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 deal with software testing. Software testing life cycle identifies the different test activities to be carried out and at different stages of the overall software development process to achieve best results in terms of software quality.
Software Testing Life Cycle consists of six phases:
Test Planning
Test Strategy
Test Design
Verification
Validation Cycles
Final Testing and Implementation
Post Implementation.
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Test Planning:
This is the phase where Project Manager has to decide what things need to be tested, what are the budget allocated for the testing activity, what is the time period allocated for testing etc. Hence these factors have to be planned properly during Test Planning.
Activities at this stage would include preparation of high level test plan-(according to IEEE test plan template The Software Test Plan is designed to address the scope, approach, resources, and schedule of all testing activities. The test plan must identify the items to be tested, the features to be tested, the types of testing to be performed, the personnel responsible for testing, the resources and schedule required to complete testing, and the risks associated with the plan.). Almost all of the activities done during this stage are included in this software test plan and revolve around a test plan.
Test Strategy:
Once test plan is made and decided upon, next step is to delve 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.
Proper and regular meetings should be held between testing teams, project managers, development teams, Business Analysts to check the progress of things which will give a fair idea of the movement of the project and ensure the completeness of the test plan created in the planning phase, which will further help in enhancing the right testing strategy created earlier. We will start creating test case formats and test cases itself. In this stage we need to develop Functional validation matrix based on Business Requirements to ensure that all system requirements are covered by one or more test cases, identify which test cases to automate, begin review of documentation, i.e. Functional Design, Business Requirements, Product Specifications, Product Externals etc. We also have to define areas for Stress and Performance 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.
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.
Validation Cycles:
In this phase we have to execute all the test cases that were planned in the test Planning and Verification phases. This includes the manual and automation test cases executions. What ever defects/bugs are found they have to be reported using a bug tracking tool like Bugzilla or Test Director. This validation process occurs in cycles. After getting the build from the developers, the testers execute the test cases and report the defects. Then the developers fix the bug and give new builds. The testers pick the new build and start testing it for the bug fixes as well as for regressions. This process continues for a few cycles until the build becomes stable enough to stop testing.
Final Testing and Implementation:
In this phase 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.
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.
Given below a tabular representation of the Testing Life Cycle.
Software Testing Life Cycle
Phase Activities Outcome
Planning
Create high level test plan
Test plan, Refined Specification
Analysis
Create detailed test plan, Functional Validation Matrix, test cases
Revised Test Plan, Functional validation matrix, test cases
Design
test cases are revised; select which test cases to automate
revised test cases, test data sets, sets, risk assessment sheet
Construction
scripting of test cases to automate,
test procedures/Scripts, Drivers, test results, Bug reports.
Testing cycles
complete testing cycles
Test results, Bug Reports
Final testing
execute remaining stress and performance tests, complete documentation
Test results and different metrics on test efforts
Post implementation
Evaluate testing processes
Plan for improvement of testing process
