Software testing is the foundation of outstanding digital experiences. If your software is not adequately and thoroughly validated, you run the danger of alienating your customers by providing a poor user experience. Software testing must be a multifaceted, organizational-wide, continuing endeavor rather than just a step before release.
Similar to how there is a software development life cycle (SLDC) to create digital products, a software testing life cycle (STLC) is the process of validating them.
If you’re unsure about what is software testing life cycle and what it actually entails, you’ve come to the right place. Read on for a deeper understanding of software testing life cycle phases and their importance.
What Is Software Testing Life Cycle?
SLTC is a series of tasks and processes used to determine a system’s state and identify ways to improve it. The software testing life cycle involves strategizing, planning and executing a variety of test cycles.
As digital products are becoming more complex and feature-rich, the STLC has evolved. Earlier, software testing only took place right before a product was released and consisted of checking for bugs.
Today, STLC has become a multi-faceted and dynamic process that is no longer carried out after a product is fully developed. Comprehensive STLC gives valid results and helps discover critical insights to improve customer satisfaction and drive revenue.
What Are The Six Phases Of Software Testing Life Cycle?
STLC consists of six main phases, each with a different objective, goals and deliverables. These phases are:
- Requirement analysis
- Test planning
- Test case design and development
- Test environment setup
- Test execution
- Test cycle closure
Requirement Analysis
This is the first step of the software testing life cycle. In requirement analysis, the QA team identifies and highlights the requirements, i.e., what needs to be tested. The QA team also speaks to all the relevant stakeholders to understand the requirement in detail.
This phase involves brainstorming sessions with internal and external teams and laying out the priorities of particular assessments.
Test Planning
Test planning is the second phase of SLTC, and it is imperative as it lays the foundation for the work to follow. It involves taking the insights and requirements found during phase one (requirement analysis) and converting them into a structured strategy.
During test planning, the leadership estimates and allocates the time and budget for the testing work. The documentation from this stage highlights the scope, objective type of tests (functional vs. non-functional, manual vs. automated), and test environments. Once these factors are finalized, the management sets roles and timelines to achieve the deliverables.
Test Case Design And Development
Once the planning is complete, we move on to developing the test cases. In this phase, the assigned testers start to create detailed test cases. The QA team also gathers the necessary data needed to execute the tests.
Test cases should be straightforward and easy to understand. They must also be identifiable and repeatable. Once the test cases are prepared, they should be reviewed by team leaders or peers.
Test Environment Setup
Setting up the right test environment is a critical component of STLC. The test environment determines the setting where the digital product is tested.
Testers require access to the correct infrastructure for reporting bugs and the application architecture for supporting the products.
During this phase, the testers decide the parameters and conditions for the test environment, e.g., hardware, software, frameworks, network and configurations. The testers can modify these parameters based on the test case requirements.
Test Execution
Next, it’s time to actually test the software. During this phase, the testing team executes all the test cases within the determined time period.
The testing team also identifies and reports bugs found in this stage of the software testing cycle and provides detailed reports for the developers. As the bugs are fixed, the testers re-test the products to ensure the product is working correctly. Given the large number of test cases that need to be executed, partnering with a crowdsourced testing platform like Oprimes can make this phase quicker.
Test Cycle Closure
This is the final phase of STLC. In this stage, the testing team analyzes the testing process and provides a test closure report. This report usually includes a summary of the tests, their results, and the team manager’s approval.
The testing team also completes incident reports highlighting any unusual behavior observed during testing.
It’s important to remember that while a typical testing life cycle in software testing follows these steps in sequential order, this is not always the case. As many businesses are rethinking their development cycles, testing teams need to adapt and align themselves with evolving organizational processes and release timelines.
Streamline Your System Testing Life Cycle With Oprimes
When carried out correctly, STLC helps you optimize your testing efforts and make an otherwise chaotic testing process more efficient. However, each phase in STLC consists of several variables and decisions to consider. As the pressure to meet tight testing deadlines mounts, businesses must look for a reliable testing partner who can help them launch a high-quality product while keeping budgets and timelines in mind.
Oprimes, India’s largest crowd-testing SaaS platform, provides 360⁰ functional and non-functional testing on a completely pay-per-use basis. Our curated tester community has access to hundreds of devices and platforms and ready-to-use test cases, giving results in just a few hours!
Still unsure? Leave your details here and speak to our team member to learn more about Oprimes today.
