Software Testing Life Cycle

Software Testing is a mandatory part of any Software Development process. It ensures that all technical and business requirements are met satisfactorily. Software Testing Life Cycle (STLC) is a series of systematically planned phases in case of a waterfall software development approach and continuous iterative & agile in case of agile or iterative development of software. 

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Software testing life cycle comprises of various activities with specific goals. Organizations may tweak these to align with their corporate philosophy, but the basic essence remains the same.

In the waterfall model, the activities are performed in  phases as shown in Waterfall diagram below, whereas in Agile model, all these activities are performed in every release, as shown in the following agile diagram below. 

Feature understanding and Test script updates are simultaneous activities which run in every release however, there are activities which are required only once like test environment setup and only new release deployment is required.

Lets understand how testing is carried out in the traditional waterfall approach. To know more about agile testing click here.

Requirement Analysis

• The QA team interacts with various stakeholders to understand their requirements for testability. The requirements can be either functional or non-functional in nature.
  
• Priorities are attached to the requirements for testing.
  
• The test conditions are defined in this phase. Every test condition should be traceable to a requirement. To aid this, a Requirement traceability Matrix is maintained where each requirement is mapped with test conditions. Requirement traceability Matrix helps in keeping track of testing. 
• Testing environment is identified during this phase.

Test Planning and Test Case Development

Test planning phase is sometimes referred to as Test Strategy phase. It is very important from technical and business point of view. 

• A detailed test plan is created in this phase.
• All testing strategies and approaches are defined.
• Risk Analysis, Risk management and mitigation strategies are defined.
• Scheduling is done for various testing phases.

Once test planning is completed, the team starts working on test cases based on inputs from planning phase.

• Detailed Test case Document is prepared.
• Test Scripts are prepared for tests marked for automation testing.
• Test cases and test scripts are reviewed by peers and managers to ensure complete coverage.
• Test data is prepared in test environment.

Test Environment Setup and Test Execution

Test environment setup phases encompasses setting up of an environment that replicates the conditions in which the end product will be used. This test environment is then used to execute the test cases defined in earlier step. This is a crucial phase because unavailability of suitable test environment impacts the whole testing process.

• All required software, hardware and network are configured for testing. 
• Third party tools or plugins, if any, are also integrated with the environment during this phase. 
• Test environment management processes are defined.
• Bug reporting tools are identified.
• Build is installed in the testing environment.
• Smoke testing of Build is done.

 Once the test environment is in place, it is time for test case execution.

• The test results are compared with expected outcomes.
• Defects/Bugs discovered during testing are recorded, classified and prioritized. 
• Defects/Bugs are mapped to Requirement traceability Matrix.
• Rectified code is retested.
• Corrected Defects/Bugs are marked closed.

Test Cycle Closure

Test Cycle closure requires analysis of various reports and parameters like Test Closure report, Bug report, test coverage analysis etc. It is important to analyse these to learn and evolve the testing process to have an improved and efficient system in place for future testing.

• Planned deliverables, which ready for release, are checked and evaluated by the team.
• Qualitative and Quantitative analysis of defects is done and findings are shared with stakeholders.
• Test Summary report is prepared based on evaluation of defect density, severity, test coverage analysis, time and efforts involved etc.
• Depending on the Quality Assurance and Control process of the organization, status reports are generated.
• All final testing related plans, reports, documents, software etc. are archived under version control system for future reference.

Webomates platform is applicable to projects with waterfall development as well as agile development model. Its usage based model give full flexibility to our customers. Our 24 hour execution model using multiple channels is unique in itself, thus providing an edge when it comes to comprehensive testing. We provide Quality check report with triaged defects within 24 hours of test execution.

Conclusion

We at Webomates, are committed to quality and attach utmost importance to Quality Assurance and Control. We continuously work to evolve our platform & processes in order to provide guaranteed execution, which takes testing experience to an entirely different level, thus ensuring a higher degree of customer satisfaction.

If you are interested in learning more about Webomates’ CQ service please click here and schedule a demo or reach out to us at info@webomates.com

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