Software Testing Life Cycle(STLC)

Software Testing Life Cycle (STLC) is a process used to test the software and ensure that quality standards are met. Software tests are carried out systematically over several phases to ensure software quality goals are met.

Software Testing Life Cycle involves verification and validation activities of software and can start as early as we got the requirement. STLC may be performed multiple times during a product development until product look suitable for release.

STLC consist of Six major phases:

1. Requirement Analysis
2. Test Planning
3. Test Case Development
4. Test Environment Setup
5. Test Execution
6. Test Cycle Closure

Requirement Analysis

 This is the phase where Test Team identifies the testable requirement and interact with stakeholder to understand software requirements in detail.

Software Requirement could be functional or non-functional depends upon what the stakeholder wants to build.

Activities in Requirement Phase Testing

• Identify types of tests to be performed. (functional and non-functional).
• Gather details about testing priorities and focus.
• Prepare Requirement Traceability Matrix (RTM).
• Identify test environment details where testing is supposed to be carried out.
• Automation feasibility analysis (if required).

Deliverables of Requirement Phase Testing

• Requirement Traceability Matrix (RTM).
• Automation feasibility report. (if applicable)

Test Planning

Test Planning is a phase in which Sr QA Manager determines the test plan strategy. It involves the effort and cost estimates of the project, resources to be used, test environment, test limitations, and the testing schedule.

Activities in Test Planning

• Preparation of test plan/strategy document for various types of testing.
• Test tool selection.
• Test effort estimation
• Resource planning and determining roles and responsibilities.
• Training requirement.

Deliverables of Test Planning

• Test Plan or Strategy Document
• Effort Estimation Document

Test Case Development

When our Test Plan gets ready, then we will start out test case development. It involves the test case creation, verification, and rework of test cases.

Activities of Test Case Development

• Create Test Cases
• Review and Baseline Test Cases
• Create Test Data

Deliverables of Test Case Development

• Test Case/automation script(If applicable)
• Test Data

Test Environment

In this phase, we decide on which Software and Hardware we will test the product. This activity can be done in parallel with the Test Case development.

Activities of Test Environment Setup

• Understand the required architecture, environment setup and prepare hardware and software requirement list for the Test Environment.
• Setup test data and test environment.
• Perform Smoke Test on the build.

Deliverables of Test Environment Setup

• Environment ready with test data set up.
• Smoke Test Results.

Test Execution

In this phase, Test Cases are executed by the testers based on the test plans and test case prepared earlier. This process consists of test script execution, test script maintenance, and bug reporting. If bugs are reported then it is reverted to the development team for bug fixing and after the fixing, the tester will perform the resting.

Activities in Test Execution

• Execute test cases as per Test Plan.
• Document test results, and log defects for failed test cases.
• Map defects to test cases in RTM.
• Retest the Defect fixes.
• Track the defects to closure.

Deliverables of Test Execution

• Completed RTM with the execution status.
• Test cases updated with results.
• Defect reports.

Test Cycle Closure

Test Cycle Closure indicates the completion of test case execution. In this, Testing Team also discusses the bottlenecks found during the project and how we can remove these bottlenecks in the future.

Activities in Test Cycle Closure

• Evaluate cycle completion criteria based on Time, Test coverage, Cost, Software, Critical Business Objectives, Quality.
• Prepare test metrics based on the above parameters.
• Document the learning out of the project.
• Prepare Test closure report.
• Qualitative and quantitative reporting of quality of the work product to the customer.
• Test result analysis to find out the defect distribution by type and severity.

Deliverables of Test Cycle Closure

• Test Closure report
• Test metrics