Want to develop an application?
As is the case with all other sectors, there are phases in software development. There is a life cycle and if one adheres to it, the final product is bound to be good. Here are the phases of Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC).
PLANNING –In this phase, only the high-level details are considered from the projects’ point of view. ANALYSIS – Once the planning portion is done, comes analysis. A feasibility study of the project is done. Estimation work, costing, requirement elicitation, and scheduling are looked into. The intention is clear to do a final check before the work actually starts.
DESIGN – Now the requirement is clear, and the team wants some reference before they work, the designers play a crucial role. What the software will work (functionality wise), how many screens will be there for each section, user interactivity and every bit of detail is designed in this phase.
If a client wants a mobile software for flight booking, designers will come up with layouts, working plans, process diagrams, pseudocodes.
CODING – at this stage most of the major decisions have already been made. The intention of this phase is to replicate the design works into a working piece of software. Here the developers play the prominent role and efforts are laid to produce reusable codes.
Lots of discussions related to a framework and the best suitable methods to create a working software is done. There are programming tools involved which are used by the team of developers which are – Compiler, Debugger, Interpreter.
TESTING – In this phase it is all about testing the developed piece of working software before it is forwarded to the clients or the end users. There are several types of test methodology that are performed here by the testers to find out any possible defects in the software.
MAINTENANCE – This is a kind of after-sales service. Like the way we purchase any bike or car and after a year if there is an issue that produces any hindrance towards proper working. These kinds of issue arise time and again. Here all the bugs that arise when the client is using the software are resolved, any upgradation needed in future or enhancements if any.
Phases in Software Test Life Cycle
REQUIREMENT ANALYSIS – The first step into the STLC process. It’s the part in the entire process where the QA teams get to know the requirement (what to test) and testable requirements. For a better understanding of the requirement, the tester can follow up with the clients (but this happens rarely, only if the testing is needed and not the development). This is a kind of chart that followed in this phase of STLC.
Entry Criteria Activities performed Deliverables
Exact need with complete description to define the testing procedure to follow. Kind of testing are listed in this section Outcomes achieved are listed in this section
TEST PLANNING – The most crucial phase in STLC. Here every estimates and time are calculated before the testing actually starts. The result of this will test plans or strategies documentations. Once this phase is completed the QA team can start with test case development activities. The same chart which is drawn in the upper phase is again used with changes.
TEST DEVELOPMENT – The actual development of test cases is worked after the test planning phase has been completed. Here the testing teamwork on the test cases. Not only the test cases but a complete report which contains the test data are involved and documented. Once completed these are cross verified by peer members or QA leads. Here itself the RTM (requirement traceability matrix) is also prepared. These documents track the requirement in both ways (means forward and backward).
ENVIRONMENT SETUP – This is in general not practiced because the environment has already been decided during the development phase (in SDLC). In general, there does not happen any changes in the environment.
TEST EXECUTION – Here the test cases are executed based on the test plans initially prepared. If the cases are ok, they are marked as PASS otherwise FAIL. A complete list of bugs is prepared in this phase and are forwarded to the development team to fix before the final release of the software.
TEST CYCLE CLOSURE – The team decides what went right and wrong from test perspectives. Things to improve in future that can save the time and effort in the right direction are discussed in this meeting. These are helpful from the development perspective.
