FC0-U71 Software Development Concepts Practice Question
A project team is in the phase where they gather business requirements, define project scope, and create a project plan. This phase occurs before any design or coding begins. Which SDLC phase is being described?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to confuse the 'Analysis' phase with the 'Planning' phase, mistakenly thinking that requirements gathering is exclusive to Analysis, when in fact Planning is the first phase where high-level business requirements and scope are defined before any detailed analysis begins.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Planning
(Planning) is correct because the SDLC Planning phase is specifically where business requirements are gathered, project scope is defined, and a project plan is created before any design or coding begins. This phase establishes the high-level goals, feasibility, and resource allocation that drive all subsequent phases.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Implementation
Why it's wrong here
Implementation is the coding, configuration and deployment of the solution, occurring after design is complete. It is tempting because project plans are executed here, but the stem places the phase before design and coding, so no build activity has started.
- ✗
Analysis
Why it's wrong here
Analysis covers feasibility studies, requirements gathering and functional specification, but the stem's scope definition and project plan belong to planning, which precedes analysis. Analysis is tempting because it also handles requirements, yet it produces the specification rather than the schedule and boundaries.
- ✓
Planning
Why this is correct
Planning is the SDLC phase where business requirements are gathered, scope defined and the project plan produced, all before design or coding starts. It directly satisfies the stem's constraint that this work precedes any design or development activity, distinguishing it from analysis, design and implementation phases.
- ✗
Design
Why it's wrong here
Design translates approved requirements into architecture, interfaces and data models, so it follows the requirements and planning work described. It is tempting as the next logical step, but the stem explicitly states the phase occurs before any design begins, ruling it out.
About these practice questions
This FC0-U71 question is part of Courseiva's 988-question bank — original exam-style content with full explanations and wrong-answer analysis, never real exam questions or exam dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This FC0-U71 practice question is part of Courseiva's free CompTIA certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the FC0-U71 exam.