Software Testing Life Cycle (STLC)

Introduction

STLC (Software Testing Life Cycle) which includes different phases of the testing process.The testing process is executed in a well-planned and systematic manner. All activities are done to improve the quality of the software product.

STLC (Software Testing Life Cycle) is a process of specific activities/phases organised during the testing process to ensure software should meet the quality. STLC involves both verification and validation activities.Mostly These flow of process is followed in many industries.

STLC (Software Testing Life Cycle) is journey of testing from where we start testing to end or in other word it is"Overall journey of testing from start to end"

Software Testing Life Cycle (STLC) Following Various Phase

Software testing life cycle (STLC)

First we understand the following term meaning

PM-Project Manager.

TE-Test Engineer.

TL-Test Lead.

TRM-Test Responsibility Matrix.

SRS-Software Requirement Specification.

RTM/RMS-

Requirement Traceability Matrix/Requirement Mapping Sheet.

In Software testing life cycle (STLC) following various phase are included

1.Test Initiation.

2.Test Plan.

3.Requirement Analysis/SRS Analysis/Requirement understanding.

4.Test Scenario Identifications.

5.Test Case Design.

6.Test Case Review.

7.Preparing Traceability Matrix.

8.Test Case Execution.

9.Retesting,Regression Testing.

10.Test Summary Report/Software Release Note.

Let's See One By One Phase And Their Role In STLC

1.Test Initiation

In Software testing life cycle (STLC) testing start with the test Initiation stage PM(Project Manager) play an important role in this stage.

During test Initiation phase PM is going to concentrate on following three things

1) Scope of project

2)Requirement of project

3) Risk of project/Risk involved in project

By considering above three things PM is going to finalize the TRM document TRM means Test responsibility matrix.

After finalize the TRM ,PM forwarded this TRM to test lead i.e TL for further process.

2.Test Plan

After receiving the TRM from PM test lead i.e TL start to prepare Test plan here TL take TRM as input to prepare test plan.During test plan phase

TL (Test Lead) is going to concentrate on following three things

1) Job Allocation.

2) Resource Allocation.

3) Estimation.

1) Job Allocation- Job allocation means what are the different task tester need to perform.

2) Resource Allocation- Resource Allocation means who is going to perform which task.

3) Estimation- Estimation means start and end date of testing activities.

By considering this all above three things TL prepare Test plan will be reviewed by project manager and client and after that final test plan document is pass to all team member in pdf format.Test plan every sprint has his own test plan.

Test plan document is reviewed in sprint planning meeting if organization/company follow agile methodologies.

3.Requirement Analysis/SRS Analysis/Requirement understanding

After test plan phase user story/SRS Analysis phase come into the picture after receiving test plan document in sprint planning meeting test engineer start to understand the requirement or start to analysis the requirement.

Once test engineer received test plane he came to know about job allocation on which tester know the which user stories are assign or on which user stories tester should work then tester start understanding the requirement.

During user stories analysis if tester not understand any particular requirement the tester should rich out to there test team member if they are not able to understand the requirement then tester should rich out to test lead if test lead.

Also not solve the problem then teater rich out to developer and then product owner.if issue is still not solve then tester rich out to client with the permission of project manager.

4.Test Scenario Identifications

Test scenario is a high level document which consist of all the possible way of testing the application here tester should try to break the application in multiple way.

Then prepare a positive & negative scenarios positive scenario means to check the application with valid input data and negative scenario means check the application with invalid input data and see the how application respond in invalid case.

5.Test Case Design

After test test scenario identifications tester should write the test case design.Test case design means How to test? the application test case design consist of navigational statements important point is that client not problem with the test count he wants only software functionality should get tested.

6.Test Case Review

After test case design test case review come into the picture after writing the test case it is very important to review the test case.

Four types of review

1) Self review:-In self review Test engineer himself/herself is review his own test cases.

2) Peer review:- Peer review is done by test team member.

3) Internal review:-Internal review is done by test team member,dev team member,BA(Business analyst)/PO(Project owner) or it will happen within organization.

4) External review:- In external review client will review the test cases also test team,dev team and BA will also be present there.

In test case review see whether all requirement are covered or not whether test scenarios tester have written should covered test case for it?

Also checking the spelling mistakes if any.If there is any steps missing in test case also review priority of test case should take or not.

