10.Software testing life cycle

Software testing life cycle (STLC) identifies what test activities to carry out and when (what is the best time) to accomplish those test activities. Even though testing differs between organizations, there is a testing life cycle.

Software Testing Life Cycle consists of seven (generic) phases:

·         Test Planning

·         Test Analysis

·         Test Design

·         Construction and verification

·         Testing Cycles

·         Final Testing and Implementation.

·         Post Implementation.

Software testing has its own life cycle that intersects with every stage of the SDLC. The basic requirements in software testing life cycle is to control/deal with software testing – Manual, Automated and Performance.

Test Planning

This is the phase where Project Manager has to decide what things need to be tested,do I have the appropriate budget etc. Naturally proper planning at this stage would greatly reduce the risk of low quality software. This planning will be an ongoing process with no end point.

Test Analysis

Once test plan is made and decided upon, next step is to delve a little more into the project and decide what types of testing should be carried out at different stages of SDLC, do we need or plan to automate, if yes then when the appropriate time to automate is, what type of specific documentation I need for testing.

Test Design

Test plans and cases which were developed in the analysis phase are revised. Functional validation matrix is also revised and finalized. In this stage risk assessment criteria is developed. If you have thought of automation then you have to select which test cases to automate and begin writing scripts for them. Test data is prepared. Standards for unit testing and pass / fail criteria are defined here. Schedule for testing is revised (if necessary) & finalized and test environment is prepared

Construction and verification

In this phase we have to complete all the test plans, test cases, complete the scripting of the automated test cases, Stress and Performance testing plans needs to be completed. We have to support the development team in their unit testing phase. And obviously bug reporting would be done as when the bugs are found. Integration tests are performed and errors (if any) are reported

Testing Cycles

In this phase we have to complete testing cycles until test cases are executed without errors or a predefined condition is reached. Run test cases --> Report Bugs --> revise test cases (if needed) --> add new test cases (if needed) --> bug fixing --> retesting (test cycle 2, test cycle 3….). In bug lifecycle the default state is "NEW" The final state of bug lifecycle is "CLOSE"

Final Testing and Implementation

In this we have to execute remaining stress and performance test cases, documentation for testing is completed / updated, provide and complete different matrices for testing. Acceptance, load and recovery testing will also be conducted and the application needs to be verified under production conditions. The default state in bug lifecycle is "NEW" The final state of bug lifecycle is "CLOSE"

Post Implementation

In this phase, the testing process is evaluated and lessons learnt from that testing process are documented. Line of attack to prevent similar problems in future projects is identified. Create plans to improve the processes. The recording of new errors and enhancements is an ongoing process. Cleaning up of test environment is done and test machines are restored to base lines in this stage.

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Er Ratnesh Porwal
Software Engineer
www.AeroSoftCorp.com
www.AeroSoft.in
www.AeroSoft.co.in
www.AeroSoftseo.com
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