A Review is a structured approach to examine a document by one or more people with the aim of identifying and removing defects. The primary advantage of the Review process in the Software Development Life Cycle is to identify gaps/defects as early as possible, thereby reducing the cost of fixing them if found later in the life cycle. It’s too expensive to fix the defects when the software has been built.
The Reviews are helpful in finding the various types of defects like Deviations from the standards, Requirements defects, Incorrect specifications, Design defects and few more.
Review Process can be very formal or just a casual/informal process. It depends upon the need for the Review process like legal requirements, audit or maturity of the software development process. The Basic Review process includes the first step of document to be studied by the reviewers. Then identifying and communicating the defects found, to the Author. Later, the Author fixes the defects and updates the document.
The moral formal review can follow a complete cycle, starting from Planning, Allocating Roles, defining the Entry & Exit criteria, Preparation, Review meeting, Fixing Defects and Follow-up.