The systems development life cycle (SDLC) is the overall process for developing information systems, from planning and analysis through implementation and maintenance.

Process modeling involves graphically representing the processes that capture, manipulate, store, and distribute information between a system and its environment.

Projects are typically dynamic in nature, and change should be expected and anticipated for successful project completion.

Detailed user documentation is created that highlights how to use the system and how to troubleshoot issues or problems.

One way to support users’ questions is to create a help desk, or a group of people who respond to users’ questions.

The implementation phase involves taking all of the detailed design documents from the design phase and transforming them into the actual system.

Post-implementation reports are formal reports or audits of a project after it is up and running.

Plunge implementation discards the legacy system completely and immediately migrates all users to the new system.

Loose coupling is the capability of services to be joined together on demand to create composite services, or disassembled just as easily into their functional component.

Discovery prototyping builds a small-scale representation or working model of the system to ensure that it meets the user and business requirements.