What is a Custom Software Development Lifecycle?
The custom software development life cycle is the process by which software is conceptualised, developed, and maintained.
There are 5 phases of the software development lifecycle:
- Planning & Recruitment Analysis
- Design
- Implementation & Coding
- Testing
- Deployment & Maintenance
Here we’ll take a look at each phase of the custom software development cycle and explain the role that each aspect plays within this process.
5 Phases of Software Development Lifecycle
Planning & Recruitment Analysis
Naturally, any software development lifecycle will begin with someone who has a business or application idea, as well as the capital to get it started. At Qubisoft, our clients meet with one of our project managers, and together they define the requirements of the software they’re looking to develop. They will then define the requirements of the software they’re looking to build, and developers, project managers, and testers will meet and begin planning the details. Once software development requirements have been analysed and detailed by the team, the project manager will create tickets in a project management system to begin the next phase.
Design
The design phase takes all the defined requirements and begins to plan the actual product. This may include the business rules, the interface layout, colour schemes, what programming language to use, frameworks, system server design, database relationships, software architecture, mobile aspects, supported browsers, and much more. This is a crucial stage within the wider system or software development lifecycle, as you will begin to see the product come to life with the desired applications – and potential issues – laid out before you.
Implementation & Coding
At the point when design elements of the software development cycle are complete, the operations team will set up the physical hardware for the servers, developers will start writing the code, designers will continue developing the user interface, and testers will start to analyse requirements and build test cases for their test plan. Testers imagine the useability of the software to see how well everything works together. Sometimes during the testing phase, they will discover that something doesn’t make sense as first imagined, and help to redevelop fundamental flaws in the early stages of the software application.
Testing
During the testing phase of the development lifecycle, testers will ensure that everything actually works in the intended fashion before releasing the product to market. Just like the name says, testers will test and execute test cases that were developed during the recruitment analysis phase. From there, testers will validate that all necessary requirements have been met, make sure all functionality is working as expected, and find as many bugs as they possibly can before the software is made publicly available. To help, bugs will be placed into a bug tracking system and are then assigned to a developer who fixes the problem and sends it back.
Deployment & Maintenance
During the deployment phase of the software development lifecycle, the operations team integrates the various software components to create a functional solution and make everything scalable for production. During this phase, the operations team sets up links and databases for real-life users. Once these tasks have been completed and the software becomes available on the market for customers to use, the focus of the team shifts to maintaining servers and making sure the system remains healthy and functional. Sometimes bugs can be found by customers, after all, and when that happens, users will contact the company and inform them of the issue, which the support team can then investigate and fix. The software is also regularly updated with new features and requirements.
Getting Started within the Software Development Lifecycle
And there you have the phases of the software development life cycle – a comprehensive process that ensures a robust software product has been constructed for consumers who will find real benefits in its application.
At Qubisoft, we pride ourselves on our customer-focused approach to software solutions. We understand that creating software tailored to your specific needs is far more effective than off-the-shelf software options, and through utilising the full potential of information technology systems, our goal is to help our customers succeed with the development of custom software.
We help our clients make the right decision for ambitions by presenting all options and providing detailed recommendations on how to meet their goals. If you have an idea that you think could benefit by being placed into the 5 phases of the software development lifecycle, please contact us at Qubisoft today to get started.
