The SDLC Model

SDLC or Systems Development Life Cycle is an acknowledged software development model that involves different stages. In the UK, this process is known as the “Systems Life Cycle” or the SLC. Whatever the name is, it composes different stages that start with project planning and a feasibility study. Billion dollar companies will emphasize planning to make sure their software will be useful and worth the money that will be invested.

The actual coding of the system is just a part of the development process. After the needs have been established and coding has been done, the program will still experience a battery of testing. In this stage, bugs are beings sought out to “smoothen” the program. Once released, the software still has to go through different kinds of maintenance. Implementation and monitoring has become the central stage of this model since it will be given out for public use. Everyone will technically exploit all the possibilities of the system while some will even try to destroy the program right in its core. Maintenance and software support should always be there.

SDLC is regarded as one of the first models of software development. It’s a model that’s simple and the different stages could be easily seen. However, some have seen it to be impractical since software will always be changing by meeting the demands of different consumers. Thus, in each of the updates, the program will have to go through another series of analysis and it will take time before an actual update is released for public use. Even though the obvious need for change is already there, analysis will basically halt any further changes. If a company is not fast enough to respond to the need of the public, they will be left out because of this development model.

That’s why other development plans have been created to meet the demands of a specific company. Depending on their philosophy in implementing software, they will find a specific model perfect for their thoughts in how software will be put out in use.

The Prototype Model

The Prototype Model was presented in 1970 by Winston W. Royce. This type of development model is quite revolutionary since the development of the software is not dependent on planning but it focuses on the objective or the purpose of the software. On that account, different prototypes are created until reasonable software has been created. Prototype model uses a lot of user feedbacks, making sure that software’s created will cater to the needs of the customer.  This model is one of the iterative software development models that are now used extensively by different software development companies.

Rapid Application Development Model

On the other hand, the Rapid Application Development Model takes on a very different approach in getting things done. Instead of following the stages, iterative development is emphasized. The only two stages that are sought to be independent of the stages are the planning and deployment. Other stages, such as documentation, analysis and coding are done altogether.

Each group will be consulting with one another constantly to make sure the demands of the group are met. Since the development group will work hand in hand with analysis and documentation, a prototype will be created faster. If something is not there, it will just have to work again until gets the job done. Studies have shown that people don’t usually get it the first time but it will be done after learning its flaws. Aside from coding, software development kits (SDK) are used to minimize the need of extensive coding which will takes days to finish. With SDK, it could just take hours to develop the same component.
However, there are those that don’t support this idea since the model could be a whirlwind process without any end in sight.

Component Assembly model

Because of the technological advancement today, the component assembly model may just be the perfect model to adapt to various available technologies. This model starts with the creation of different “parts” or in this case, libraries. When the standard implementation process is observed, each component is then pulled out to be used in the process. Since a library of processes is already there, it eliminates the need to create a whole new prototype. If one process goes wrong, that component will just have to be changed.

This process is great for today’s environment since there are so many libraries out there, a software company can just pull out different components and create one software according to what they actually need. If there are various components to software, it’s easier to point out the flaw and eventually fix the problem. There may be other models that you can choose from but these are essentially the basics in software development models. For bigger companies with formal communications, SDLC and the Component Assembly works for them while smaller companies could consider the RAD or the Prototype Model to implement specific software. But that barrier is now removed and more companies are using different models disregarding the fact if they are a big or small company.

There are other development models established and observed today. However, these models are usually based on the four development models mentioned or a combination of some of them.