Software Testing Life Cycle

What is the Software Testing Life Cycle ? 

Software Testing Life Cycle is the sequence of the software testing process. That sequence is included with the specific set of activities that are conducted during the software testing process. That STLC is involved in both validation and verification activities. And also that the testing process is not a single activity it is a combination of a set of activities. So this process is supported to deliver a high quality software product to the end user. 

Phases of STLC 

As explained in above , STLC is concluded with a set of steps. Mainly it has 6 steps as mentioned below. 

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 first phase of the STLC, where mainly the testing team analyzes the  requirements and specifications provided by the client/owner or the business.Ultimate goal of this process is to  understand the system requirements and markup the potential areas of testing. By this, the main testers build up a  comprehensive test plan.

Test Planning: This is the second phase where the test plan is developed based on the requirements and specifications gathered during the requirement analysis. The test plan emphasizes  the scope, objectives, resources required, timelines, and the overall approach which will be followed during the testing. Test plan also includes test case development, test environment setup, and test execution strategy.

Test Case Development: At the Third phase test cases are developed based on the main requirements and test plan. Mainly and importantly all the test cases are designed to verify the functionality, performance, and other aspects of the software being tested. Hence the Test cases  are written in a way , where it covers all the requirements and functionality.

Test Environment Setup: At this step the testing team sets up the test environment, which is a replica of the production environment(where the final software will be run).The test environment includes hardware, software, and network configurations required for testing.It is very much important to set the test environment carefully in order to ensure accurate testing results.

Test Execution: This is the phase where the actual testing of the software takes place. All the test cases developed in the previous phase are executed in the test environment, while the results are recorded.After that all the defects found during testing will be reported by the test team and coordinate with the development team to resolve them.

Test Cycle Closure: This is the final phase, where the  testing team summarizes all the testing results, including the number of defects found, severity of each defect, and the status of their resolution and prepare a final report.In addition to that test cycle closure also includes a general review of the test process to identify areas for improvement, documentation for lessons learned, plus a test artifact archiving. Final  goal of this phase is to ensure that the testing is complete and the software is ready for deployment