To Be A Developer Or Not To Be

The development life cycle of a project involves three phases:

◆ Project initiation
◆ Project execution
◆ Project deployment

In the project initiation phase, a comprehensive list of tasks to be performed is prepared, and responsibilities, depending upon individual skills, are assigned to team members. I will be discussing the tasks that need to be performed when I proceed with the coding of the application.

In the project execution phase, the development team develops the application.This
phase consists of the following stages:

◆ Analyzing requirements

Analyzing requirements is the process of determining and documenting customer’s needs and constraints. Subsequently, based on these requirements, you create a plan for developing the application. The process of analyzing requirements often starts with a problem statement given by a customer or the customer’s representative. Analysts organize all the information gathered from the customer and analyze the customer’s needs.Finally, they prepare a written description of the customer’s problem and define a possible solution.

◆ Creating high-level design

The second stage in the project execution phase is to develop a high-level design. In the high-level design phase, the external characteristics of the system, such as interfaces, are designed. In addition, in this phase, the operating environment and various subsystems and their input and output are decided. In this stage, features that require user input or approval from the client are documented, and client approval is obtained for the same. These documents include the functional specifications document of the application, which is presented in a simple language to the client. The functional specifications include the description of the databases, forms, and reports that will be included in the application.

◆ Creating low-level design

In the low-level design phase, a detailed design of the software modules, based on the high-level design, is produced. In addition, the team lays down specifications for various software modules of an application. Modules defined in the high-level design phase are used to create a detailed structure of a system. The system contains subsystems, which are partitioned into one or more design units or modules. In the low-level design phase, the flow of the different modules in the project and the interactions between various interfaces are defined.

◆ Construction

In the construction phase, different software modules are built.This phase uses the output of the low-level design to produce software components. During the construction phase, task responsibilities are assigned to team members. Some team members may need to design and develop an interface, while the others may be required to write the code for database connectivity and business rules.

◆ Integration and testing

The integration of different modules and testing are conducted during the integration and testing phase. The quality assurance (QA) team validates whether the functional requirements, defined in the requirements document, are met. The development team also submits a test case report to the QA team so that the application that the development team has created can be tested in various possible scenarios.

◆ User acceptance testing

In the user acceptance phase, based on the predefined acceptance criteria, the client conducts acceptance testing of the project. In this phase, the acceptance criteria include the fulfillment of all the requirements identified during the requirements analysis phase.

The final stage in the project life cycle is the project deployment phase. In this stage,
the application is deployed at the client location, and support is provided to the
client for a specified period. In addition, any bugs identified in the application are
debugged. This phase consists of the following two stages:

◆ Implementation

The system is installed and made operational in a production environment. The implementation phase is initiated after the system has been tested and accepted by the client. This phase continues until the system operates in a production environment.

◆ Operation and maintenance

In the operations and maintenance phase, software is monitored for performance in accordance with user requirements. In addition, the modifications that are required are incorporated in the software. Operations continue as long as a system can effectively adapt to an organization’s needs. However, when modifications or changes are identified, the system may re-enter the planning phase.

Note: This article is a summary from “Microsoft C# Professional Projects” Book [ISBN: 1-931841-30-6]