What are the 5 phases in the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)?

SDLC methodologies are used to create complex applications of varying sizes and scales, such as Agile, Waterfall, and Spiral. Each model follows a particular life cycle in order to ensure success in the software development process.

1. Planning and analysis

This phase is the most fundamental in the SDLC process. Business requirements are compiled and analyzed by a business analyst, domain expert, and project manager. The business analyst interacts with stakeholders to develop the business requirements document. They also write use cases and share this information with the project team. The aim of the requirements analysis is for quality assurance, technical feasibility, and to identify potential risks to address in order for the software to succeed.

2. Designing the product architecture

During the design phase, lead developers and technical architects create the initial high-level design plan for the software and system. This includes the delivery of requirements used to create the Design Document Specification (DDS). This document details database tables to be added, new transactions to be defined, security processes, as well as hardware and system requirements.

3. Developing and coding

In this phase, the database admin creates and imports the necessary data into the database. Programming languages are defined by requirements. Developers create the interface as per the coding guidelines and conduct unit testing. This is an important phase for developers. They need to be open-minded and flexible if any changes are introduced by the business analyst.

4. Testing

Testers test the software against the requirements to make sure that the software is solving the needs addressed and outlined during the planning phase. All tests are conducted as functional testing, including unit testing, integration testing, system testing, acceptance testing, and non-functional testing.

5. Maintenance

In a post-production, live software environment, the system is in maintenance mode. No matter the number of users, the sophistication of the software, and rigorous QA automation testing services, issues will occur. That’s the nature of software with managing data, integration, and security, and real-world usage. Access to knowledgeable, reliable support resources is essential, as is routine maintenance and staying up to date on upgrades.

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3 Ways To Save Time During Software Development Life Cycle

In the software industry, new technology is coming out every single day. It seems that almost as soon as the software is developed, the next big thing is already making its debut. To shorten your software development life cycle without losing quality here are some tips.

1. Communication

With the right communication, software development projects can be kept on track (or maybe even sped up). Instead of tackling problems within the life cycle individually, having the entire team be able to brainstorm together is often the best way to find a lasting solution. Well-timed team meetings within the timeline can streamline major phases and better connect everyone helping them see the big picture, rather than just the piece they are working on.

2. Features

Without the right features, the software will be pointless. However, by cutting back on anything unnecessary, developers can reduce the time wasted. The best way to figure out which features are really necessary is to go to the end-user: your customers. Research and identify at the beginning of the software development projects to gather what your target audience will expect to be developed. If you decide that you want to add more features later on, you can.

3. Automation

At Charter Global, we are firm believers in what effects automation can have on a project. In software development, automating repetitive tasks is a great way to free up your developers’ time to work on more important elements of design. Utilizing automation testing tools allows the transition from one team member to the next to be quicker and smoother.

Unfortunately, there are just some areas of software development that you aren’t able to streamline. The saying “you can’t rush perfection” often applies to many phases throughout the software development life cycle. However, by placing focus on the most important parts and taking away unnecessary features, the software development projects might be able to be trimmed.

Now, all of these methods require a great team with lots of experience. Without a great team, you’ll find that your software is either low quality in nature or was too rushed and lacking the essential elements. The process of finding a well put together team doesn’t have to be tricky. Charter Global provides only the highest quality specialized software developers and automation solutions to help clients speed up their projects without losing quality. When you are ready to talk about your software development, give us a call!

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Reap These 3 Benefits with Open Source Software

In today’s world with rapid advances and expanding demand for fast, efficient and reliable technology for business efficiency and growth, organizations, including start-ups, medium-sized and large organizations are making good use of open source software to increase productivity. The benefits of open source software are enormous. Access to innovation, numerous customization options, flexibility, speed to market, and cost effectiveness are some of the numerous benefits of adopting open source software. Furthermore, an interesting factor of open source software is the community surrounding most open source software packages. Organizations adopting open source software’s hardly get stuck when they need help with fixing certain issues.

Three Benefits of Open Source Software

1. Flexibility

With Open source users have access to the source code and have the option to use in their own way. Hence, branding and unlimited customization options can be achieved using open source tools. Furthermore, enterprises can readily get community help from wide range of developers. Open source code gets better over time since users readily give recommendations for improvement and community members of developers are widely available to improve the code, release newer and better versions.

