Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC)

The System Development Life-Cycle (SDLC) describes the process for conducting system (application) development projects and assignments in the Ministry of Forests and Range. This life cycle also applies to enhancement and maintenance activities, and technology only projects.

It includes:

a set of guidelines to determine the project size/complexity (Right-sizing your project), upon which the planning and budgeting of a project should be based,
the overall SDLC Framework / Life Cycle of an IT project itself, based on phases, deliverables, gates and signoffs,
guidelines, standards and templates for each of the deliverables by phase. (These are found by navigating though the overall framework diagram),
a typical system development project organization structure (Roles & Responsibilities).

Important: We have made the SDLC web site content publicly available as much as possible. However some documents linked from this site are restricted access. These documents will be indicated with one of the following...more info.

What's New

May 2009 – Change Management – Revised Definition and Standards, added Templates and Links

The following is a list of the most recent updates/additions.
Phase 2 Updates – January 2009:

Procurement Documents – Renamed from RFP/RFQ to incorporate other Procurement options. Updated links to Forms Index for templates. Updated RFP for IT Contracts – Part C
Contract Administration Documents – New 'Control' Deliverable
Business Requirements Document – Replaced Business Requirements Spec and Systems Requirements Spec with one deliverable - BRD - new Table of Contents provided.
Business Solutions Options – Added new Optional Deliverable
Design Specifications Document – Renamed from Technical Systems Design Document
Migration Package – Updated Migration Project Timeline and link
Lessons Learned – Added Samples
Project Evaluation – Added Templates and Standards
Data Management Plan – Added Sample
Privacy Impact Assessment – Added Samples
Application Development – Added Sample Migration Ready Checklist
Communication Plan – Added Samples
Records Impact Assessment – Added Standards, Template and Sample
Team Charter – Added Templates
Contracts Closed – Added Templates
Impact Analysis – Added Description for Deliverable and Template
Physical Data Model and Metadata – Added link to Database Administration standards pages
Quality Management Plan – Added link to Data Quality Framework
Resource Management Plan – Revised definition
Next Steps Documented – Added standard link
Logical Data Model, Codes, Added Link to Data Administration standards
Project Documentation, Project Repository – Added standards and sample SharePoint site link
Revisions to Right-sizing Checklists, Roles/Responsibilities, Deliverables Diagrams and MSProject Schedule to incorporate new and changed deliverables
Revised to provide links to IRMP, ISP/IGC, Help Desk, Inventories and EDRMS

A Full list of updates is available from February, 2008.

Training

See the MFR Learning Store for access to the SDLC online e-Learning course (search for SDLC).

Contact

If you require assistance or would like to provide feedback, please contact Bonnie Laine Farrell or Clive Hunt, in the Project Office, Information Management Branch.

About the SDLC Review Project

The project to review and revamp the SDLC for the Ministry has been underway since February 2007 and these SDLC web pages are a result of the high-level changes (Phase 1). More information on the SDLC Review Project is available here.