Software Development Life Cycles: A Comprehensive Report

This report, prepared by Jharana Adhikari for Techno Dynamic Company Ltd., provides a comprehensive overview of software development life cycles (SDLC). It explores both predictive and adaptive models, specifically examining iterative models like Prototype and Agile, and sequential models like Waterfall and V-Model. The report details the stages within each model, highlighting their advantages and disadvantages. Furthermore, it addresses the risks associated with each model and proposes mitigation strategies, referencing the Spiral model as a framework for risk management. The report emphasizes the importance of understanding these models for effective software development, particularly in the context of a large insurance company expanding into international markets and updating its legacy systems. The role of a systems analyst in managing the project analysis and design stage is also discussed.

Report on Software Development Life Cycles
Submitted by: Jharana
Adhikari Submitted
to:
Mr. Odilia Gosselin
(Manager of Techno Dynamic Company Ltd.)

Executive Summary
To the Manager (Mr. Odilia Gosselin),
Techno Dynamics Company Ltd.
Enfield, London, UK
Respected madam,
In this report, I have included the description of predictive and adaptive software development
models considering at least two iterative and two sequential models and also the risks involved in
each of the models and how the risk can be mitigated /managed in each model by taking a
reference of the spiral model.
Part: 1
Introduction:
The large insurance company predominantly operating in United Kingdom is now offering its
products and services to many of the countries in its drive to grow and become a large
international company. The system that this company is using to keep track of its customer
enquiries about information and purchase of its products and services needs to be updated to
reflect the changes in the way it operates. So, to go towards the international market this
company needs to update its old system and replace it with new system, which provides other
various services. As the customers in other countries will be using wide range of currencies to
purchase the products and the insurance company need to allow for the fluctuating currency
exchange rates in its new system. For this software development task our business consultancy

company has won contract and I was hired as systems analyst to develop new system of
insurance company.
My Role as System Analyst
For the development of this project, I have to work with my colleagues as part of a development
team. In past the insurance company has small development team, which solely developed the
old system so while developing this new system in-house team will also work alongside us for
better understanding of their requirements. I am going to manage the project analysis and design
stage of new system. Firstly, I am going to update the in-house team on new methodologies of
system development used to analyze systems.
1. Description of predictive and adaptive software development models considering at least
two iterative and two sequential models.
Software Development Life Cycle:
The software development life cycle (SDLC) is an outline identifying tasks executed at each
stage in the software development procedure. SDLC is a design tracked by a development team
within the software organization.
It consists of a comprehensive plan describing how to develop, maintain and replace specific
software. The life cycle defines a methodology for improving the quality of software and the
overall development process.
The software development life cycle is also known as the software development process.
(Techopedia, 2019)
Stages of Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC):

Figure 1: SDLC Phase
1. Requirement Phase:
Requirement gathering and analysis is the most important phase in the software
development lifecycle. Business Analyst collects the requirement from the
Customer/Client as per the client’s business needs and documents the requirements in the
Business Requirement Specification (document name varies depends upon the Organization.

Some examples are Customer Requirement Specification (CRS), Business Specification (BS),
etc., and provides the same to Development Team.
2. Analysis Phase:
Once the requirement gathering and analysis is done the next step is to define and
document the product requirements and get them approved by the customer. This is
done through the SRS (Software Requirement Specification) document. SRS consists
of all the product requirements to be designed and developed during the project life
cycle. Key people involved in this phase are Project Manager, Business Analyst and
Senior members of the Team. The outcome of this phase is the Software Requirement
Specification.
3. Design Phase:
It has two steps:
HLD – High-Level Design – It gives the architecture of the software product to be
developed and is done by architects and senior developers
LLD – Low-Level Design – It is done by senior developers. It describes how each and
every feature in the product should work and how every component should work. Here,
only the design will be there and not the code
The outcome from this phase is High-Level Document and Low-Level Document which
works as an input to the next phase
4. Development Phase:
Developers of all levels (seniors, juniors, freshers) involved in this phase. This is the
phase where we start building the software and start writing the code for the product. The
outcome from this phase is Source Code Document (SCD) and the developed product.
5. Testing and Integration.
When the software is ready, it is sent to the testing department where Test team tests it
thoroughly for different defects. They either test the software manually or using
automated testing tools depends on the process defined in STLC (Software Testing Life
Cycle) and ensure that each and every component of the software works fine. Once the
QA makes sure that the software is error-free, it goes to the next stage, which is

