System development life cycle

The report contains the brief overview of the system development life cycle followed in Shriv Commedia Solutions Pvt Ltd. The project includes the adequate technical details about the different phases including the practical example of Bank management system developed by SCMS for its client Corporate Bank. The methodology followed by SCMS for scheduling the project (using Gantt chart) and the software used in assisting the planning process are described in report. Various tests including the feasibility test conducted by system analyst and technical tests conducted by developer are mentioned with the procedure followed during the testing process. The possible threats which may result to the loss of information have been described in the report and the recommendations (solutions) to avoid such threats are also discussed.

     In general, the report includes the procedure of the information system development in SCMS along with the practical description of the SDLC process, Gantt chart, testing process and the threats for the information system (with recommendations). Relevant examples are included wherever felt necessary to facilitate the reader for easy understanding of the report.

Shriv Commedia Solutions Pvt ltd (SCMS) is a dedicated software based company which focuses in areas like Software development, Web designing, Multimedia services, Outsourcing, E-commerce, Technical writing, Search engine optimization and testing solutions, providing the services to the clients ranging from public to private sector.

Shriv Commedia Solutions Pvt Ltd has been operating under the software development atmosphere since 2001. It has its head office located in India and the branches in UK, Canada and US, all of them focusing on finest, cost-effective and timely solutions. With the main pillars, mission, vision and values, SCMS has been rapidly progressing in today’s competitive IT world. It has been successful in providing the innovative and perfect solutions to its clients with the client based approach.

     From the list of systems developed by SCMS we have decided to discuss the Bank management system developed for ‘corporate bank’ by SCMS. Corporate bank was established on 1906 and is one of the imperative clients of SCMS since 2004. The system developed by SCMS for Corporate bank is designed in the way to achieve the maximum security for the databases used to store the details about all the banking transactions as well as the account details of the costumers. It is also capable of recording the data of the bank employees. For example, Employee payroll records, details of employee and the attendance of employee.

The system developed is able to work with all, internet, intranet as well as extranet. It was also optimized to work with different operating system and was capable to be upgraded along with the introduction of the new technology. Taking the same banking management system developed by SCMS into consideration, each of the development methodology is discussed further in the project.

Information System Model in Shriv ComMedia Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

Information System Model states an elementary conceptual outline for the major components and activities of information system. In Shriv Commedia Solution Pvt. Ltd, information system depends on the resource of people, software, hardware, data and networks to perform input, processing, output and storage and control activities that converts data resource into information products.

Information system Model of Shriv ComMedia Solutions Pvt. Ltd. illustrates that information system consists of 5 major Components:

1. PEOPLE RESOURCES: In SCMS people (end users and IS specialists) are necessary for the function of all information system.

2. SOFTWARE RESOURCES: it includes all sets of information processing instructions

3. HARDWARE RESOURCES: – It comprises of all the physical materials and devices used in information processing.

Machines: – All physical devices: Computers, peripherals and telecommunication networks.

Media: – all tangible objects in which data is recorded

Hardware resource in SCMS

4. DATA RESOURCE:- Data are raw facts and figures typically about physical phenomena or business transaction. Data constitutes a valuable organizational resource. SCMS process data into information and organize it for future use. In SCMS data resource of information system are typically organized into

5. NETWORK RESOURCE: – It includes the means of communication within the organization or with the outside world like internet, intranet by which data or information can be transferred between the different departments of the organization. Telecommunication network like internet, intranet and extranet have become essential for the organizations. Network resources includes

System Development Lifecycle generally consists of the five phases including Planning, Analysis, design, implementation and support. All the five phases are arranged together and used to build the information system. Followings are some of the SDLC model used by SCMS depending on the software’s requirement:

• Waterfall Model
• Prototype Model
• Iterative Model
• Spiral Model
• Agile software Development Model
• RAD Model

     In Shriv Commedia Solutions (SCMS) they first take the user requirements and decide which type of models should be followed for the development of the system. The second step will be to organize the activities by grouping them into larger categories called phases. In this way the phases are formed into the loop with support phase pointing to the planning phase whenever there is the necessity to change in the information system. The change is determined by the users want of information in different format, release of new version, or due to the hardware becoming obsolete. When the changes occur the planning phase begins again and some part of whole of the system is modified and the system development lifecycle starts again.

When corporate Bank offered the project of developing ‘Bank management System’ to Shriv Commedia Solutions, Spiral Model was followed there in order to develop Bank Management System. They selected spiral Model since it provides early indication of undefeatable risks and users can be closely tied to all lifecycle steps. SCMS arranges its system development process in following order.

