The Systems Development Life Cycle: Overview

The system development life cycle:

• Develop an IT plan to meet the strategic needs of the organization
• Conduct a feasibility study of a new system and develop a project plan
• Identify the requirements of the system
• Design each portion of the system
• Create and test the components of the system
• Support the system until it is no longer in use

The process of creating an information system is referred to as the systems development life cycle (SDLC). The first step in the SDLC, is to develop an IT plan to meet the strategic needs of the organization. During the scoping phase, a feasibility study is conducted to determine whether the new system is feasible. The next phase is the analysis phase. During this phase, the requirements of the information system are clearly defined. Once the analysis phase has determined what the system will do, the design phase determines how the system will work. The implementation phase consists of creating all the components of the system, and testing the system to ensure each component works as it should. When the system is finished and is in place, the final step is to provide support for the system until it is no longer in use.