7.Preparing Traceability Matrix

After test case review prepare traceability matrix is important traceability matrix where we identified missing test cases."Traceability Matrix is mapping between business requirement and written test cases".

During traceability matrix if tester found any missing test case then tester should add it in traceability matrix to find out missing test cases all are review test cases again and again.traceability matrix also know as RTM(Requirement Traceability Matrix) or RMS(Requirement Mapping Sheet).

Two way to prepare Traceability Matrix

1) Excel sheet

2)HP-ALM (Project Management or Defect Management Tool)

Following are the two types of traceability matrix

1) Forward Traceability Matrix.

2)Backward Traceability Matrix.

1)Forward Traceability Matrix

Forward traceability matrix is mapping between business requirement and written test cases.Forward traceability matrix is prepared before test case execution.

Forward traceability matrix column contains Sr.name,RequirementID,Requirement Name,TestCaseID,TestCase(TC)(Verify/Not verify)

2)Backward Traceability Matrix

Backward Traceability Matrix is mapping between business requirement and defect.Backward Traceability Matrix is is prepared after test case execution.
Backward Traceability Matrix column contains Sr.no,Requirement ID,Requirement Name,Defect ID.

8.Test Case Execution

After preparing traceability matrix tester start to executing the test cases after receiving the build from developer then tester start to test case execution.

Tester execute test cases one by one here he perform smoke,sanity,functional,non functional,database,retesting and regression testing.

During execution found any defect to tester then he raise defect to his assign developer after that developer fix that defect and again send modified build to tester on that modified build tester start doing retesting.

1) Retesting

In retesting test engineer going to check whether bug or defect is fix or not.during resting tester check the modified build which send by developer after fixing the bug.In retesting test engineer is going to concentrate on specific particular functionality where actual bug is occured.

2) Regression Testing

In test case execution after retesting its mandatory to do regression testing also whenever new functionality is added then also do regression testing is mandatory.regression testing is define as

"Whenever their is new functionality is added and whenever there is defect fix then in both this cases there is change in code by developer due to that change in code tester need to check its not effect on existing functionality"

In two condition tester should perform regression testing whenever there is new functionality is added and whenever there is defect fix.

Two times tester need to perform regression testing on every consolidated build/every new build and second is master build.

Following are two types of Regression testing

1) Regional type regression testing

Regional regression testing done with modified module along with impacted module.Here which module is modified and which impacted module is only test here.

2) Full regression regression testing

Full regression regression testing done with main features and also remaining part of the application.In full regression testing which is modified and impacted with all features of application should be tested here.

9.Test Summary Report/Software Release Note

After compilation test case execution done test summary report/software release note it contains final summary of all the testing activities done in hole process and how testing is done.

Test summary report is prepared by test lead(TL) after preparing test summary report he share this report to all over team it include detail report of every tester.

Based in this document client will decide or take decision on the software release.

Test summary report consist

1)Total number of test cases executed.

In test summary report there is point we have covered that is total number of test cases tester should be executed and mention that number in the report.How many test cases executed.

2)Total number of pass test cases.

In test summary report there is most important point tester should have to cover is that how many test cases is pass and how many remains.

3)Total number of fail test cases.

In current sprint how many test cases is fail that also important to mention.

4)Overall pass percentage.

After the all pass test cases count tester is also cover and note the pass percentage of current sprint .

5)Overall fail percentage.

After the all fail test cases count tester is also cover and note the fail percentage of current sprint that helps to next sprint.

6)Approved by.

Who can approved this summary report the name mention here.

7)Defect/deviation problem.

Defect or deviation problem in the current sprint and yet not solve this also mention in the test summary report.

6)Comment if any.

If any comment is there here it mention.

Important Questions Related To Interview/Exam

1)What is STLC?

→STLC (Software Testing Life Cycle) is journey of testing from where we start testing to end or in other word it is overall journey of testing from start to end.

2) Which are the different phases in Software testing life cycle (STLC)

→1.Test initiation.

2.Test Plan
3.Requirement Analysis/SRS Analysis/Requirement understanding.
4.Test Scenario Identifications.
5.Test Case Design.
6.Test Case Review.
7.Preparing Traceability Matrix.
8.Test Case Execution.
9.Retesting,Regression Testing.
10.Test Summary Report/Software Release Note.