Learn more about different phases of the software testing life cycle
The last decade has seen an overwhelming evolution of the software testing industry giving way to greener pastures. It is important to ensure effective performance of software applications, and software testing is required to ensure that the application runs without any failures. This blog on the software testing life cycle will provide detailed knowledge about all the steps involved in testing.
What Is Software Testing?
Software testing is the process of evaluating the functionality of a software application to find any software bugs. It checks whether the developed software met the specified requirements and identifies any defect in the software in order to produce a quality product.
It is also stated as the process of verifying and validating a software product. Basically, this means that it checks whether the software product:
Now that we know what is software testing, let’s move ahead with our software testing life cycle blog and see why do we need testing.
Why Is Testing Important?
The importance of software testing is imperative. Software testing is important because of the following reasons:
Now that we know what software testing is and why it is important, let’s get into the details of the software testing life cycle and learn more about the different phases of testing.
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Software Testing Life Cycle
Software Testing Life Cycle (STLC) defines a series of activities conducted to perform software testing. It identifies what test activities to carry out and when to accomplish those test activities. In the STLC process, each activity is carried out in a planned and systematic way, and each phase has different goals and deliverables.
The different phases of the software testing life cycle are:
Now, let’s move ahead and have a look at the different phases of the software testing life cycle in detail.
Requirement Analysis
Requirement Analysis is the first step involved in the software testing life cycle. In this step, the Quality Assurance (QA) team understands the requirement in terms of what we will testing and figures out the testable requirements. During this phase, the test team studies the requirements from a testing point of view to identify the testable requirements. The QA team may interact with various stakeholders such as client, business analyst, technical leads, system architects, etc. to understand the requirements in detail.
The different types of requirements include :
Business Requirements: They are high-level requirements that are taken from the business case of the projects.
Architectural and Design Requirements: These requirements are more detailed than business requirements. It determines the overall design required to implement the business requirement.
System and Integration Requirements: This includes a detailed description of each and every requirement. It can be in the form of user stories, which is really describing everyday business language. The requirements are in abundant details so that developers can begin coding.
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Entry Criteria Deliverable The following documents are required:
Test Planning
Test planning is the most important phase of the software testing life cycle where all testing strategy is defined. This phase is also called the test strategy phase. In this phase, the test manager is involved to determine the effort and cost estimates for the entire project. It defines the objective and scope of the project.
The commonly used testing types are:
The test plan is one of the most important steps in the software testing life cycle. The steps involved in writing a test plan include:
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Test Case Development
Test case development begins once the test planning phase is completed. This is the phase of STLC where the testing team notes the detailed test cases. Along with test cases, the testing team also prepares the test data for testing. Once the test cases are ready, then these test cases are reviewed by peer members or QA lead.
A good test case is the one which is effective at finding defects and also covers most of the scenarios on the system under test. Here is the step-by-step guide on how to develop a good test case:
Test Environment Setup
Setting up the test environment is a vital part of the software testing life cycle. A testing environment is a setup of software and hardware for the testing teams to execute test cases. It supports test execution with hardware, software, and network configurations.
The test environment involves setting up distinct areas, such as:
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Test Execution
The next phase in the software testing life cycle is test execution. Test execution is the process of executing the code and comparing the expected and actual results. When test execution begins, the test analysts start executing the test scripts based on the test strategy allowed in the project.
Test Cycle Closure
The final phase of the software testing life cycle is test cycle closure. It involves calling out the testing team member meeting and evaluating cycle completion criteria based on test coverage, quality, cost, time, critical business objectives, and software.
A test closure report by the test lead is published after accomplishing the exit criteria and finishing the testing phase. It follows a standard format such as :
Stages of Test Closure
The process of test closure is implemented with the assistance of six important stages, such as:
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