Complete Agile SDLC Documentation for a Personal Expense Dashboard Web Application

Selected SDLC model: Agile and lifecycle justification

Selected model

The project uses Agile as its single SDLC model.

Required lifecycle sequence

Planning → Requirements/User Stories → Design → Development → Testing → Review → Deployment → Repeat Sprint → Maintenance

Why Agile is appropriate

• Requirements: Core financial workflows are known, but dashboard composition, chart presentation, mobile interactions, and budgeting details may improve after stakeholder review.
• Uncertainty: User experience is a meaningful source of uncertainty. Short sprints allow the team to validate transaction entry, reporting, filters, and budget presentation before investing in later refinements.
• Risk: Financial calculation accuracy, authorization, privacy, performance, and usability require early and repeated testing.
• Team: A small cross-functional team can collaborate continuously with fewer formal handoffs than a sequential model would require.
• Timeline: The eight-week initial release window benefits from prioritizing usable increments every two weeks.
• Compliance and privacy: Security, privacy, and accessibility requirements can be incorporated into each story's Definition of Done.
• Stakeholder feedback: The Product Owner is available for backlog refinement, sprint reviews, and acceptance decisions.
• Delivery constraints: The project can release essential transaction and budgeting capabilities even if lower-priority enhancements must move to a later sprint.

Agile cadence

• Sprint duration: two weeks.
• Initial release plan: four sprints.
• Sprint planning: first working day of each sprint.
• Daily coordination: 15-minute team synchronization.
• Backlog refinement: weekly.
• Sprint review: final working day of each sprint.
• Retrospective: immediately after the sprint review or on the next working day.

Definition of Ready

• User story has a stable ID.
• Business value and acceptance criteria are clear.
• Dependencies and known risks are identified.
• Required UI states or design decisions are available.
• Team can reasonably estimate the work.

Definition of Done

• Acceptance criteria implemented and verified.
• Code reviewed and merged through the approved workflow.
• Automated tests added or updated where appropriate.
• Regression checks pass.
• No unresolved critical security, privacy, or financial-calculation defect remains.
• Responsive behavior and accessibility checks are completed.
• Documentation and traceability records are updated.