You might have heard of the term “software development life cycle” or “SDLC” many times in the tech world, but what does it actually mean? To put it simply, it’s the process of developing software from start to finish. This process is especially important in the realm of business intelligence (BI).
To remain competitive in today's fast-changing business world, it is critical to embrace a data-driven approach that utilizes the potential of BI. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at how the SDLC process gains from the use of BI.
What is a software development life cycle (SDLC)?
Let’s start with an SDLC definition. It’s a process used by a software development team to design, develop, test, and maintain high-quality software. It's a series of stages that take a project from conception to delivery. By following well-defined stages of an SDLC and focusing on collaboration and quality, development teams can produce reliable, scalable, and secure software.
What is business intelligence?
Business intelligence refers to the strategies, technologies, applications, and practices used to collect, integrate, analyze, and present business information. The purpose of BI is to support better business decision-making. Essentially, it's a set of tools and methodologies that allows an organization to convert raw data into meaningful and actionable insights.
Businesses must also have the necessary IT infrastructure in place, as well as analysts who can comprehend and act on the data insights, in order to adopt a successful BI strategy. They must also guarantee that their data is correct, timely, and secure and that it is utilized in accordance with applicable laws and regulations.
In general, business intelligence is a strong tool for companies striving to stay competitive in today's data-driven environment. Businesses may optimize their operations, enhance their decision-making processes, and ultimately achieve more success and development by embracing the insights produced by BI.
How does business intelligence work?
Business intelligence helps companies to collect and convert raw data into actionable insights. The ultimate goal of BI is to make better-informed, data-driven business decisions.
The process of BI usually consists of these elements:
- Data collection - Collecting data from various sources (financial data, customer information, etc.)
- Data integration - Integrating the collected data into a single source to transform it into a common format. This is usually done in a data warehouse or data lake.
- Data analysis - Analyzing the data to identify patterns, trends and derive insights. It might involve techniques such as machine learning, data mining, or statistical analysis.
- Data visualization - Visualizing data includes presenting it in a meaningful way using graphs, charts, and dashboards.
- Reporting - Generating reports based on the prepared analysis, which enables smoother communication with the team to use the gathered insights.
Software development life cycle with business intelligence
Now, let’s look at how BI can enhance the SDLC process. The software development life cycle is usually divided into seven stages: planning, analysis, design, coding & implementation, testing, deployment, and maintenance. In one of our articles on the stages of SDLC, we explain these stages thoroughly. Based on these SDLC stages, we’ll explore each of them and tell you more about the use of BI.
Planning stage
In the planning stage, it’s important to involve all stakeholders, business leaders, the development team, and end users. It involves gathering the objectives of the project, as well as the data and tools needed to achieve the goal.
Engaging BI specialists in the process will give you a better vision of the final product, and you will maintain stronger communication with the client. They will gather valuable insights that will accelerate the software development process.
BI can be used to analyze past project data, including cost, time taken, resources used, and outcomes. This information can be useful in forecasting the requirements for a new project and in setting realistic goals. BI can also provide insights about market trends, emerging technologies, and industry best practices.
Analysis stage
The SDLC analysis stage provides an in-depth analysis of the criteria that the solution should fit. During this step, developers write a software requirements specification - a document that specifies the solution's objectives and expected performance. This document also details the functionality that the solution should deliver depending on the stakeholders' needs and expectations.
Having well-defined criteria in place simplifies the design of the solution's user interface (UI) and user experience (UX), as well as other key components such as frontend and backend systems, APIs, and third-party services. This allows the development team to build a solution that matches the stakeholders' business goals and needs while offering a high-quality user experience.
Using the data and information gathered by BI specialists, you can improve the overall analysis stage and make it more data-driven, generating real-time insights which will translate into business success. The more decisions are based on the data, the less risk you take.
Design stage
During the design stage of the SDLC process, the development team focuses on mapping the architecture and functionality. The design stage transforms the solution from a plan to a functional and usable tool, ensuring that it meets the requirements and delivers valuable insights.
