Software Testing Life Cycle(STLC)
Explain STLC with an Example?
There are different phases in STLC. The testing activities start from the Requirements analysis phase and goes through all the phases one by one before completing with the Test cycle closure phase.
- There are 6 STLC Phases in the STLC Lifecycle
- The entry criteria must be fulfilled before each phase can start
- The exit criteria should be fulfilled before exiting a phase
- Every phase has one or more deliverables that are produced at the end of the phase
- The phases are executed in a sequence.
The 6 STLC Phases are given below:
- Requirement analysis
- Test Planning
- Test case development
- Environment Setup
- Test Execution
- Test Cycle Closure
Each of the step mentioned above has some Entry Criteria (it is a minimum set of conditions that should be met before starting the software testing) as well as Exit Criteria (it is a minimum set of conditions that should be completed in order to stop the software testing) on the basis of which it can be decided whether we can move to the next phase of Testing Life cycle or not.
Let us discuss about each phase of the STLC Life Cycle in detail. The STLC lifecycle can run in parallel or overlaps with the project life cycle.
This is the very first phase of Software testing Life cycle (STLC). In this phase testing team goes through the Requirement document with both Functional and non-functional details in order to identify the testable requirements.
In case of any confusion the QA team may setup a meeting with the clients and the stakeholders (Technical Leads, Business Analyst, System Architects and Client etc.) in order to clarify their doubts.
Once the QA team is clear with the requirements they will document the acceptance Criteria and get it approved by the Customers.
- Analyzing the System Requirement specifications from the testing point of view
- Preparation of RTM that is Requirement Traceability Matrix
- Identifying the testing techniques and testing types
- Prioritizing the feature which need focused testing
- Analyzing the Automation feasibility
- Identifying the details about the testing environment where actual testing will be done
- Requirement Traceability Matrix (RTM)
- Automation feasibility report
Test Planning phase starts soon after the completion of the Requirement Analysis phase. In this phase the QA manager or QA Lead will prepare the Test Plan and Test strategy documents. As per these documents they will also come up with the testing effort estimations.
- Estimation of testing effort
- Selection of Testing Approach
- Preparation of Test Plan, Test strategy documents
- Resource planning and assigning roles and responsibility to them
- Selection of Testing tool
- Test Plan document
- Test Strategy document
- Best suited Testing Approach
- Number of Resources, skill required and their roles and responsibilities
- Testing tool to be used
In this phase the QA team write test cases. They also write scripts for automation if required. Verification of both the test cases and test scripts are done by peers. Creation of Test Data is done in this phase.
- Creation of test cases
- Creation of test scripts if required
- Verification of test cases and automation scripts
- Creation of Test Data in testing environment
- Test cases
- Test scripts (for automation if required)
- Test Data
This phase includes the setup or installation process of software and hardware which is required for testing the application. In this phase the integration of the third party application is also carried out if required in the project.
After setting up the required software and hardware the installation of build is tested. Once the installation of build is successful and complete then the Test Data is generated.
After the creation of Test data the Smoke testing is executed on the build in order to check whether the basic functionalities are working fine or not. This phase can be done in parallel with the Test Case Development phase.
- As per the Requirement and Architecture document the list of required software and hardware is prepared
- Setting up of test environment
- Creation of test data
- Installation of build and execution of Smoke testing on it
- Test Environment setup is ready
- Test Data is created
- Results of Smoke testing
Before starting the Test Execution phase the Test Environment setup should be ready. In Test Execution phase the test cases are executed in the testing environment.
While execution of the test cases the QA team may find bugs which will be reported against that test case. This bug is fixed by the developer and is retested by the QA.
- Execution of Test Cases
- Reporting test results
- Logging defects for the failed test cases
- Verification and retesting of the defect
- Closure of defects
- Test execution Report
- Updated test cases with results
- Bug Report
In order to start the Test Cycle Closure activity the Test Execution phase should be completed. In Test Cycle phase the QA team will meet and discuss about the testing artifacts.
