How do developers ensure that their applications comply with all specifications? When do they test their code? What is the appropriate time frame for requirements analysis?
One thing known for sure is that if an organization ignores security measures, it exposes itself to risk. While working on an app, plenty of sensitive info is saved in business apps. Thus, such data can be stolen. So, your goal is to guarantee a secure software development life cycle. This post will provide the answers to the essential questions like best practices and stages of SDLC.
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What is the Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC)?
SDLC (Software Development Lifecycle) is a procedure used in software development to define the process of planning, designing, building, testing, and deploying applications.
The Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) guarantees the quality and accuracy of the applications your developers create. The SDLC process aims to deliver high-quality apps that meet customer requirements.
The development of the system must be completed within a predetermined time frame and at a set price.
It is important to note that there are many lifecycle models. For example:
- Waterfall SDLC Model
- Iterative SDLC Model
- Spiral SDLC Model
- V-Shaped SDLC Model
- Agile SDLC Model
- Big Band SDLC Model
- Rapid App Development Model
- Software Prototype Model
Any model regulates only the implementation of the software development life cycle stages, but not the life cycle itself, which remains unchanged.
It is possible to address safety issues in the SDLC pipeline. It is the way to minimize the threat of discovering safety problems in your software. SDLC security aims not to fully get rid of traditional safety examinations but rather add security in the scope of developer duties and create safe apps from the outset.
Why Does Software Lifecycle Matter?
Here are the undeniable reasons why SDLC is vital to building software:
- It provides the basis for the traditional set of projects and deliverables.
- It is the best method of monitoring and administering a project.
- It increases the visibility of work preparation for all stakeholders, thereby helping in the growth process.
- It helps to speed up the development.
- It improves customer relationships.
This gives you the opportunity to reduce project risk, as well as project management planning overhead.
So, the software life cycle consists of six main stages that any software development should pass. Follow these stages of SDLC:
- Collection & in-depth analysis of requirements for the software product.
- Development of documentation for all product requirements.
- Product design development.
- Software development.
- Various tests and examinations.
- Software maintenance and support.
Before you start, keep in mind that Immersing the team in the business context is an important phase of the software development cycle. That is the starting point, which is often ignored. The client must understand that he or she is contributing time and resources at this stage for a reason. It is vital for them that the project team plunges into the details of the business and understands more thoroughly the market and target audience. How should they make it truly useful?
Many development companies come across the fact that clients, primarily startups, come up with a proposal to develop a product but initially do not plan to support it. They don’t set aside the time and budget for the development process. As a result, a business may face a situation where all funds are spent on development, but no funds are left for support or PR of the project.
Developers do not always have an idea about the software life cycle. Some of them may think, “Well, I have written the code, and I don’t care about what’s going to happen to the product next.” In fact, outsourced programmers should always be ready for constant interaction with clients to support and maintain the developed solutions.
Intellisoft has experience in long-term partnerships with many large companies. We believe that strong partnerships are essential in all phases of work.
Stages of Secure Software Development Life Cycle
Stage 1: Analysis and Planning
Before you can develop a project or create a function for it, you first need to know what you’re going to build. What features should the project have? What functions should it not have?
While many people view software development as simple coding, it’s actually much more than just typing code. You’ll need to define the scope and boundaries of the project before you start writing code. Here you will understand what you are going to build and why.
During the Review and Planning phase, you’ll work with all project stakeholders—from executives to other developers and customers—to ensure that appropriate project specifications are developed. You need to make sure that the project meets not only the expectations of customers but also the goals of your own business.
Stage 2: Develop documentation for all product requirements
Definition of prerequisites: After the completion of the requirements analysis, the next step will be to document the application specifications and accept them by the project stakeholders. This can be achieved through an “SRS” document – a software requirements specification that covers all product elements that must be created and developed over the life cycle.
On the one hand, documentation is unnecessary bureaucracy. But in some cases, it is this stage and clearly documented requirements that protect the customer and developers from unpleasant situations and claims.
