Role of Software Tester in Software Development Life Cycle( SDLC) - SDLC vs STLC

What is Software Development Life Cycle - SDLC

In software engineering, software development life cycle is a conceptual model used in project management , a process is a splitting of software development work into distinct phases (or stages) containing activities with the intent of better planning and management.  The methodology may include the pre-definition of specific deliverables and artifacts that are created and completed by a project team to develop or maintain an application. Common methodologies include waterfall, prototyping, iterative and incremental development, spiral development, rapid application development, extreme programming and various types of agile methodology. 

What is Software Testing Life cycle  - STLC

The process of testing a software in a well planned and systematic way is known as software testing life cycle(STLC), a process is a splitting of software testing work into distinct phases (or stages) containing activities with the intent of better planning and management. Normally STLC activities are performed against SDLC phases


The most famous SDLC methodology is Water fall and V& V Model, so in this article we will focus on these modes

Water Fall Model

Waterfall Model was first Process Model to be introduced. It is also referred to as a linear-sequential life cycle model. It is very simple to understand and use. In a waterfall model, each phase must be completed before the next phase can begin and there is no overlapping in the phases.  Waterfall model is the earliest SDLC approach that was used for software development .  The waterfall Model illustrates the software development process in a linear sequential flow; hence it is also referred to as a linear-sequential life cycle model. This means that any phase in the development process begins only if the previous phase is complete. In waterfall model phases do not overlap.

What is V  &V Model

The V-model represents a software development process which may be considered an extension of the waterfall model. Instead of moving down in a linear way, the process steps are bent upwards after the coding phase, to form the typical V shape. The V-Model demonstrates the relationships between each phase of the development life cycle and its associated phase of testing.(wiki)

 

 Software Testing Activities in Software Development Life Cycle 

For every software development activity there is a corresponding testing activity.

• Each test level has test objectives specific to that level.
• The analysis and design of tests for a given test level should begin during the corresponding development activity.
• Testers should be involved in reviewing documents as soon as drafts are available in the development life cycle.

Requirements Review	Review the available requirements, its initial phase of requirements. So you can have requirements in any form ARS, SRS
	Define the scope of testing
	Define the out of scope
	Identify  Product risk  and Issues
	Initialize the test planning ( identify test types, test environment details, Automation feasibility)
Test Planning	Review the SRS , System structure and design. The initial steps is after your review you should have finalized SRS document
	Create Test Plan (Test levels, types, strategy ,entry exit criteria)
	Finalize the In Scope , out of Scope items
	Provide Test Estimates which will be the part of development plan
	Create the test environment requirements and setup your test environment. Identify all test date and every thing you need in upcoming phases
	Schedule Testing Activities with roles and responsibilities
	Define risks and mitigation plan
	Define automation feasibility if required and plan the activities accordingly
	Review and get approved your test plan by the QA Manager and PM
	Create your teams task list with responsibilities
Test Designing	Create Test Design document
	Create Requirement Traceability Document
	Identify test conditions and test scenarios
	Create detailed test cases
	Do the peer review
	Prioritize and Categorize you test cases into Smoke Test, Sanity Test, Integration Test, System Test, Shipment Assurance Test
	Get review with team and approval on your test cases from the developement
Test Execution	Install received builds on your test environment
	Create test execution plan, your main reference is your test plan.
	Start execution of your test cases accordingly to the priority and categorization
	Create and update your defect logs
	Update your execution logs
	Update the traceability matrices
	Create quality metrics to measure the quality of release's
	Manage your execution plan
Test Closure	Evaluate execution results
	Evaluate exit criteria  you defined in your test plan
	Evaluate Product risk /Issue
	Create quality metrics to measure the quality of release
	Prepare Test closure report
	Review your deliverables
	Create sign - of  certificate