Many businesses prefer to first build a UX prototype to evaluate its features and decrease project risks. The prototype is a functioning model that enables future customers or clients to test and give feedback on the features of the solution before investing in the final product. This method is the most effective way to discover areas for development and make sure the future product fulfills the needs of stakeholders.
BI can help make design decisions by providing insights into what features and design elements are most valued by users. BI can also be used to track the performance of different design elements in existing products, which can inform the design of new products.
Coding & implementation stage
During this stage, which is also called the development phase, value delivery speeds up. The features identified in earlier phases are coded, and all components are implemented. Cooperation becomes crucial when more than one developer is working on a project. Another responsibility is to discover and solve any issues as soon as possible to ensure the high-quality code of the product.
When it comes to business analysts, at this stage, they can gather first feedback from the users and check how it fits the previously established software requirements. During the implementation phase, BI can provide insights into developer productivity, defect rates, and code quality. This information can be used to identify areas of improvement and to make decisions about tools, technologies, and methodologies.
Testing stage
The testing phase ensures good code quality and checks if there are any critical issues that might affect the project. This phase checks if everything is working properly and ensures that the solution can handle the expected workload. Sometimes in test-driven development (TDD), the testing can take place even before coding. Moreover, with the help of the BI team, you can improve the testing phase by carrying out ongoing requirements analysis and checking if the software behaves as intended in alignment with the client’s needs. BI can be used to analyze the results of past testing efforts and to identify areas of risk. For example, BI can identify areas of the software that are prone to defects or that are frequently changed, which can inform testing strategies and focus.
Deployment stage
In the deployment phase, the product is finally available to the end users. It involves implementation into a production environment that is secure and works as expected. It’s a crucial step in respect of security and usability because any issues can have a significant impact on performance.
Usually, this phase is fully automated, but in some cases, it might require some more manual work, and here the business intelligence specialists can check if the product meets the business strategy. Also, if there are improvements needed, the product can be deployed with feedback from the BI team.
After deployment, BI can be used to monitor the software's performance in the production environment. BI tools can collect data on usage patterns, performance issues, and user feedback, which can be used to make decisions about updates and improvements.
It might seem like the last step, but there is one more phase that every product needs.
Maintenance stage
At this stage, the development team's work is to verify that the software project is updated in accordance with user needs and the evolving technological landscape. Also, they must maintain the system to ensure that it continues to perform properly. They have to track the performance of the system to resolve any issues that may occur to control the impact on end users. The maintenance stage is critical for ensuring that the product meets the business's and its stakeholders' constantly evolving needs.
Moreover, during the maintenance phase, BI can provide insights into how well the software is performing and how it's being used. This information can be used to prioritize maintenance activities, to identify areas for improvement, and to plan for future releases.
How to implement a successful BI strategy into the software development process?
To implement a highly-functional BI strategy into the SDLC life cycle process, it’s important to have a clear understanding of the business requirements and follow the process of the SDLC carefully. The entire project life cycle should remain under supervision and provide constant feedback to deliver the best possible solution. Each phase is equally important and should be handled as such.
Why is business intelligence important in SDLC?
BI helps ensure that solutions meet the needs of all stakeholders, from business leaders to end users. Also, it makes the overall process reliable and secure, which is immensely beneficial when dealing with sensitive business data. Here are some more specific advantages:
- Checks on alignment with business requirements - Involving all parties in the planning process and design stage to adjust the solution to meet specific business goals and requirements.
- Provides a structured process - The BI keeps the SDLC process more consistent and ensures that the development team follows a set of best practices and methodologies.
- Minimizes risk and increases efficiency - By following the SDLC methodology with the use of BI, we can reduce potential issues and delays in the development process, which contributes to increased efficiency and reduced costs.
- Improves quality - In the testing phase of the SDLC, BI checks if everything is in alignment with the business strategy. This enhances the overall quality and reliability.
- Better security - By following BI practices, the product is developed with caution to protect sensitive business data.
Conclusion
Using BI in the SDLC process will certainly help you improve your performance and provide valuable insights into ways to enhance your services. Business intelligence is designed to guide you and your company toward greater growth, client engagement, and a more competitive position in your industry.
