Lesson 2 of 11

The systems development life cycle

The systems development life cycle (SDLC) is the roadmap for any system project, from first spotting the problem until the system runs and evolves. It's a “cycle” because maintenance and improvement lead back to planning.

1 · Planning	Define the problem, goals and scope; study feasibility.
2 · Analysis	Gather requirements, understand the current situation and model it.
3 · Design	Design the database, screens and architecture.
4 · Implementation	Code and build the system.
5 · Testing	Make sure it works and meets the requirements.
6 · Deployment & maintenance	Launch, support and improve it.

Watch outThe later you find a mistake, the more it costs to fix. Changing a requirement during analysis means editing a document; after launch it can mean recoding, retesting and retraining.