The Software Testing Life Cycle (STLC) is a series of particular tasks carried out throughout the testing process to guarantee that software quality objectives are accomplished. STLC includes both validation and verification steps just like its done on verity software. Contrary to popular opinion, testing is not the only action involved in software testing. It comprises a sequence of steps taken methodically to support the certification of your software application. STLC stands for the life cycle of software testing.
How STLC Starts
The testing team evaluates and specifies the scope of testing, entry and exit criteria, as well as the test cases during the first stages of the STLC, while the software product or application is being developed. The test cycle time is shortened, and the product quality is improved.
The testing team is prepared with test cases and may begin the execution as soon as the development phase is complete. This aids in early-stage bug discovery. Software testing life cycle is a process divided into six phases.
- Requirement Analysis
The first stage of the software testing life cycle is requirement analysis. The quality assurance team is aware of the requirements, such as what will be tested, throughout this phase. The quality assurance team interacts with the stakeholders to better understand the requirements in depth if anything is missing or not clear.
In this stage, testable components of feature requirements gathered through the SDLC process are identified. Testing teams may need to speak with stakeholders to explain requirements if necessary. These requirements, which define the capabilities and features of a feature, can either be functional or non-functional. This step also assesses the testing’s capacity to be automated.
- Test Planning
The most productive stage of the software testing life cycle is test planning, where all test strategies are laid out. The testing team manager calculates the projected cost and effort for the testing activity during this phase. Once the requirement gathering phase is over, this phase begins.
This strategy outlines the necessary tools, testing procedures, and roles and duties. A risk and cost analysis and a projected testing timeline are both used to decide on this technique.
- Test Case Development
After the test planning step is finished, the test case development phase begins. The testing team records specific test cases during this phase. The testing team also prepares the necessary test data. The quality assurance team reviews the test cases after they have been prepared.
- Test Environment Setup
The setting of the test environment is crucial to the STLC. In essence, the test environment establishes the parameters in which software is tested. The creation of test cases might be started concurrently with this autonomous activity. The testing team is not involved in this process. The testing environment is created by either the developer or the client.
- Test Execution
Test case development and test environment setup are followed by the test execution step. In this phase, the testing team begins running test cases that were prepared in the preceding phase. Using the established test cases, features are tested in the deployed environment during this phase. Test results are collected and compared to expectations to provide feedback to the development teams.
- Test Closure
The preparation of a test result report occurs during this, the final step of the STLC. The complete testing procedure should be summarized in this report, including comparisons of the actual results to those anticipated. Objectives achieved, time spent, overall costs, test coverage, and any flaws detected are all compared in these comparisons.
The Value of STLC
An STLC helps organizations to:
- Improve the consistency and efficiency of the agile testing process,
- For each project component, specify the expectations and goals in detail,
- Set time limits for project testing,
- Before adding more features, make sure that each one has been tested and is functioning properly,
- Check to see if the project’s requirements are met.
A framework for the software testing life cycle frequently includes the following activities:
- Analysis of the system requirements for clients and stakeholders,
- Building a traceability matrix (a document that determines project completeness by comparing requirements with features),
- Identifying the testing kinds and methodologies required for each feature,
- Prioritization of the desired features,
- Analysis of automatable task types,
- Environmental information identification.
STLC vs SDLC
Software Development Life Cycle and Software Testing Life Cycle have separate objectives and standards, even though they both relate to software development and have overlapping schedules. STLC can be carried out in conjunction with SDLC phases or as a set of steps inside the SDLC cycle.
The main distinction is that SDLC is in charge of gathering requirements and developing features as a result. In the meantime, STLC is in charge of developing tests customized to the gathered criteria and confirming that features comply with them. While it’s frequently acceptable for the SDLC to produce features that perform tasks outside their scope, the STLC places an unneeded load on the team if its tests perform tasks beyond their scope.
The collaboration of stakeholders, DevOps, and testing teams is necessary for both life cycles. You cannot ensure that requirements are accurately established, tests are pertinent, or results are correctly applied without this cooperation.
Software Quality Intelligence Solutions
You may streamline an otherwise disorganized QA test process by using the software testing life cycle to better manage your testing workflow. Each phase contains many aspects to take into account, as well as various testing instrument needs.
Although planning is an essential step, it doesn’t have to be a laborious manual procedure. To make data-driven decisions, you can employ software quality intelligence tools. You should put testing first if you want to be as productive as possible.
In Final Words
After analyzing your software, you will need to understand how and why to set priorities for testing and create productive testing cycles. When employing PixelPlex IT consulting, you will learn not only which tests are redundant and unnecessary to improve software quality, but also accelerate the testing process.
Only by doing so, you can be assured that your product is at the highest level, enabling you to reach your target audience and connect with your potential and existing customers even deeper.