1. Planning Phase:-

The client requests are reviewed by the steering committee (decision making body) which consists of 7-8 people in SCMS including vice president, managers and non-managerial employees. During this phase:

• Project ideas are collected and reviewed
• Project ideas are prioritized
• Allocate resources
• Project Development team is formed

2. Analysis Phase:-

• Gather Customer requirements: Following techniques are used by SCMS for collecting the requirements from the customers:
• Interviews
• Questionnaires
• Client Documents
• Scenarios
• Rapid Prototypes
• Select and justify a project (feasibility test)
• Submit and approve the request for proposal
• Get the project team in place
• Prepare the requirements documents
• Conduct project kick-off meeting
• Develop Statement of Scope
• WBS Development:
• Conduct ‘work break down Structure’ meeting
• Build work break down Structure
• Update WBS in project plan
• Outline project plan
• Assign resources to project plan tasks
• Create entity relationship diagram (ERD)
• Create Data Flow Diagram (DFD)
• Define data dictionary
• Perform object-oriented analysis

3. Design phase:-

• Acquire hardware and software needed for the project
• Design data model
• Write functional specifications
• Design prototypes
• Write detailed design specifications
• Write documentation plan
• Write beta test plan
• Write customer support plan
• Write training plan
• Write risk management plan

4. Implementation phase:-

• Development AND Unit Testing of Module(1-n)
• Testing & Integration
• Software Quality Assurance (SQA)
• System test
• Track defects
• Regression test
• Manage Release and Change
• Configuration management
• New full releases
• Maintenance releases
• Installing and testing of new system
• Install beta test system
• Conduct beta tests
• Track defects and report to customer support
• Gather requirements for customizations
• Implement software
• Execute customer acceptance test procedure
• Cutover development to production
• Training
• Develop training specification for end users, help desk support staff
• Identify training delivery methodology i.e. computer based, classroom
• Develop training materials
• Develop training delivery mechanism

5. Support:-

• Post implementation system review:-
• Document lessons learned
• Distribute to team members
• Create software maintenance team
• Identify errors and enhancement
• Monitor the performance of system

• Shriv ComMedia Solutions Pvt. Ltd. Followed the same method discussed above for accomplishing the project offered by the Corporate Bank

  Following steps are used in SCMS to create a Gantt chart:-

  1. All activities or task are listed in plan

  They find out the earliest possible date of all the tasks or activities of project and estimate the length of time it will take and check whether it is parallel or sequential. If the task is sequential they show the stages on which it depends.

  They use the X axis of the graph paper for the date, week or months required for the completion of the project and Y axis to itemize the tasks in its order

  2. Plotting the tasks onto the plan

  They list the tasks in Y axis on the left hand side of the page and to draw up a rough first draft of the Gantt chart, they plot each task on the plan showing it starting on the earliest possible date. They draw each task as a horizontal bar with the length of the bar being the length of the time the task will take. Above each task bar they mark the estimated time taken to complete the task.

  3. Schedule the tasks

  Now they redraw the Gantt chart on a fresh sheet to schedule actions and tasks. They schedule these in such a way that sequential actions are carried out in the desired sequence e.g. dig holes then lay the foundation and then start construction. They also ensure that these dependent activities do not start until the activities they depend on have been totally completed

  They try to schedule parallel task so that they do not interfere the sequential action on the critical path. While scheduling they make sure that they are making the best use of time and resource available to them.

  Once their Gantt chart is drawn one can see how long it will take to complete the project.

  Assessment process begins as soon as the requests are received in SCMS. They perform the various feasibility evaluations in order to know how suitable the development of a system will be to the company. The feasibility test process conducted by SCMS for the project request of Corporate Bank consisted 3 phases:

  The feasibility tests performed by system analyst of SCMS were:

  1. Operational Feasibility:

  Operational feasibility was based on the following parameters:

  • The effectiveness of the proposed system in corporate bank.
  • Impact of new system in existing system
  • User preferences (collected from interview)
  • Requirements of the new system

  2. Schedule feasibility:

  Following parameters were responsible for schedule feasibility

  • The deadline of the project (either reasonable or not)
  • Estimated time for project completion

  3. Technical feasibility:

  Following things were considered during technical feasibility:

  • Hardware and software required for project
  • Availability of the people to deliver and support the proposed system

  4. Economic feasibility:

  In SCMS the economic feasibility test was conducted by system analyst with the assistance of financial analyst. Following were the parameters looked upon for economic feasibility:

  • Benefits of the proposed system to the corporate bank
  • Cost-Benefit relation regarding the system use

  After the feasibility test was conducted the system analyst submitted the feasibility report to the steering committee recommending the further study (detailed analysis) of the corporate bank. Feasibility report in case of SCMS was a written document submitted with the details of the existing system, benefits of new system and recommendation.

  The implementation phase in SCMS consists of four major phases:

  1. Development of the program
  2. Testing of the new system
  3. Train the users
  4. Convert to new system

  SCMS generally uses two methods for the development of the program.

  • Outsourcing the program
  • Developing the program

  SCMS sometimes outsource the software required for them but most of the times the development process is favoured. During the preparation of the software for Corporate Bank following software and technologies were used by SCMS.

