Phases of Software Testing Life Cycle

Software Testing Life Cycle (STLC) happens to be an essential integral part of the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC). STLC is associated with the testing phases only.

Right after the Software Requirement Document (SRD) phase is done, the STLC begins.

STLC contains a step-by-step process to ensure quality, which is one of the prime reasons behind delivering well-developed software to clients.

Since the initial stages, such as product development, testers can start working on the testing part. They can define and then analyze the overall scope of testing, entry, exit criteria, and test cases. That results in better quality and reduces the test cycle time. Later on, after completion of the development phase – testers are then ready with test cases and then can start with execution. We can quickly find out the initial phases' bugs by doing this.

What is Software Testing Life Cycle?

It is a life cycle in a sequence of changes; the software goes through from one form to another. Throughout the software testing, various activities are executed in multiple processes.

Such activities are specifically to check the developed software and its competency. If there are any flaws in the software, testers will go on working with the development team and repair those flaws. Sometimes, testers even need to be in touch with the stakeholders to obtain product specifications. Amongst many essential phases, validation and verification happen to be the most crucial.

SDLC and STLC:

SDLC is the complete journey of a product/ software development, with testing being one of the essential parts. The testing phase has its life cycle, i.e., STLC.

The major distinction between SDLC and STLC:

SDLC focuses more on "building" the product, whereas STLC is associated with the "testing" part. SDLC is a parent process that has STLC as a child process. Before reaching up to the testing part, SDLC is almost completed. STLC starts once the SDLC is completed.

The prime goal of the STLC is to ensure the quality of the software/ product. Based on various software attributes, including functionalities, performance, and reliability, STLC enhances each of these and then delivers the best possible software/ product.

Phases of Software Testing Life Cycle:

To ensure the quality and the precision of the product/ software, testing and validating each of the modules is necessary. For doing that, various detailed processes need to be carried out by Testers.

These Phases include:

Requirement Analysis
Test Planning
Test Case Designing and Development
Test Environment Setup
Test Execution
Test Closure

Sometimes due to lack of testing, complexities such as undetected bugs, unresolved bugs, or even worse scenarios can arise. But as each phase of the STLC focuses on predetermined jobs to be done – it delivers an excellent outcome.

Detailed description for each phase of the Software Testing Life Cycle:

Requirement Analysis

Being the very first stage of the STLC, it focuses more on quality assurance and all the requirements comprehensible by the team. Things such as what is to be tested should be quite clear, and nothing should be missing; otherwise, quality is compromised, which we do not want.

Additionally, through some brainstorming sessions – the team determines whether the specific requirements are testable or not. If not, they need to communicate with stakeholders and plan another strategy for developing the software/ product. Entry and exit criteria are also discussed and documented throughout this very first stage.

Test Planning

After analyzing all the essential testing requirements, the QA team determines the plan through the second phase. As they get to plan all the testing procedures during this phase, it also happens to be one of the most important ones. The team also calculates estimated efforts along with the cost of the testing. As soon as the requirement gathering phase is completed successfully, the Test Planning phase begins.

Test Case Design and Development

Now that the team has the Test Plan, testers can start writing and creating detailed test cases. The QA team can flesh out all the structured tests to be run, and then test data can also be facilitated. Gathering all the combinations and permutations, they prioritize the test cases in which order the product/ software will be affected the most.

Then, there is validation and verification in the documentation stage. Other important tasks include reviewing, updating, and approving the automation scripts. After the test cases are all set, the QA team reviews them.

Test Environment Setup

This is one of the crucial parts of the STLC as it decides the conditions under which the software/ product will be tested. It can be carried out along with the Test Case Development. The developer carries it out; the testing team is not associated with this stage.

Certain environmental factors, including specific servers, hardware, frameworks, and software, are required in order to test and debug the software/ product. The QA manager supervises the team while setting up the Test Environment.

Test Execution

After completing the previous stages, the software/ product is ready to be tested, after which the testing begins. The tester executes test cases according to their test plan. While doing that, they also identify and detect any bugs or defects from the product. The testing results are then compared with the actual outcome. Detected bugs need to be documented and passed on to the development team to be fixed.

As soon as the development team removes bug(s), they start the regression testing. It is done to make sure that the software/ product works in corrected order after deploying specific changes previously. Even when a single bug is fixed, it is necessary to test the entire software/ application to check that the bug didn't create any new bugs. Automated testing tools are mostly used for that.

Test Closure

The last state of the STLC, i.e., Test Closure, is the end-stage and marks the delivery of the product/ software. After checking the test results and discussing them with the entire team, the QA team works on some of the additional essential factors. Factors such as test coverage, quality of the product and project cost, etc., are discussed. Upon finding digression, further analysis is required to determine what didn't go as planned.

In the end, the team is supposed to submit all the test strategies, test case documents, and automated test scripts along with test results. Additionally, close incident reports are also needed.

Conclusion

Following the systematic STLC – it will result in quick bug fixing as well as it also enhances the quality of the product/ software to be delivered. Software testing company like The One Technologies follow proper processes and offer the best software testing solutions.

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