Why is the testing stage vital to a successful SDLC?
Discussion Science SDLC Testing Stage
In CS 250, you learned about the various stages of the software development life cycle (SDLC): planning, defining, designing, building, testing, and deployment. For this assignment, we will focus specifically on the role of testing in the SDLC.
Prompt
In this first journal assignment, you will explore the role of testing in the SDLC. You will explain the role and importance of testing in the SDLC and describe any exceptions in which the testing stage would occur earlier or later than it typically does in the life cycle. Address the following questions:
What occurs during the testing stage of the SDLC?
Why is the testing stage vital to a successful SDLC?
Are there any exceptions in which the testing stage would occur earlier or later than it typically does in the SDLC? Explain.
In systems engineering, information systems and software engineering, the systems development life cycle (SDLC), also referred to as the application development life-cycle, is a process for planning, creating, testing, and deploying an information system.[1] The systems development life cycle concept applies to a range of hardware and software configurations, as a system can be composed of hardware only, software only, or a combination of both.[2] There are usually six stages in this cycle: requirement analysis, design, development and testing, implementation, documentation, and evaluation.
A systems development life cycle is composed of a number of clearly defined and distinct work phases which are used by systems engineers and systems developers to plan for, design, build, test, and deliver information systems. Like anything that is manufactured on an assembly line, an SDLC aims to produce high-quality systems that meet or exceed customer expectations, based on customer requirements, by delivering systems which move through each clearly defined phase, within scheduled time frames and cost estimates.[3] Computer systems are complex and often (especially with the recent rise of service-oriented architecture) link multiple traditional systems potentially supplied by different software vendors. To manage this level of complexity, a number of SDLC models or methodologies have been created, such as waterfall, spiral, Agile software development, rapid prototyping, incremental, and synchronize and stabilize.[4]
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SDLC can be described along a spectrum of agile to iterative to sequential methodologies. Agile methodologies, such as XP and Scrum, focus on lightweight processes which allow for rapid changes (without necessarily following the pattern of SDLC approach) along the development cycle.[5] Iterative methodologies, such as Rational Unified Process and dynamic systems development method, focus on limited project scope and expanding or improving products by multiple iterations. Sequential or big-design-up-front (BDUF) models, such as waterfall, focus on complete and correct planning to guide large projects and risks to successful and predictable results.[citation needed] Other models, such as anamorphic development, tend to focus on a form of development that is guided by project scope and adaptive iterations of feature development.
In project management a project can be defined both with a project life cycle (PLC) and an SDLC, during which slightly different activities occur. According to Taylor (2004), “the project life cycle encompasses all the activities of the project, while the systems development life cycle focuses on realizing the product requirements”.[6]
The SDLC is not a methodology per se, but rather a description of the phases in the life cycle of a software application. In a broad sense, these phases are,:investigation, analysis, design, build, test, implement, and maintenance and support. All software development methodologies follow the SDLC phases but the method of doing that varies vastly between methodologies. In the Scrum framework,[7] for example, one could say a single user story goes through all the phases of the SDLC within a single two-week sprint. Contrast this to the waterfall methodology, as another example, where every business requirement (recorded in the analysis phase of the SDLC in a document called the Business Requirements Specification)[citation needed] is translated into feature/functional descriptions (recorded in the design phase in a document called the Functional Specification) which are then all built in one go as a collection of solution features typically over a period of three to nine months, or more.[citation needed] These methodologies are different approaches, yet they both contain the SDLC phases in which a requirement is born, then travels through the life cycle phases ending in the final phase of maintenance and support, after-which the whole life cycle typically starts again for a subsequent version of the software application.
