Approaches to System Development

• Systems development life cycle (SDLC)

Provides overall framework for managing system development process

• Two main approaches to SDLC

Traditional approach: structured systems development and information engineering
Object-oriented approach: object technologies requires different approach to analysis, design, and programming

• All projects use some variation of SDLC

Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC)

Systems development project
Planned undertaking with fixed beginning and end
Produces desired result or product
Can be a large job of thousands of hours of effort or a small one month project


Successful development project:
Provides a detailed plan to follow
Organized, methodical sequence of tasks and activities
Produces reliable, robust, and efficient system


Phases of the Systems Development Lifecycle (SDLC)

• Project planning: initiate, ensure feasibility, plan schedule, obtain approval for project
• Analysis: understand business needs and processing requirements
• Design: define solution system based on requirements and analysis decisions
• Implementation: construction, testing, user training, and installation of new system
• Support: keep system running and improve

Information System Development Phases



SDLC and problem-solving

Similar to problem-solving approach

• Organization recognizes problem (Project Planning)
• Project team investigates, understands problem and solution requirements (Analysis)
• Solution is specified in detail (Design)
• System that solves problem built and installed (Implementation)
• System used, maintained, and enhanced to continue to provide intended benefits (Support)

Planning Phase of SDLC

• Define business problem and scope
• Produce detailed project schedule
• Confirm project feasibility :Economic, organizational, technical, resource, and schedule
• Staff the project (resource management)
• Launch project official anno

Analysis Phase of SDLC

• Gather information to learn problem domain
• Define system requirements
• Build prototypes for discovery of requirements
• Prioritize requirements
• Generate and evaluate alternatives
• Review recommendations with management

Design Phase of SDLC

• Design and integrate the network
• Design the application architecture
• Design the user interfaces
• Design the system interfaces
• Design and integrate the database
• Prototype for design details
• Design and integrate system controls

Implementation Phase of SDLC

• Construct software components
• Verify and test
• Convert data
• Train users and document the system
• Install the system

Support Phase of SDLC

• Maintain system: Small patches, repairs, and updates
• Enhance system: Small upgrades or enhancements to expand system capabilitiesLarger enhancements may require separate development project
• Support users: Help desk and/or support team