System Development Life Cycle
Waterfall Model
Waterfall model approach in systems development is a much better approach to larger projects
which are not expected to change much throughout the duration of the project. Using this approach on
a project that is better suited for the Agile method will more than likely result in high costs due to work
needing to be redone numerous times (Bhatnagar, 2013). Although the SDLC model is a much better fit
for safety-critical products, the ever-changing dynamics of a modern project will more-than-likely result
in chaos.
Waterfall model is easy to understand and has a linear sequential flow. In this model, phases
must be completed to go for the next phase and there should not be no overlapping of phases. The
waterfall model is a step-by-step process. To get success in the project, the waterfall model can be used
in software engineering. The model is divided into different steps and is a sequential process (Ozturk,
2013). “Different phases in waterfall model are requirement analysis. System design, implementation,
testing, deployment, and maintenance” (SDLC - Waterfall Model, n.d.). Each of these steps has its own
importance and also has equal importance within in the project life cycle.
In the first phase of the model i.e. requirement analysis the project requirements are gathered
which are needed for the project development and the documentation is to be specific. In the system
design phase, second phase, the requirements gathered form the phase one are considered and the
design of the system is prepared. This helps in requiring the software and hardware in the complete
system architecture (Bhatnagar, 2013). The third phase, implementation, the system is developed in
smaller units which are integrated in next phase. In integration and testing phase, the smaller units
established in implementation are combined to system after each unit testing is performed. The system
defaults and failures are tested once the integration is completed. The product developed will be
installed into the environment of the customer, if the functional and non-functional testing is achieved.
In the maintenance step, the patches are used to fix defects which are identified in the client environment.
Thus the maintenance helps to deliver a quality product to the customers (Anonymous, n.d.).
There are numerous SDLC approaches that can be used by the software developers to be used
depending on internal and external factors. This model is used in some situation where the
documentation is to be appropriate, technology is not dynamic, no unclear requirements and for short
term project and additionally, it can be used in larger projects (Ozturk, 2013, pg. no: 799).
Advantages of the Waterfall Model:
Easy to understand
All the stages are clearly defined
Tasks can be arranged easily
The process and results are well documented
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