OVERVIEW
Over the years of my Project Management, I have followed a structured process called the
Standard Development Life Cycle or I will refer to it as the SDLC. Most corporations, small and
large, follow the same process. They may call it something else, having their own twist on it
but, it is basically the same thought process. It may also be referred to as the System
Development Life Cycle but I feel this is a Standard that should be followed.
Here is my view of the SDLC.
This methodology is the most important procedure you should follow when trying to implement
any highly visible project or software into your business. It will not only make the project a
successful one but will also save your business thousands of dollars. Some might see this as
unnecessary overhead but what I am about to explain, the fact is, this is mandatory overhead.
The biggest objection is the upfront cost and time this will take to put together. A request will
be submitted to the department for a project to be developed. Usually one with an
implementation date already defined, not even considering the time to include the SDLC. "That
will only extend the time and the cost of the project." one might say. On the contrary, this will
save you time and money.
So, you already have the implementation date defined. This is not really a bad thing. What can
be bad is the Scope of the project not allowing or defining enough Time or the Resources to
install this Project. Time, Scope, and Resources. What every project is about. Project
Management in detail is another article on to itself, but we’ll leave that to another day.
The SDLC has 8 major phases.
Please click on each Phases link or tab. I have benefits and examples of each phase of the
project.
"So, how will the SDLC save you thousands of dollars?" You ask. What a great question. This
is best answered by mentioning things that are not thought about when creating a Project.
A lot of times development is started before the scope is really defined? Re-development is
very costly. Code may never be used because the scope was not defined or really ever
understood. All that development time, did cost money.
Maybe that code can be tweaked later. Sure it can, but what if that change causes another
problem in the whole process. No problem, we can just report that problem to the help desk
and another task can be started to fix this little hole. Having a task originally analyzed before
being developed will same you money in your future Help Desk Calls. IT will not become one.
Now you have savings in your help desk area.
What if it was not even feasible to continue on with the project? You may have already
developed processes that will never return the cost that you have invested. So you decide to
cancel the whole project. Finding this out in the Feasibility Phase will save you untold amounts
of money. Saving you the analysis, design and development costs.
Return on investment. This is one of most important factors in the Feasibility Phase. I don’t
care how small the task or project may be. Why develop something that will cost you more
than you will save? A real tough lesson to learn and even tougher to explain to upper
management. We want to cut costs not create them.
Add just these few examples up and you can see thousands of dollars are not out of the
question of being saved. There are other examples as you check out the individual links for the
SDLC Phases.
Standard Development Life Cycle
Bill Gladwin
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Standard Procedures
Search with Stan
Please Visit
May I also suggest you check out
www.VirtualProjectLeader.net or www.VirtualBusinessAnalyst.net.
See how you'll be able to support the Business Requirements.
www.VirtualProjectLeader.net or www.VirtualBusinessAnalyst.net.
See how you'll be able to support the Business Requirements.
Mar. 2013