The whole intent of this discussion is to learn lessons from the bad practices. This will help in future projects.
- To evaluate the test completion on the basis of Test Coverage and Software Quality
- Documentation of the learning from the project
- Analyzing the test results to find out the distribution of severe defects
- Test Closure Report preparation
- Report of Test Closure
The below table briefly explains the Software Testing Life Cycle STLC along with the Entry Criteria, Activity, Exit Criteria and Deliverable associated with each phase:
Entry Criteria | Activity | Exit Criteria |
Availability of Requirement document both Functional as well as non-functional Architectural document of the application or the product should be available Acceptance criteria defined and duly signed by the customers | Analysis of System Requirement specifications to understand the different business modules and it’s functionalities To identify the user profile, user interface and user authentication Types of tests to be performed on the application or product should be identified Should collect the details about testing priorities Preparation of RTM that is Requirement Traceability Matrix Test Environment details should be identified in order to do testing Analysis of automation possibility if it is required | RTM should be signed off The customer should sign off on the test automation feasibility |
Deliverables (Outcome) – Requirement Traceability Matrix (RTM), Report on Automation Feasibility if it is applicable | ||
| Entry Criteria | Activity | Exit Criteria |
| Detailed requirement document Requirement Traceability Matrix (RTM) Automation Feasibility Report | Preparation of Test Plan document Preparation of Test strategy document To analyze the best suited testing approach for the application or product To analyze the testing techniques and the types of testing to be carried out in order to maintain the quality Selection of the testing tool Estimation on the testing efforts Resource planning as per the skill required for testing and also assigning roles and responsibility to them | Approved Test Plan document Approved Test Strategy document Document of Effort estimation |
| Deliverables (Outcome) – Test Plan document, Test Strategy document, Effort estimation document | ||
| Entry Criteria | Activity | Exit Criteria |
| Detailed Requirement document Test Plan and Test strategy documents Automation Feasibility Report | Creation of test cases for all the modules or features in the application or product Creation of automation scripts if required Review of test cases and test automation scripts Test data creation | Reviewed Test cases Reviewed Test automation scripts Test data creation ready for testing |
| Deliverables (Outcome) – Test cases, Test automation scripts, Test data | ||
| Entry Criteria | Activity | Exit Criteria |
| System design documents should be available Architectural document of the application should be available Environment set-up plan document should be available | Understanding the design and architecture of the application Setting up the test environment Installation of required hardware and software in order to start testing the application Integration of any third party application (if required) Installation of build Creation of test data Execution of smoke testing on the build Accepting or rejecting the build as per the smoke test result | Environment setup is ready for testing All the required software and hardware are installed Build installation is complete and successful Test data creation is complete Smoke testing is done |
| Deliverables (Outcome) – Test environment along with test data, Smoke test result | ||
| Entry Criteria | Activity | Exit Criteria |
| Documents like RTM, Test Plan, Test strategy, Test cases and Test scripts should be ready Test environment should be ready Test data should be ready Integration of third party application (if required) should be successful Smoke testing of the application should be successful | Execution of test cases Preparation of test result document Logging defects for the failed test cases Mapping of defects with the test cases To update the test cases and test strategy if required Fixed defects should be retested Closure of the defects if they are working as expected Execution of regression testing of the application or product in order to ensure its stability post defect closure | All test cases are executed Defects are logged and tracked for closure |
| Deliverables (Outcome) – Completed the test case execution, Updated the test cases wherever required, Defects reported | ||
| Entry Criteria | Activity | Exit Criteria |
| All the test cases are executed and updated Test results are documented Defect logs are available | Evaluation of the test completion on the basis of Test Coverage and Software Quality Preparation of Test Closure report Analyzing the test results to find out the distribution of severe defects | Signed off Test Closure report by the client |
| Deliverables (Outcome) – Test closure Report | ||
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