Introduction
The development of systems follows some chronological steps for it to have success and those steps have definition by the standard of development known as system development life cycle (SDLC). It is the standard used to measure the quality of a system as well as the entire process of developing a system. In concern of this paper is to discuss the seven step model and the prototype SDLC model.
The seven step SDLC model
The model has seven steps namely, planning, analysis, design, development, testing, implementation, and maintenance.
Step 1: Planning Phase
The planning phase involves carrying out the investigation into the new system so as to have the knowledge of the requirements. That must entail gathering data from the customers that will use the system. The investigation takes place so as to find out the problems in the current system and the need for a new system. It also tries to find the alternatives for solving the problem.
Step 2: System Analysis
The system analysis phase follows the planning phase. In this case, there is the analyzing of the gathered information from the clients so as to find the features that will have inclusion in the new system (Wang & Wang, 2012). The futures include the functioning of the system, i.e. user requirements and functional requirements. Then step also entails carrying out feasibility study so as to determine if to continue developing the new system or not.
Step 3: System design
The system design phase involves creating a blueprint of the system that will be useful in the development phase. The design entails turning the system specifications of the analysis phase into tangible features of the system by coming up with a low-level design and a high-level design of the system.
Step 4: System development
The system development phase is where the programmers transform the design into an actual system. The development phase is the phase that consumes much time, and it is the one that requires much programming skills, otherwise the subsequent steps will not be successful. If the development phase takes place well then the testing phase will be easy as there will be reduced bugs in ten systems system (Wang & Wang, 2012).
Step 5: system testing
The system testing phase is where there is the testing of the developed system so as to detect bugs using testing tools and then there is the correction of those bugs. Testing ensures that the system functions as required without any bugs and it is one of the most important types in system development life cycle.
Step 6: System implementation
The system implementation phase is the sixth phase of the development process where the system is to come to live. The old system has a replacement with the new system through the parallel process, pilot or direct cutover. The cutover process is where the new system replaces the old system once while the parallel process is where both systems run for some time before the new one take over completely. Then the pilot process of conversion is where the new system has an implementation in bits.
Step 7: System Maintenance
The system maintenance phase is where changes and error corrections take place in the daily operation of the system. Maintenance takes place throughout the system’s working life cycle.
The prototype model
The prototyping model has application when there is no availability of exact information regarding inputs and outputs to the system. It assumes that the development team does not know the requirements at the onset of system development. It is useful when the system is non-existent or when the system under development is large and complex, and there is no manual process to understand the system requirements. The model allows the users to have integration with a working model of the system under development, and this working model is what we refer to as a prototype (Gabbard et al., 2003). The intention of the prototype is to give the user the feel of the actual system.
The prototyping approach to system development entails implementation of a system with limited capabilities. There is building a prototype and then delivering it to the customers for them to evaluate, after which further development takes place. The prototype is crucial to the customers as it helps them to visualize how the actual system will function. The customer involvement helps with the provision of suggestions that are vital in improving the prototype and hence the quality of the entire system (Verma, 2014). It aids in acceptance testing of the final software product. The process of prototype development and evaluation of the prototype by the customer continues till the system development team understands the requirements of the system under development completely. The final prototype contains frozen requirements as the development team now has full knowledge of the user requirements regarding the proposed system. The prototyping approach is useful in gathering requirements as well as in the analysis phase to capture the actual requirements of the system under development (Jones & Richey, 2000).
After the development team freezes the requirements, there is the execution of the remaining phases so as to complete the development of the system. There are two types of prototypes, namely the throwaway prototype and the evolutionary prototype. The throwaway prototype is useful in carrying out the gathering of system requirements, but it does not become part of the final system (Maheshwari & Jain, 2012). Examples include storyboards and screen mockups. The evolutionary prototypes evolve into the final software product through iteratively incorporating the user feedbacks. Prototyping is very useful in obtaining accurate system requirements, and it is also useful for speeding up the development process. However, it may give the customers a false impression that if minor changes take place in the system then it will accommodate their expectations. Also the rush to complete the project may lead to a negative impact on the quality o the final prototype (Maheshwari & Jain, 2012).
Compare and contrast the seven step model and the prototyping model
- In both the seven step model and the prototyping mode, there are requirements analysis and gathering at the onset of the system development process.
- The seven step model delivers the final product to the customers, and it takes customer feedback only at the beginning the development process. Conversely, the prototyping model creates rough working applications and it incorporates user interaction until there is the production of a final product that satisfies the users (Verma, 2014).
- While then seven step model is linear, the prototyping model is non-linear, and it is evolutionary in nature.
- The seven step model has application in the conventional projects with clear user requirements right from the beginning. On the other hand, the prototyping model is useful in projects where the user requirements are not clear from the beginning, and it involves the users in every step of the development.
- With the prototyping model, it is possible to implement any changes the user suggests while hard to incorporate the user suggestions in the seven step model because of its rigidity.
- The prototyping model helps clarify the customer requirements not clear from the start of the project, and this helps reduce ambiguity (Verma, 2014). The seven step model, on the other hand, does go on with the development even through the user requirements may not be clear, and this may lead to ambiguity.
- The prototyping model has increased user communication and this reduces the risks of the development while the lack of constant communication with the user in the seven step model increases risks.
Conclusion
The SDLC models came into existence due to the need for a structural approach toward the development of an improved system (Sabale & Dani, 2012). There are many models suggested for the development among them is the seven step model and the prototyping model as discussed above. The comparative analysis of the two models in the discussion in this paper helps to shed light on the development process of a system.
References
Gabbard, J. et al. (2003). Usability engineering for complex interactive systems development. Proceedings of Human Systems Integration Symposium 2003, Engineering for Usability.
Jones, T. & Richey, R. (2000). Rapid prototyping in action: a developmental study. ETR&D, 48(2), 63-80.
Maheshwari, S. & Jain, D. (2012). A comparative analysis of different types of models in software development life cycle. International journal of advanced research in computer science and software engineering, 2(5).
Sabale, R. & Dani, A. (2012) Comparative study of prototype model for software engineering with system development life cycle. IOSR journal of engineering, 2(7) 21-24.
Verma, S. (2014). Analysis of strengths and weaknesses of SDLC models. International journal of advanced research in Computer Science and management studies, 2(3).
Wang, S. & Wang, H. (2012). ‘Information systems analysis and design.’ Boca Raton: Universal-Publishers. ISBN: 978-1-61233-075-4.
Carolyn Morgan is the author of this paper. A senior editor at MeldaResearch.Com in paper college 24/7. If you need a similar paper you can place your order from.
