Application Lifecycle Management: From Start To Finish
The process of monitoring development through its entire path requires a multi discipline approach. What must never be forgotten is the “big picture,” or the question of why this software project was approved and is being worked on. It doesn’t matter if the package is very intricate with a lot of moving parts, or something straightforward, it needs to “just work,” and to serve the greater good.
By beginning with the component design and requirements, and moving on toward system development and finally quality assurance and testing, application life cycle management can be achieved. The whole process is populated by people who are experts at their role in the development.
Application lifecycle management is a key tool for many reasons. A business in sales cannot function without the manager that runs the business. If you try to run a function without a software system in the background monitoring and managing it, you will be setting yourself up for failure. This system shows a manager his sales team’s strengths and weaknesses. It also allows him to pass that information on to his manager’s and the rest of the company.
Creation begins with consideration of all the parts and interfaces. This blueprint acts as an agreement covering what is needed and what will actually be delivered. The document will scale linearly with the size of the project, as will the amount of time which must be invested in getting through this first phase. You want to get everything exactly correct, as moving back to the first stage when development has commenced will only lead to confusion.
It is true that the initial stages of planning and development are crucial. Another important component is product testing or quality assurance. This is necessary to ensure that the system will truly be a good product. Fine tuned details are useless if they are attached to a program that just doesn’t work. Every part of the software is tested rigorously by different groups of testers. Their part ensures that the system can truly fulfill the qualifications it was designed for.
Once you have a system in place, you must maintain it. Technology is changing by leaps and bounds, and today’s cutting edge hardware and software quickly become obsolete. For instance, if you have a system that was developed in 1985 which doesn’t include an online component and hasn’t been updated, you’ll find that it’s now useless. In order to keep your system and your investment current and usable, you must take advantage of technological changes to update your system.
Application lifecycle management starts with the development of the components of such a system and continues to the developing systems and processes for quality assurance and maintenance of a software system. Each of these steps is a discipline in itself with personnel specialized in these disciplines. How important is it? Consider a manager who is in charge of a particular function of this business, say, sales. In today’s technically charged world, such a function without a software system to manage it would be unthinkable. This sort of system grows from the requirements of the components of the system.
Filed under: Management