Mood's In Control
Understanding the question given was quite confusing to me. As I first read the question, I instantly got stuck passing the words “life cycle”, got baffled and kept on thinking what it was referring to before finishing reading the problem for there are lots and various meanings that we can get . Then suddenly I realized that it was the Systems Development Life Cycle being referred to since it was the only “life cycle” I knew with regards to the subject. 
Distinctly, a systems development life cycle (SDLC) has three primary objectives. If I am not mistaken, these are: ensure that high quality systems are delivered, provide strong management controls over the projects, and maximize the productivity of the systems staff.
Based on what I've read, in order to meet these objectives, the SDLC has many specific requirements it must meet,including: being able to support projects and systems of various scopes and types, supporting all of the technical activities, supporting all of the management activities, being highly usable, and providing guidance on how to install it. And in order to meet all of the SDLC's objectives and requirements there are certain design approaches that are required: the SDLC must be an example of a system created using the techniques it espouses; it must keep distinct the "what" from the "how" in regards to doing the tasks and creating the outputs. The SDLC should clearly separate what tasks must be done from how they are done. The SDLC must clearly separate what information a task produces from how that information is displayed. This is required to ensure flexibility and maintainability in the lifecycle. It must organize its information in a hierarchical manner so that users with varying degrees of familiarity can find what they want easily and quickly.
Now, relating to our own university, how do you know that the life cycle was developed specifically for the university?
For me, If it provides the university with an opportunity to improve its employees’ professionalism, if it produces better quality of the systems. This means less scrap and rework to cover omissions, easier maintenance changes and fewer midnight calls to fix bugs. If it is appropriate for the geographical situation, if it is appropriate for the size and complexity of the university’s software, if it is appropriate for the type of projects our university do. Moreover, if the life cycle of the university can meet all the standards of an ideal SDLC such as those objectives and requirements I have mentioned above that best suits the university, then I can say that it is specifically developed.
How do we know it meets our needs? The life cycle is selected after an analysis of the requirements. As with acquiring any package, we must do some level of tailoring to adapt it to our organization, the university. The tailoring required should be relatively minor. The basic tasks and techniques required to build and support systems does not vary much from company to company, nor even from industry to industry.
Defining or selecting an SDLC should be undertaken as a project with full time resources who have the appropriate level of expertise. It is an extremely high leverage effort. It also represents a major cultural change for the staff. It must be planned and executed in as professional a manner as possible.
Distinctly, a systems development life cycle (SDLC) has three primary objectives. If I am not mistaken, these are: ensure that high quality systems are delivered, provide strong management controls over the projects, and maximize the productivity of the systems staff.
Based on what I've read, in order to meet these objectives, the SDLC has many specific requirements it must meet,including: being able to support projects and systems of various scopes and types, supporting all of the technical activities, supporting all of the management activities, being highly usable, and providing guidance on how to install it. And in order to meet all of the SDLC's objectives and requirements there are certain design approaches that are required: the SDLC must be an example of a system created using the techniques it espouses; it must keep distinct the "what" from the "how" in regards to doing the tasks and creating the outputs. The SDLC should clearly separate what tasks must be done from how they are done. The SDLC must clearly separate what information a task produces from how that information is displayed. This is required to ensure flexibility and maintainability in the lifecycle. It must organize its information in a hierarchical manner so that users with varying degrees of familiarity can find what they want easily and quickly.
Now, relating to our own university, how do you know that the life cycle was developed specifically for the university?
For me, If it provides the university with an opportunity to improve its employees’ professionalism, if it produces better quality of the systems. This means less scrap and rework to cover omissions, easier maintenance changes and fewer midnight calls to fix bugs. If it is appropriate for the geographical situation, if it is appropriate for the size and complexity of the university’s software, if it is appropriate for the type of projects our university do. Moreover, if the life cycle of the university can meet all the standards of an ideal SDLC such as those objectives and requirements I have mentioned above that best suits the university, then I can say that it is specifically developed.
How do we know it meets our needs? The life cycle is selected after an analysis of the requirements. As with acquiring any package, we must do some level of tailoring to adapt it to our organization, the university. The tailoring required should be relatively minor. The basic tasks and techniques required to build and support systems does not vary much from company to company, nor even from industry to industry.
Defining or selecting an SDLC should be undertaken as a project with full time resources who have the appropriate level of expertise. It is an extremely high leverage effort. It also represents a major cultural change for the staff. It must be planned and executed in as professional a manner as possible.