2. Speed to Market

Launching a new product or service can be very challenging for both small and big organizations. Over the years, open source software’s have proven to speed up software development life cycle, enhance easier and faster acquisition cycles with enhanced innovation and quality. It is no surprising that the mobile device market keeps releasing better and improved versions of their operating systems every six months. The wide varieties of modules, plugins, code snippets easily enable enterprises to solve specific problems quickly.

3. Cost Effectiveness

Launching a new software product can be very expensive (and also time consuming) especially if you are building it from scratch. The lack of licensing and maintenance fees offers a solution that reduces cost. In fact, a lot of businesses are making a switch from proprietary software packages to open source software solutions due to the financial benefits offered by OSS. Other financial burdens that are associated with proprietary software’s such as upgrade costs, administration fees, multi-user fees are not associated with open source software’s.

Hence, open source software’s allow enterprises to allocate more financial resources to other important aspects of their products such as product testing and marketing. In fact, a good number of open source software companies now offer free support, free updates and training which would otherwise be charged for when using proprietary software’s.

Charter Global’s Capabilities in Open Source Software

Charter Global is known for its expertise in building software and providing services using open source technology. We have successfully developed and delivered hundreds of projects to our clients. Among the many services we render at Charter Global, we develop applications and tools using open source.

Requirements Gathering Best Practices for Software Development | Charter Global

The initial phase of the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is called “Requirement Analysis,” also referred to as “Requirement Gathering.” This is perhaps the most vital phase within the SDLC, because it lays the foundation for how the rest of the software project will take place. Who will give these requirements and how, you ask? There are several approaches. It should be noted that this phase is also the most common for making mistakes within the project. By using the following techniques and methodologies, you can avoid getting de-railed by these mistakes.  

Here are the various requirement analyzing techniques that can be used as per the Software Development process:  

• Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) 
• UML Use Cases 
• Flow Chart 
• Data Flow Diagrams
• Role Activity Diagrams
• Work Flow Technique
• GAP Analysis 

Business Process Modeling Notation

This technique is similar to creating process flowcharts, although BPMN has it’s own symbols and elements. Business process modeling and notation is used to create graphs for the business process. These graphs simplify understanding the business process and end to end business flow. BPMN is widely popular as a process improvement methodology.

UML (Unified Model Language)

UML consists of an integrated set of diagrams that are created to specify, visualize, construct and document the artefacts of a software system. UML is a useful technique while creating object-oriented software and working with the software development process.  In UML, graphical notations are used to represent the design of a software project.  UML also help in validating the architectural design of the software.

Flow Chart

A flowchart depicts the sequential flow and control logic of a set of activities that are related. Flowcharts are in different formats such as linear, cross-functional, and top-down.  The flowchart can represent system interactions, data flows, etc. Flow charts are easy to understand and can be used by both the technical and non-technical team members. Flowchart technique helps in showcasing the critical attributes of a process.

Data Flow Diagrams

This technique is used to visually represent systems and processes that are complex and difficult to describe in text. Data flow diagrams represent the flow of information through a process or a system. It also includes the data inputs and outputs, data stores, and the various sub process through which the data moves. DFD describes various entities and their relationships with the help of standardized notations and symbols.  By visualizing all the elements of the system it is easier to identify any shortcomings. These shortcomings are then eliminated in a bid to create a robust solution.

Role Activity Diagrams

Role-activity diagram (RAD) is a role-oriented process model that represents role-activity diagrams.  Role activity diagrams are a high-level view that captures the dynamics and role structure of an organization. Roles are used to grouping together activities into units of responsibilities. Activities are the basic parts of a role. An activity may be either carried out in isolation or it may require coordination with other activities within the role.

GAP Analysis

Gap analysis is a technique which helps to analyses the gaps in performance of a software application to determine whether the business requirements are met or not. It also involves the steps that are to be taken to ensure that all the business requirements are met successfully. Gap denotes the difference between the present state and the target state. Gap analysis is also known as need analysis, need assessment or need-gap analysis.

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