Most of our clients typically have zilch knowledge about software. Words like PHP, Java, .Net, SDLC, are all Greek to them. So we have started a series dedicated specially to our clients wherein we will explain the basic concepts to them in the layman’s language. This will help our clients understand better that what all can Software Development Outsourcing do for them. So here is our first lesson, about Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC):
SDLC is basically a process based approach to software development. This framework describes the activities performed and tasks executed at each stage during software development. The implementation of SDLC determines the quality of software that you will eventually get.
You may understand that Software is the ultimate goal and SDLC is the path to take to achieve the goal. And in this case, the different paths can lead to the same goal. So there are various models of SDLC which will all ultimately help you develop software.
There are various models of SDLC. We are describing the most popular one which is used in 70% of the offshore software application development scenarios- The Waterfall Model:
This model is called so as in this the finishing of first step naturally leads to beginning of the second step and the finishing of second leads to the third and so on. The work-flow is downward like a waterfall. And there is no scope of going back to the first step if you are on the third step, unless you start all over again – so it is a strictly downward work flow. It has the following steps:
1. Capture Requirements – In this the basic information is collected about how the software should perform, behave, how its interface should be, what should be its functions etc.
2. Design – Get the data structures, build the software architecture figure out the algorithmic details, and create the interface representations.
3. Construction – Get the source code and put your database in place.
4. Testing – Finally perform the testing of the software that you have obtained from offshore web development vendor. Check its functionality and its security for viruses and bugs, before it is released.
In the next series, we shall take up another model of SDLC, and explain it in the layman’s language!