  The tests performed by SCMS for verifying the Bank management system designed for Corporate Bank were:

  1. Functional Testing:

  The main objective of the functional test was to ensure that each of the elements of the system meets the user requirements. The requirements were:

  • Requirements placed by user (corporate bank)
  • Business Design Specification
  • Year 2000 development standard

  Different phases of functional testing were:

  a. Validation Test

  It basically checked the Windows GUI standards, Valid, invalid and limit data input, Screen and field look and appearance, and Overall consistency with rest of the units.

  b. Specific functional test (UNIT TEST)

  Low level tests which were conducted to test the individual process and data flow.

  2. System Test:

  This test was performed to check whether all the units of the application were working together to produce the output and there is no gaps in the data flow from one unit to other.

  3. Integration Test:

  Integration test was performed by connecting the application with the different other application. The performance of the application with different other software was noted and the application was verified based on the results.

  4. Performance Testing:

  This test was carried out to verify that the system provides the acceptable response time (should not exceed 4 seconds).

  5. Regression Testing:

  The main objective of the regression test was to observe the functionality and stability of the software. It was automated with the help of the automated testing tools. Test environment available in visual studio and NUnit software was used to automate the testing of the application designed for Corporate Bank.

  Several formal reviews were carried before and during the tests and they were documented. The major formal review points were placed in different stages of testing as shown in the diagram:

  When all the tests were performed by the developer and all the errors /bugs were fixed, the additional tests were performed to ensure that system was working in integrated manner. In this way the application designed for the corporate bank was verified by the developer’s team.

  During the system development in SCMS there are various security that arises which may lead to the information loss. Following are some of the security risks and their solutions to prevent the information loss:

  1. Server Downtime:

  Risk:

  Server downtime may cause the server to stop working so that the entire computer bridged with the server will be unable to connect with server. This may cause the loss of the information when the information is being sent to server.

  Solution:

  Before upgrading or migrating to a different physical server, make sure servers pass all tests prior to full deployment, and test and debug all applications prior to full deployment.

  2. Obsolete application and tools:

  Risk:

  Due to the defect in the application and tools the loss of the information may occur. Hardware crashes and Software failure may occur causing the information loss.

  Solution:

  Make the careful inventory of the all applications and tools currently in use, prior to system implementation. Always use the trusted Hardware brands and software brands to avoid the hardware/software failure. Benchmarking testing can prove fruitful to check the hardware or software.

  3. Computer Virus, Worms and Trojans:

  Risks:

  These are the malicious-logic program which act without user knowledge can alter the computer’s operation and result to information loss.

  Solutions:

  Following measures can be adopted to prevent the computer viruses, worms and Trojans:

  • Prevent starting the computer with removable media in drives.
  • Never open an e-mail attachment from source other than trusted.
  • Set the macro security level to medium in the word processing or spreadsheet programs.
  • Install the genuine version of the operating system
  • Install the good antivirus software (updatable, reliable and efficient)

  4. Denial of Service (DoS) attack:

  Risk:

  A DoS attack is designed to overload the server. The perpetrators use the softwares of codes to send thousand of requests to the server so that the valid user can’t connect the server.

  Solution:

  The best way to prevent the DoS attack is not letting the DoS style attacks near the webserver. The tools like apache’s mod_security or mod_dosevasive/mod_evasive can be used to drop the abusive IP address at the firewall before they get anywhere near the webserver.

  5. Backdoors:

  Risk:

  Backdoors are the programmer created algorithms which bypass security mechanisms and provides the access to the programs so as to access the program for troubleshooting or saving the development time. But hackers and crackers use backdoors to gain access to program and inject the malicious code to the program causing the information loss.

  Solutions:

  • Scan for the Backdoors with the help of tools available in market. Eg: SpyHunter security tool
  • Update the antispyware software
  • For developer: Try avoiding the backdoors during the design phase or eliminate the backdoors before the delivery of the software to the client.

  6. Hardware Failure:

  Risk:

  Hardware failure can cause the loss of information stored in hard drives.

  Solutions:

  • Frequently backup the hard drives
  • Use Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) to prevent hardware crashes
  • Online Storage of the data and information

  After the research conducted on the System Development lifecycle of Shriv Commedia Solutions Pvt Ltd we came to conclude that the company (SCMS) follows the general five phases of the information system development cycle for the project received. It follows all the five phases thoroughly and tends to meet the user requirements by developing the perfect matching solutions for their business.

       We came to know that the system analyst has the major role in the development process as he/she acts as the bridge between both users and developers. Analyst is the person who conducts the feasibility tests and decides the suitability of the project for company. The project development team consisting of different level of employees work on the project, as scheduled on Gantt chart, designed by the project leader. SCMS conducts the different tests during and after the designing of the application to make the application error-free before it is delivered to the client.

  There are also many security threats for the application which may cause the information loss. By the help of the research we came to know the measures to eliminate the security risks and protect the loss of information.

       In general, after the research on SCMS and its system development methodology in case of Corporate Bank (one of its client) we had the detailed knowledge of the different phases of the information system development lifecycle and the possible threats for the information loss.