STLC – Software Testing Lifecycle

STLC – Software Testing Lifecycle

STLC, or Software Testing Lifecycle, is a series of activities carried out during the testing process, with the help of which the quality of the software is guaranteed and its compliance with the requirements. The STLC includes verification and validation activities. Testing consists of a series of actions performed according to a method to ensure product quality.

In this article, we will look at stages of the STLC cycle

• Requirements analysis
• Test Planning
• Creation of test cases
• Setting up a test environment
• Conducting tests
• Closing the test cycle

Each of these stages has clear start and end criteria.

What are the start and end criteria for an Software Testing Lifecycle?

Start Criteria: Describes the conditions that must be met before testing can begin.
Termination Criteria: Describes the conditions that must be met before testing is completed.
There are start and end criteria for all stages.

In an ideal world, the next stage cannot begin until the criteria for the previous stage are met. In practice, this is sometimes not always possible. In this article, we will focus on the activities and outcomes of each step.

Requirements assessment testing

Testing during the requirements assessment (or requirements analysis) phase. At this stage, the QA department evaluates the requirements in terms of testing, looking for software requirements that need to be evaluated in advance. To do this, the QA team can contact the customer’s representatives. Requirements can be “functional” or “non-functional”, that is, they may or may not relate to the functional component of the software. Also at this stage, an assessment of the possibility of using automated testing is carried out.

Activities in the requirements assessment phase

• Defining Test Types
• Gathering information about testing priorities
• Preparing a Requirement Traceability Matrix (RTM)
• Defining a Test Environment
• Analysis of the possibility of test automation (if necessary)
• Results of the requirements assessment phase
• Requirements Tracking Matrix (RTM)
• Automation Opportunity Report (if needed)
• Planning

During the planning phase, the QA team leader defines the testing strategy and estimates the effort. Resources, test environment, possible limitations, and testing schedule are also evaluated. At the same stage, a test plan is prepared and finalized.

Actions in the planning phase

• Preparing a strategy (or test plan)
• Selection of testing tools
• Effort Estimation
• Resource planning, defining roles and responsibilities
• Additional team training (if needed)
• results
• Test strategy document
• Resource estimate document

Stage of Creating Test Cases

At this stage, test data is prepared, and test cases are created.

• Creation of test cases (and autotests, if automation will be used)
• Preparation of initial data for testing
• results
• Test cases and/or scripts
• test data
• Setting up a test environment

This is a setting of hard and soft, in which the testing process will be carried out. This is one of the critical aspects of the process and can run parallel to the test case creation phase. The QA team may not be included in this process if the development team provides it with a test environment. The QA team will have to check the health of the environment (at least with a smoke test).