Web Site Systems Development Life Cycle

Web Site Systems Development Life Cycle

Building a Web Site: A Systematic Approach

 Methodology for understanding business objectives of a system and designing an appropriate solution

Five major steps:

1.    Systems analysis/planning

2.    Systems design

3.    Building the system

4.    Testing

5.    Implementation

System Analysis/Planning

•  Business objectives:

 List of capabilities you want your site to have

•  System functionalities:

 List of information system capabilities needed to achieve business objectives

•   Information requirements:

 Information elements that system must produce in order to achieve business objectives

Systems Design:
Hardware and Software Platforms

  System design specification: 

 Description of main components of a system and their relationship to one another

  Two components of system design:

 Logical design

•   Data flow diagrams, processing functions, databases

Physical design

•  Specifies actual physical, software components, models, etc.

Build/Host Your Own versus Outsourcing

•  Outsourcing: hiring vendors to provide services involved in building site

•   Build own vs. outsourcing:

§  Build your own requires team with diverse skill set; choice of software tools; both risks and possible benefits

•   Host own vs. outsourcing

§  Hosting: hosting company responsible for ensuring site is accessible 24/7, for monthly fee

§  Co-location: firm purchases or leases Web server (with control over its operation), but server is located at vendor’s facility

Testing, Implementation, and Maintenance

 

• Testing

>> Unit testing

>> System testing

>> Acceptance testing

• Implementation and maintenance:

>> Maintenance is ongoing

>> Maintenance costs: parallel to development costs

>> Benchmarking