What Is System Development, and What Are the System Development Phases? An information system (IS) is hardware, software, data, people, and procedures that work together to produce quality information. System development is a set of activities used to build an information system. System development activities often are grouped into larger categories called phases. This collection of phases sometimes is called the system development life cycle (SDLC). Many SDLCs contain fi ve phases: planning; analysis; design; implementation; and operation, support, and security.