Stages of Software Lifecycle

I would propose that the following are the stages of all software lifecycle. Of course, different methodologies propose handling the stages differently, and in different orders.

Business case

Requirements

Technical Design

Development

QA

Deployment

Support

After this, the lifecycle is repeated, as a the next version begins.
I'd like to hear other people's thoughts. Did I miss anything?
--Mark

You have covered the bases, but let me give RUPs- it divides the activities in two dimensions workflow and phases:
The Workflow is-

Business Modeling

Requirements

Analysis & Design

Implementation

Test

Deployment

And each workflow on the 2nd dimension has the four phases:

Inception phase

Elaboration phase

Construction phase

Transition phase

HTH
Sanjay

mark , you have missed on analysis phase which sanjay has clubed with design.

I'm not so sure I distinguish them. You don't desing in a vaccum. Analysis comes into play both when you do the requirements gather, in which you presumably look at the need, and design, in which you design to a need.
Those who feel that this is an activity distinct from the other two, I'd like to hear your reasoning.
--Mark

One question ... is QA stands for Quality Assurance ? In that case it should not be treated as a milestone and rather should be integrated in all the stages .
I wud put testing there in place of QA

Good point about using "testing" instead of QA.
As for whether it should be in all the stages, I'm not sure I agree. There are certainly processes in which testing is not done until the end. Remember, I'm just trying to enumerate the different pieces of a process, not define a particular one, or order them in any way. Given this, would you make the same claim, and if so, why?

--Mark

The terms have to be used in context of the methodology. In reality you could test everything- the business model, the requirements etc. But RUP defines testing as- test the software:

To verify the interaction between objects.

To verify the proper integration of all components of the software.

To verify that all requirements have been correctly implemented.

To identify and ensure defects are addressed prior to the deployment of the software.

Sanjay

Mark,
I think the terminologies get mixed up. I would suggest reading the RUP Process paper would be able to give you a good idea what each of the term means and how it is applied- at least as per definition of RUP.
Sanjay

Sanjay,
I am quite familiar with RUP (as well as other processes). My point is to enumerate the fundamentals of the lifecycle common to all software development processes. I think I did cover everything in RUP, but if there's something I missed, please let me know.

--Mark

I have had some training from Rational and used
some of their products, but I am not by any means
an expert in RUP. I do have some thoughts on QA
versus testing.
I agree that some testing must naturally await the
deliverable or work product which is subject to test.
I also agree that QA (not testing) should be integrated
in all the steps. Before I logged in to post, I
ventured to rational.com where a search for the
"QA RUP" and a search for "quality RUP"
each turned up 0 hits.
That scares me. There seems to be some ambiguity
in the posts from Mark and Shubhrajit concerning
"test" versus "QA" in RUP.
The RUP paper cited above does speak directly to
testing, specifically an iterative approach to
testing. But QA is not testing. Preventing defects
(QA) is much more important than finding them (testing),
at least in my mind.
Greater minds than mine praise RUP. So what am I
failing to understand about RUP?
Thanks,
Joe

I would propose that the following are the stages of all software lifecycle. Of course, different methodologies propose handling the stages differently, and in different orders.
Business case
Requirements
Technical Design
Development
QA
Deployment
Support
After this, the lifecycle is repeated, as a the next version begins.
I'd like to hear other people's thoughts. Did I miss anything?
--------------------------------------------------

mark what i think about quality assurance is that its not a mile stone rather a continuos process termed as an umbrella activity be roger pressman in his book software engineering.because it doesnot occurs in a single phase rather is carried throughout the project life cycle.further more quality assurance does not only mean testing it invloves many activities like testing , validation , verification etc

Mark,

the fundamentals of the lifecycle common to all software development processes

Yes you have covered the bases. But if you are following a specific methodology- you will have to follow the details thereof - its templates and terminologies. All methodologies are trying to reach the same goal and pretty much the same way- the details/nuances are different. Like RUP has a lot of documentation and iterations- XP does not have that explicitly.
Sanjay
[ February 21, 2002: Message edited by: Sanjay Bahal ]