The process had three major stages:
- Setting the requirements
- Planning
- Implementation
The requirement stage defines what the product must be able to accomplish and what features it should have. Benchmarking similar existing systems is a useful method in setting the requirements. The requirements set at the beginning of the project are subject to minor changes during the planning and implementation stages.
In the planning stage, the methods to reach the requirements are chosen. This includes planning the interactions in the system and selecting the technical components: Programming language(s) Database * Server platform
During the implementation stage, the specifications made in the planning stage will be used to create the system. When the application is considered to be in its final form or very near it, it is moved from the development platform to the production one.
The implementation phase also encloses the testing of the product as each added functionality is tested after it is built. Testing is an important part of the quality process, which should be continuous all the way through the project: “Quality assurance (QA) processes should occur throughout the production process. QA needs to start at the beginning of a project and never end.” [1, p. 369]
Additional development phases may be launched after the product is released.