What is Software Testing Life Cycle? | STLC Stages

Just as a software lifecycle involves a series of phases, the same concept applies to software testing. During the testing process, software applications are tested for a range of issues such as functionality, compatibility, responsiveness, performance, and security.

Basically, the Software Test Lifecycle (STLC) performs various tasks involved in testing a software application (these can be websites or mobile applications).

These tasks in STLC focus on verifying whether the developed software application meets quality standards and the specific needs determined by customers.

In this article about the Software Test Lifecycle, we will cover the fundamentals of software testing and the phases of the Software Test Lifecycle.

 

What is the Software Test Lifecycle (STLC)?

The Software Test Lifecycle (STLC) is a process used to test software and ensure that quality standards are met. It involves several phases, each critical for software development. STLC phases can be executed multiple times until the software application reaches a quality level suitable for release.

If there are any errors in the application, software test specialists work with the development team to fix the bugs. It is impossible to ensure that the product is bug-free when only a single test is conducted. Therefore, multiple tests are carried out in each Software Test Lifecycle (STLC) phase.

In STLC, software test specialists play a significant role in the following areas:

• Improving the Agile process
• Setting clear deadlines for testing in projects
• Documenting and consistently tracking project objectives
• Ensuring that all objectives are met correctly
• Testing each software feature before adding new ones
• Identifying tasks that can be automated to improve the testing process

 

 

What are STLC and SDLC?

The Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) and the Software Test Lifecycle (STLC) are two important concepts in software development. Although these concepts are often thought to be the same by most people, they actually have different roles and functions.

To explain it more clearly, SDLC manages the entire journey of a product from inception to the final product. Among the various phases of SDLC, testing is one of the most important phases. Software testing itself has its own lifecycle, which we call STLC.

SDLC 👇

• Gathering software requirements
• Designing the software
• Creating and testing the software product
• Deploying the software to the production environment
• Updating and maintaining the software code 

STLC 👇

• Test requirement analysis
• Test planning and development
• Setting up the test environment
• Executing test cases

Other important differences between SDLC and STLC are as follows:

Role of STLC in SDLC

In the previous section, we saw that the main purpose of SDLC is to deliver high-quality products. So, how can we measure high quality? 🤔

User experience is directly proportional to the quality of a product. One of the most important elements to ensure this quality is to make sure that the product works seamlessly and as expected. This is where STLC, the Software Test Lifecycle, comes into play. 

The role of STLC in SDLC is to identify parts of the product that do not work smoothly or as expected and report these issues to the development team.

Now that we understand what STLC is, let's look at why it is so important. The core task of STLC is to find defects in the software and ensure they are fixed. The main goal of implementing STLC is to maintain product quality.

STLC aims entirely at ensuring product quality. Every application has different features like reliability, functionality, and performance. STLC helps improve these features and facilitates the delivery of an ideal final product.

 

What are the Software Testing Phases?

Understanding the phases of the Software Test Lifecycle (STLC) is important to make better decisions on how to test software. STLC consists of 6 phases, each with its own entry and exit criteria. The entry-exit criteria define when the phase starts and ends. Since software testing itself is a detailed process, test specialists perform it in the following phases:

✅ Requirement Analysis

✅ Test Planning

✅ Test Scenario Development

✅ Test Environment Setup

✅ Test Execution

✅ Test Closure

Let's take a closer look at each 👇.
 

1. Requirement Analysis

Requirement analysis is the first step in STLC. In this phase, software test specialists must understand the product requirements that need to be tested. For example, QA teams can review both functional and non-functional requirements and then determine which requirements need to be tested.

The requirement analysis phase includes:

• Identifying and prioritizing test requirements
• Ensuring the QA team clearly understands the test requirements
• Designing a Requirements Traceability Matrix (RTM)
• Identifying any defects or gaps in product features

 

2. Test Planning

In this phase, the QA team creates a test plan based on the test requirements. Test planning effectively transforms insights from the requirement phase into a well-documented test strategy. At this stage, relevant teams can determine the time and cost of the testing process.

Test planning consists of the following steps:

• Preparing a test plan according to the identified requirements
• Selecting the appropriate manual test or test automation tool
• Assigning roles and responsibilities to the QA team
• Identifying any training needs

 

3. Test Scenario Development

After the test planning phase, the test scenario development phase is entirely about creating test cases based on the test plan and requirements. To be effective, the test scenario needs to cover every feature of the software. 

