reductions, better service to
customers.
- Better management information, ability to handle increased volumes of business.
- Constraints: any restrictions on cost, equipment to be used, areas of business which are
left unchanged, etc.
- Timescale: when is a solution required?
- Reports or output that is required.
- Problems that have been identified from the current system.
- Suggested solutions considered by the management.
- A list of some of the alternative solutions considered and why these alternatives were
rejected.

4. SYSTEM DESIGN
This is the stage where a plan of the new system is created. In the plan, the following must be
included.
 Inputs and input formats
 Outputs and output formats
 Data preparation
 Code designing
 File designing (File structure)
 Hardware and software requirements
 Test plan designing

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 5. SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT
The new system is then developed using appropriate software following the plan in system
design. After the development of the system it has to be checked if it will respond well to the
purpose it has been created for hence the need for testing the new system.
TESTING
Now that the system has been developed, the system developer would want to know if it works
properly, which means it has to be tested. There are three types of testing that can be carried out;-
i. Normal data testing – The system is fed with data that is expected in the system to see if it
will be accepted by the system.
ii. Abnormal data testing – The system is fed with data that is not expected to be in the
system to see if it will reject it. If it accepts it, then there will be something wrong that has to
be rectified.
iii. Extreme data testing – the system is fed with data at the end of the set ranges or testing
data that is at boundaries of the set ranges. i.e Lower bounds and Upper bounds of the set
data to see if the system can accept it.

DOCUMENTATION
Once the new system is fully developed, there is a need to produce documentation for the
system. Documentation is of two types; User documentation and Technical documentation.
a. User documentation (User guide) - A user guide or manual is a documentation that the user
can refer to for learning a new procedure or for dealing with a problem that has arisen.

The guide should cover things such as;-

- How to load / install the software.
- How to perform certain functions such as logging in/out, save files, add/delete/amend
records, search files, sort data, printouts, etc.
- Sample runs to show the outputs.
- Error messages and what to do when things go wrong (troubleshooting).
- Hardware and software requirements.

b. Technical documentation – Is used to explain a system to a specialist, either a programmer

or system analyst. This guide does not need to be as simple as the user guide. The technical
documentation is very important since it might be used by someone new to the project and
there may be no one around who was involved with the original project. This document is
also needed when the system is improved or upgraded by a new a programmer or system
analyst.
The guide should cover things such as;-
- The purpose of the system.
- Detail of any limitations or validations.

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 - List of variables used in program and its purpose.
- System and program flow charts.
- The inputs and output formats.
- Hardware and software requirements
- Sample runs (with test data and results)
- Meanings of error messages.
- File structures

6. IMPLEMENTATION
This is whereby the system has been created and is ready to be used by the company therefore it
has to be put into place. The ways in which the system can be put into use are referred to as
implementation strategies or types of changeovers.

Implementation strategies or Types of changeovers

When a new system need to be implemented in an organization, there are three different ways to
adopt the new system. The Instant/Direct implementation, Phased implementation, Pilot
implementation and Parallel implementation.
i. Parallel running (Parallel Implementation) – Is one of the ways to change from an existing
system to a new one. During the changeover, a new system and an existing system run side by
side. To input the same data and perform the same processes, compare their output and prove
the reliability of the new system. If the new system is accepted, the existing system will stop
running and will be replaced by the new one. i.e. The old and the new system are running
parallel, so that all users can get used to the new system and meanwhile do their work using
the old system.

Advantages of Parallel running

- If the new system fails, the old system is still available as a back-up.
- It is possible to train staff gradually.
- Staff have time to get used to the new system.

Disadvantage of Parallel running

- It is more expensive than Direct changeover since extra staff is needed to run both systems
together.

ii. Phased implementation / Phased changeover – This is whereby part of the system is
implemented in the whole organization meaning that the implementation will happen in
several stages, so after each stage the system is a little nearer to be fully adopted.

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 Advantages of Phased implementation
- If the latest part fails, it is only necessary to go back in the system to the point of failure,
hence failure is not disastrous.
- It is possible to ensure that the system works properly before expanding.

Disadvantage of Phased implementation

- It is more expensive than direct changeover since it is necessary to evaluate each phase
before moving to the next stage.

iii. Pilot changeover/implementation – Here the whole system is implemented in part of the
organization i.e If the company has got 5 branches, then the whole system is implemented in
one of the branches and if it works well it is adopted to the other branches and if not, that
branch revert/return to the old system.
Advantages of Pilot changeover
- If the new system fails, only one part of the company is affected.
- It is possible to train staff in one area only, which is much faster and less costly than
parallel running.
- The costs are also less than parallel running, since only one part of the system is being
used in the pilot.

Disadvantage of Pilot changeover

- It is more expensive than direct changeover, since each pilot scheme need to be evaluated
before the next stage is introduced.

iv.Instant / Direct changeover – There is switching between using the old system and using the
new system happens at one single date, the so called instant changeover of the system.
Everybody starts to use the new system at the same date and the old system will not be used
anymore from that moment on.

Advantages of instant/direct changeover

- The benefits are immediate.

- Costs are reduced; since only one system is used there is no need to pay for two sets of
staff.
- There is less likelihood of a malfunction since the new system will have been fully tested.
- Training is only needed for the new method, not also for the changeover period.
- User documentation does not need to be updated during the implementation process
because it happens in such a short period.

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 - The changeover is at one date and this date is clear for everyone.
- There are no special interfaces needed to be able to get used to the new system because the
new system is all there.
Disadvantages of instant/direct changeover
- This method is disastrous if the new system fails.
- There is no time for extra additions i.e fewer learning opportunities incorporated in the
approach, so quite some preparation is needed to get to the big bang.
- The completeness and validity of the converted data is not completely proved, only in the
pre-phases, but not the whole system situation.
- The operation is complex, one of the main complexities is tuning all activities to happen
on one moment: the big bang!!!
- ‘Fall back’ plans are hard to develop and become more impossible when “the big bang”
has taken place.
- This implementation is vulnerable because of the limited possibilities to maneuver the
system. There is a lot of pressure because the deadline must be met.

SYSTEM EVALUATION – After a project has been implemented it should be reviewed

periodically to make sure that it is still meeting its objectives. A good way of evaluating a
solution is to ask the users of the system. They will be able to tell you if a system does what they
originally wanted or is there any improvement needed? There are always constraints placed on
the system and this might include time, money and the lack of qualified staff involved in the
project. Hence the solution has some limitations placed on it.

7. MAINTENANCE and SUPPORT

The system undergoes various changes once it is delivered to the client. Software development
should be flexible enough to inculcate/instill required changes with time and according to
changing organization’s needs hence the need for maintenance.
 Software may undergo certain changes once it is delivered to the customer.
 Change could happen because of some unexpected input values into the system.
 The changes in the system could directly affect the software operations.
NB: The software should be developed in order to accommodate changes that could happen
during the post (after) implementation period.
Each and every stage of the SDLC carries its own importance and plays a key role in the success
of any software development project.