Stages Involved In Custom Software Development

Software development refers to how computer programs are used to make processes simpler. All around us, you will find systems using various programs to ensure that business processes go on smoothly, fast, and efficiently.

Imagine a bank teller who has to manually tally and add a lot of numbers. This will take the individual several days and if there is an error, they have to trace where it is from. All of these is not only difficult and time-consuming, but it is also inefficient.

A financial software application can be used to carry out the same process in far less time. You will also get more accurate and efficient results. If for any reason an error occurs, it can easily be traced and resolved. This is what building software offers your business.

It helps to simplify your business process and makes it more efficient. This ultimately means that you achieve things in less time, scale, and increase your bottom line. You will find more of its benefits here.

Software development involves a series of processes where programmers create a computer program to help meet certain personal or business objectives. These objectives can vary widely and depends on the needs of different businesses.

An eCommerce company requires an eCommerce application and a bank requires a financial application. A hospital will need a hospital management system while a grocery store will require a retail management system and so on. The software development process includes a variety of steps. Below are these steps:

Identifying a Need

No one just begins to build an application without a specific need that it should address. From the examples above, this can be to make a banking process faster, more efficient, and less error-prone. It can be to help keep track of appointments or dispense medication in a medical facility, etc.

This stage involves a lot of brainstorming and extensive market research which helps to know how viable the software will be. You must identify what your customers need and design it to meet those needs. A critical part of this stage is discussing the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to the product.

Requirements Analysis

The requirement analysis stage is where stakeholders in the project discuss specifications and user as well as technical requirements of the software. This will provide a comprehensive summary of each component of the software, its scope, and what is required of the final product.

This phase of the process involves a team of project managers, developers, testers, quality assurance staff as well as users. It is where the team chooses the approach to use in the development of the application. These requirements are documented so that the teams can refer to them from time to time.

Design

In this stage, software architects and programmers draw up technical specifications that they require to build the application. This can include using things such as flow charts to determine the flow of the application.

The stakeholders will also consider team composition, technologies, and tools to use, risk factors, budget, and the duration it will take. They will also consider the methods to use and the limitations of the project.

This stage is also documented and provides a manual for developers and testers to work with. This helps to reduce the chance for errors and delays. It can be determined at this stage if the company will outsource the development or use in-house programmers. You may want to check out this Outsourcing vs. In-house Development: Pros. and Cons. guide to know how to go about this.

Development

This stage is the actual development of the application as well as its implementation. The programmers develop the application based on the agreed requirements and specifications. There are different types of developers involved at this stage and they include front-end and back-end programmers as well as database administrators.

There are also project managers, quality assurance guys, and testers. All work together to build a robust application. Once development work is complete, the application is deployed to a testing environment and tested. This is to ensure it conforms to the requirements and performs as it should.

Testing

The testing phase is when the software is checked for bugs. Quality assurance testers look through. Also, stakeholders and users have the opportunity to test its functionality. Any defect is reported to the developers so they can fix this until the application is perfect.

Deployment

The final stage of the development process is when it is deployed at the client’s environment or system. The software development company may also provide support and maintenance to help train users and also help manage any issues that may arise. If there is a need, they can also provide updates to the application. You can read about all these here https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-software-development-life-cycle-sdlc-phases-private-limited/.

Conclusion

As a business, a customized software will help to make life easier for you and your staff. It will simplify, speed up and make your processes more efficient. Developing your customized software requires some steps. This will be carried out in conjunction with you in a bid to ensure it meets your goals and objectives.