6. Build, test, and implement the database and applications The purpose of this chapter is to build on the Tiers of Software Development and to provide a framework for the life cycle of most software development projects. This is important prior to explaining the details of the user interface and analysis tools that are needed to bring software to fruition. Another way of viewing this chapter then is to get a sense of how the tiers of development actually interface with each other and what specific events and tools are used to successfully complete each step. This chapter consists of two sections: the first explains the notion that software goes through three basic phases or cycles, that is, Development, Testing, and Production. The second section provides an example using a seven-stage method called “The Barker Method,” which represents one approach to defining the details of each of the three cycles