Implementation. The outcome of this phase is the Quality Product and the Testing
Artifacts. After the successful test of the application we need to integrate the various
modules like login, signup, upload, claim, services.
6. Deployment & Maintenance Phase:
After successful testing, the product is delivered/deployed to the customer for their use.
Deployment is done by the Deployment/Implementation engineers. Once when the
customers start using the developed system then the actual problems will come up and
needs to be solved from time to time. Fixing the issues found by the customer comes in
the maintenance phase. 100% testing is not possible – because, the way testers test the
product is different from the way customers use the product. Maintenance should be done
as per SLA (Service Level Agreement)
(Rajkumar, August 10, 2019)
P1 Describe two iterative and two sequential software lifecycle models.
Iterative Models:
The iterative models are particular implementation of a software development lifecycle that
focuses on an initial, simplified implementation, which then progressively gains more
complexity and a broader feature set until the final system is complete. In this type of model’s
enhancements can be recognized quickly with implementation throughout each iteration. The
two iterative models which I am going to describe are prototype and agile models.
Agile model Please add sprint, scum. Standup meeting, client’s feedback, backlog,
sprint backlog. Please include the manifesto of agile.
“Agile SDLC model is a combination of iterative and incremental process models with focus on
process adaptability and customer satisfaction by rapid delivery of working software product.
Agile Methods break the product into small incremental builds. These builds are provided in
iterations.” (n.d, 2018) In this model every project is handled differently and existing methods

are tailored to best suit requirements of project. All tasks are divided in small time frames for
delivering specific features in release. It gives priorities to working software and customer
collaboration over comprehensive documentation and contract negotiation. This model also
allows proper response to change than following the project plan and every iteration includes
cross functional team working simultaneously.
Agile model is iterative and team-based way to development. This model gives importance in
rapid delivery of system in complete functional components. All time is time boxed in phases
known as sprints rather than creating tasks and schedules for system development. While starting
each sprint has defined duration although time may vary according to project and also the
running list of deliveries. Sometime if planned work for sprint cannot be completed then work is
reprioritized again and information is used for further sprint planning. When the work is
completed then it is reviewed and evaluated by team and customers. This model relies in high
level of customer involvement throughout development process and it is more especially during
reviewing the system.
There are various phases in agile
model which are illustrated below:
-
• Requirements: The initial
step in this model is to
gather the system
requirements. As this
model doesn’t need the full
documentation to rather
software requirements
meeting is held and all
decision are implemented.
• Design: In this stage with the help of various software designing tools the design of
software is prepared. It can be prepared as the demo version and other important features
can be added further while continuing project. Here also the clients provide their
feedback to system and system is altered according to their need.

• Development: Here the designed demo version is brought into implementation for the
user feedback and in end of this phase system will almost be ready. Customer
collaboration and feedback plays important role in this stage.
• Testing and feedback: In this ending phase the overall system wrapping is done with all
the testing required. After the customer is satisfied with the developed system it is handed
to client.
Advantages Disadvantages
It is very easy, realistic approach that
provides flexibility to developers. And
promotes teamwork and cross training.
There will be high individual dependency as
minimum documentation is generated.
It provides continuous attention to technical
excellence and good design.
As there are strict delivery management
adjustments can be dictated to meet deadlines.
Minimum rules and documentation can be
easily employed.
It is very difficult to implement this model
without overall plan, an agile leader and agile
project manager.
It is best suitable for environment where
requirements may change during development
process.
If customer representative is not clear about
the outcome of project then team can easily
get off the track.
Resource requirements are minimum and only
little planning is required.
During the development transfer or recruiting
of new member in project will be quite
challenging due to lack of documentation.
Sequential models:
In this type of model developer have to follow some rules, regulations and defined orders for
completing the project. Here I am going to describe two sequential model of software
development which are waterfall model and V model.
Waterfall:

The waterfall model is one of the most traditional and commonly used software development
methodologies for software development. This life cycle model is often considered as the classic
style of the software development. This model clarifies the software development process in a
linear sequential flow that means that any phase in the development process begins only if the
earlier phase is completed. This development approach does not define the process to go back to
the previous phase to handle changes in requirements.
As shown in the above figure there are various sequential phases involved in waterfall model
which are explained below: -
• Requirement Gathering and analysis: All the requirements of system which needs to be
developed are collected and then documented in specification document. Specification of
final product are marked and studied here.
• System Design: Here requirement specification gathered from first phase are studied and
then system design is prepared. Thus prepared system design helps developer while
specifying the hardware and system requirements and also helps while defining
architecture of overall system.