At this stage:
- contracts are signed;
- TK is drawn up;
- a plan and schedule of work are prescribed.
Stage 3: Design
So, you have a plan for what you want to build. Now you have to ask yourself: How will we fulfill this plan? How are we going to create the features we have identified?
The next stage of the secure development lifecycle is the design phase. This is where you’ll decide how the features should be implemented—working with all stakeholders to ensure that your plans meet their needs.
At the same stage, a stack of necessary technologies and tools is selected.
Stage 4: Development
Coding or Implementation: At this point in the SDLC, precise development begins, and the program is assembled. The implementation of the design starts with the script code.
Once you’ve planned and designed, you’re ready to start developing. Here you will open a terminal and a text editor to start working on the project. You’re spending a lot of time creating all the features you’ve agreed on in the previous discussions.
All features, modules, functionality, interface, etc., are developed at this stage. The result of the end of this stage is a ready-made working software product.
It is at this stage that conflicts may arise between the customer and the developer due to:
Development isn’t just about writing code. At this point, you need to meet with other developers to distribute the work and discuss who is best suited to solve specific problems. Chances are you’ll develop a process to help you write code effectively in your team.
Stage 5: Testing
Once the code is generated, it is checked against the specifications to ensure that the products meet the needs identified and anticipated in the requirements phase. In this phase, you run several tests, such as unit testing, integration testing, system testing, and approval testing.
Testing can be of different types: from simple automated to complex manual. The purpose of any testing is to find possible errors in the program that need to be fixed before the release of the software. It is important that the product comes out “in hand” with a minimum number of bugs, so a lot of attention is paid to testing.
Stage 6: Software Commissioning and Support
If the product is developed, tested, if bugs are fixed, then it goes to the last stage – release.
Here you will transfer the software you have developed from the test environment to the production environment. For example, with a web application, you can move your code to a working web server that hosts your website; With the game, you can publish your code in the game store.
Thereafter, based on the evaluation, the software is provided as it is or with suggested additions in the elements section. After the program is deployed, support begins.
The release can be different:
- phased, when the software is released to a limited number of users;
- large-scale, when the software is available to everyone and actively advertised.
It does not matter how the release of the software occurs, it is important to watch it very closely at first.
When the customer begins to use the developed software, real problems arise. At this point, staff need to troubleshoot issues, introduce new features, and expand functionality as needed. Thus, the method by which care of the finished product is required is known as maintenance.
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What Are SDLC Best Practices as of Today?
You can leave SDLC to your internal team. This way, you obtain complete control over the entire process and infrastructure. However, recruiting new engineers or re-training the existing staff may require plenty of time and money.
There is another way to obtain staff with resilience knowledge of the security system development life cycle. You can partially or fully outsource the team responsible for SDLC. Let’s look at the first option. Then, such experts will be able to guarantee safety at every development phase: from secure architecture design to ongoing security control and maintenance.
At the same time, you will still waste time on risk management and QA. Besides, you may have to dedicate some time to an in-depth vendor audit.
One more security life cycle model is outsourcing the entire team of professionals. In this scenario, the company of your choice assumes all the obligations for the implementation of SDLC security best practices. The vendor is responsible for HRM processes, interaction, asset management, and more. They are also responsible for the end-product outcomes like quality and functionality. Outsourced teams take care of all phases of SDLC.
To delegate secure lifecycle management to a trusted team, you can turn to Intellisoft. We have experts in various fields of software development, and they know how to guarantee the effectiveness of secure development models.
Conclusion
The software life cycle is the same for all IT projects – there is no getting away from it. The only thing is that depending on the selected development models, more or less attention will be paid to certain stages of the cycle itself.
Every organization is different by essence, especially when it comes to small businesses and start-ups. We hope that our post assisted with shedding light on various software development life cycle stages and deciding on the perfect match for you.
Whatever you choose, make sure that the specific SDLC model is right for your industry and business objectives. Intellisoft can back your choice with a team of professional app developers. If you contact us now, we’ll discuss the optimum approach to hitting your targets.