The main tasks performed in this STLC phase are:

• Updating the prepared test scenarios or automation scripts
• Defining test conditions for expected test outputs
• Preparing test data necessary for testing

 

4. Test Environment Setup

Effective software testing requires a complete test environment consisting of servers, test frameworks, and software tools. Additionally, the correct test environment should include all configurations likely to be used by end users.

The tasks performed in this phase are:

• Defining the parameters of the test environment
• Conducting smoke tests
• Prioritizing and setting up test environments

 

5. Test Execution

In this phase, the software application is ready to be tested according to the defined test plan. Any software errors are found in this phase. The QA team reports the bugs it catches to the development team.

What is done in this phase includes:

• Reporting errors resulting from executing test cases
• Retesting the product (after bug fixes) for any new errors
• Using test automation to increase test coverage

 

6. Test Closure

Test closure is the final phase of STLC. This phase marks the end of test scenario execution and the final product delivery. The QA team discusses product quality, project costs, and test coverage based on test results. At the end of this phase, QA teams present a test closure report summarizing the test results.

The main tasks performed in this phase are:

• Reviewing outputs such as test strategy, test plans, and automated test scripts
• Preparing an incident report containing details of unexpected behaviors during testing

 

What are Entry and Exit Criteria in the Software Test Lifecycle?

Entry criteria are the conditions and requirements that must be met before testing begins. These criteria ensure that the testing process proceeds effectively. 

Exit criteria specify the requirements and actions that must be completed before testing concludes. In other words, they include items to be removed from the task list and processes that must be completed before testing stops.

 

The Place of Test Automation in STLC

Think about completing a big puzzle; organizing each piece individually could take hours. But if you have a guide to help you find the right pieces, everything progresses much faster. Test automation is exactly like such a guide.

When developing a game or application, you need to conduct tests to verify functionality. You can perform these tests manually, but it can be quite time-consuming. This is where test automation comes into play. Automation handles monotonous and repetitive tasks on your behalf, such as continuously clicking the same buttons or typing the same text over and over.

Test automation helps you save both time and cost by quickly identifying errors. It also ensures that tests are completed much faster and makes it easier to ensure that the application runs smoothly.

 

Software Test Lifecycle (STLC) Methodologies

In software testing, there are various methodologies to execute software testing processes.

1. Waterfall Methodology

One of the oldest methodologies in the Software Test Lifecycle (STLC) is the Waterfall Methodology. It is very straightforward in its use. It works similarly to a downward-flowing waterfall. 

In this model, each phase is completed before the next phase is executed, thus ensuring that no phases overlap. The Waterfall Methodology consists of 6 phases such as requirement gathering and documentation, system design, implementation, testing, delivery/deployment, and maintenance.

 

2. Scrum 

Scrum is one of the project management methods created to increase the success rate of complex software projects. They are short meetings where team members come together to talk about which phase they are in, what the next steps are, and the challenges they might face in complex and difficult software processes.

 

3. V-Model

The V-Model is a system that runs development and testing activities side by side. Tasks in the V-Model are completed at the same time. It shows software development activities on the left side while showing ongoing testing phases on the right side. This means that each element of the software development cycle is inextricably linked to the phases of software testing. 

 

4. Agile 

Agile, namely the Agile methodology, is a project management and software development approach that promises faster product delivery with relatively fewer headaches. Instead of planning and managing everything all at once, Agile offers us a small and effective method. The Agile methodology consists of 6 subcategories such as planning/analysis, design, coding, testing, deployment, and maintenance .

 

Software Test Engineering

What are the career opportunities in software test engineering? Questions like are there jobs available for software test engineers are among the frequently asked questions. One reason for this is that when creating a career plan, the availability of job opportunities in the relevant field, whether companies are in demand for employees in this area or not, and what the conditions are, are extremely important.

As for the question, software test engineers are experts in high demand across many industries for their skills in ensuring the smooth deployment and effective testing of applications. This demand is particularly high in software development, finance, entertainment, and gaming sectors. 

If you are interested in software test engineering, you can join our community to meet other experts at our meet-ups and join our large community on Discord to stay updated with the latest developments.

If you are already a software test specialist, all you need to do to achieve your dream career is to create your profile on Coderspace and wait for us to find the perfect opportunity for you! Click here to create your profile in 2 minutes and lean back, let us handle the rest. :)