• Implementation: By the input from system design system is developed in small units that
are summed up in next phase. Each developed unit are tested for functionality which is
also known as unit testing.
• Integration and Testing: The units developed in previous phase are integrated into system
after each unit testing. The entire system is tested for any faults and failures so that client
does not face error while installing and running the software further.
• Deployment of System: After completion of functional and non-functional testing
product is deployed in customer environment or market release as required.
• Maintenance: Even after the system deployment there may come issues in client
environment so to fix such issues patches are released. For further enhancement in
product further versions are released in maintenance phase. This phase is done for the
entire life of software till its death.
Advantages Disadvantages
Waterfall model is very simple and easy to
understand and use a method that is why it is
really beneficial for the beginner or novice
developer
This model can only be used when very
precise up-front requirements are available
It is easy to manage, because of the rigidity of
the model. Moreover, each phase has specific
deliverables and individual review process
This model is not applicable for maintenance
type of projects
In this model phases are processed and
completed are at once in a time thus it saves a
significant amount of time
The main drawback of this method is that
once an application is in the testing stage, it is
not possible to go back and edit something
This type of development model works more
effectively in the smaller projects where
requirements are very well understood
There is no possibility to produce any
working software until it reaches the last stage
of the cycle
In this model, there is no option to know the
end result of the entire project

The testing is easier as it can be done by
reference to the scenarios defined in the earlier
functional specification
This model is good for a small project but not
ideally suitable for long and ongoing projects
Not ideal for the projects where requirements
are very moderates, and there is great scope
for modification
Application of Waterfall Model
This is the earliest model of software development and is only applicable when the requirements
are very well known, clear and fixed. If there is no proper documentation for user requirements
then it can’t be used. This model further can be used when the product definition is stable and
technology is understood. Only after proper evaluation and reviewing each stage developer
should move to the next step so proper documentation of user requirement should be done. It is
also applicable where there is no chance of customer collaboration in the project and whole task
is done in contract negotiation. This model can be used in projects where there are no ambiguous
requirements. Waterfall model is also suitable for projects that transfer from one platform to
another platform i.e. all the requirements remain the same and there is only change in system
environment or the programming language. This is best suited for the small projects rather than
complex large projects which take more time.
RAD model
The risks involved in each of the models and how the risk can be mitigated /managed
in each model by taking a reference of the spiral model.
Risks in Software Development Life Cycle
“Risk is an expectation of loss, a potential problem that may or may not occur in the future. It is
generally caused due to lack of information, control or time. A possibility of suffering from
loss in software development process is called a software risk. Loss can be anything, increase
in production cost, development of poor-quality software, not being able to complete the
project on time.” (Hilson, 2011) Those types of risks exist on our project or developing system
as the future is uncertain and there are many already unknown and known facts which we

cannot incorporate in project plan. While developing system those risks can be of two types
first one is internal risks which can be controlled by the project manager and second one is
external risks which are beyond the control of project manager. While we use various models
for developing software there are also different risks attached with those specific models.
Below I have provided those various models with risks involved in them while developing our
software: -
• Risks involved in Prototype Model
Although using prototyping model decreases the probability of software development
project failure apart from rewards this model has its own risks. The biggest risk is that
anyone who is interested in the project after facing a working prototype will decide that
the final product is almost ready or not. Another risk involved using prototype model is
that after seeing the early prototype end users demand delivery of actual system and
even if he is unsatisfied with the initial built prototype, he may lose interest in the
project. While using this model in software development process, without proper
management iterative process of prototype refinement can take long durations and
while developer hurry to build prototype it may end up to sub-optimal solutions.
Practically, using this model might increase the complexity of the system as scope of
the system may expand beyond the initial plans on software development. Various
risks can be encountered as this model leads to implementing and then repairing the
way of creating software.
• Risks involved in Agile Model
There are various risks involved in agile model and while developing the software we
have to be aware about those risks before starting our project. Among those various
risks the very first common risk is lacking details in task descriptions. We have to
make sure that all details are present and clear for the team so they know exactly what
they are creating and the best way to write these out are in the form of user stories or
technical requirements. Another risk usually encountered while going through agile
model is priorities or directions change. Sometimes the priorities of the project changes
and thus features that were not originally planned take top priority over the others.