What are the five phases of the SDLC?

• A. Initiation, Acquisition/Development, Implementation, Operations/Maintenance, Disposition
• B. Planning, Analysis, Design, Implementation, Evaluation
• C. Concept, Design, Build, Test, Deploy
• D. Initiation, Planning, Execution, Monitoring, Closure

Answer: (A)

The SDLC is a structured sequence that guides how a system is planned, built, used, maintained, and retired. The five phases shown—Initiation, Acquisition/Development, Implementation, Operations/Maintenance, and Disposition—together cover the entire lifecycle from starting a project to end-of-life.

Initiation sets the stage: it identifies the business need, feasibility, and authorization to proceed. Acquisition/Development handles obtaining or creating the system, whether by buying, contracting, or building in-house. Implementation moves the system into live use, including deployment, configuration, and user readiness. Operations/Maintenance focuses on keeping the system running smoothly over time with updates, patches, and ongoing support. Disposition wraps up the lifecycle by retiring the system securely, archiving data as required, and disposing of assets.

Other option sets mix stages from different methodologies (like planning, design, or testing) or emphasize different activity groupings, but they don’t consistently describe the full end-to-end lifecycle from initiation through retirement in a single, cohesive framework.