SOFTWARE TESTING LIFE CYCLE (STLC), also known as SOFTWARE TEST PROCESS, defines the various stages / phases / activities in the testing of software.
STLC Phases and Activities
There is no one universal software testing life cycle or test process, but there are common sets of test phases / activities which enable testing to achieve its established objectives. Though the phases have been presented sequentially, they need not be carried out in the specified order.
Phase | Activity | Work Products |
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Requirements Analysis | You review the business & software requirements and identify any defects in those specifications. |
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Test Planning | Once you have gathered a general idea of what needs to be tested, you ‘plan’ for the tests. |
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Test Designing | You design / detail your tests on the basis of detailed requirements / design of the software. |
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Test Environment Setup | You setup the test environment (server / client / network, etc) with the goal of replicating the end-users’ environment. |
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Test Execution | You execute your Test Cases / Scripts in the Test Environment to see whether they pass. |
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Test Reporting & Closure |
You prepare various reports for various stakeholders. |
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Selection
The specific software testing life cycle or test process to be used for a particular project can be selected (and adapted) based on the following:
- Software Development Life Cycle
- Business priorities
- Product characteristics and risks
- Project goals and risks
- Team characteristics
- Budgets and resources
- Timescales
- Complexity
- Organizational policies, practices and standards
- Contractual obligations
- Legal regulations
- Industry-specific standards and regulations
Notes
Interestingly, no matter how well-defined a Software Testing Life Cycle you have in your project or organization, there are chances that you will invariably witness the following widely-popular cycle:
- TESTING
- CURSING
In this type of STLC, you skip phases like test designing and head straight to test execution — in the hope that the skipping will save you some time and cost. But, it never does and you’ll instead end up swearing in the end! Yes, a lot.
Last Updated on September 10, 2020 by STF