# What Is Software Testing Life Cycle?

Running a test cycle is much easier when you have effective testing tools. Here’s everything you need to know about effective software testing.

Much research has been conducted to identify the causes of software failures. One of the leading causes of these failures is poor quality assurance during the development process.

The purpose of running rigorous software quality assurance tests is to prevent the release of any faulty or poor-quality products. However, small mistakes can still slip through, no matter how precise the software development process is. These mistakes cause glitches and errors that may impact user experience.

In this post, we discuss the Software Testing Life Cycle and STLC phases. Keep reading to discover the best tool to run test cycles for smooth and successful new releases.

## Software Testing Life Cycle (STLC)

A Software Testing Life Cycle works in a sequence of activities during software testing to ensure quality software, which leads to better results. It involves strategizing, planning, and executing test cycles to make recommendations for improvement.

Why is STLC important? The test cycles detect errors, glitches, and other software defects so the developers can fix them before release. It also detects any software vulnerabilities which might make the product prone to threats.

## STLC vs Traditional Quality Assurance (QA)

Every organization wants to present a perfect end product to the customer. However, back in the day, testing wasn’t a part of the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC).

The traditional Quality Assurance (QA) testing happened right before the product release to ensure the product didn’t contain any defects that would impact its functionality.

Organizations started to include testing in their SDLCs, and it soon became an essential part of every enterprise. The test cycles include:

- testing of a software product or system
- understanding development objectives and meeting quality requirements
- finding bugs and errors in the product and reporting them to the development team

STLC yields more valid and comprehensive results than traditional QA testing, which happens after product development is completed. It helps organizations make changes in the product for increased customer satisfaction, resulting in increased revenue.

## What Is the Purpose of Test Cycles?

Since STLC is a series of specific actions performed during the testing process, it has various stages, such as planning, execution, standardization, etc.

The objectives of STLC measures include:

- Removing product errors at the earliest stage of development
- Improving the quality of the SDLC
- Influencing scaling frameworks like SAFe
- Delivering quality to clients and enhancing user experience

## Six Phases of STLC

STLC starts right after the requirements of the software products are shared. It is an integral part of SDLC but consists of testing phases. Each testing phase helps achieve the end goal – a high-quality software product. Therefore, every test cycle has its own purposes, all aiming to remove defects.

The six main test cycle phases are as follows:

- Requirement Analysis
- Test Planning
- Test Case Development
- Test Environment Setup
- Test Execution
- Test Cycle Closure

### Requirement Analysis

Requirement analysis is the most basic and most important phase in which the test team studies project requirements to identify test types and priorities to be performed. The software requirements include both functional and non-functional specifications, providing opportunities to test and validate.

### Test Planning

In this phase, the team prepares a plan of all the phases of testing, timing, participants, and roles. The goal of this phase is to finalize:

- test plan
- participants’ responsibilities
- necessary testing tool
- estimated test effort
- required testing environment
- test case development

### Test Case Design and Development

Once the test plan is in place, the next stage begins by writing, creating, and verifying complex test cases and test scripts. The aim remains to validate the products based on the requirements.

### Test Environment Setup

The test plan determines the servers, frameworks, hardware, and software requirements for different performance levels. In this phase, the team understands the minimum requirements and sets up test environments for executing developed test cases.

### Test Execution

In the test execution phase, the testers execute the tests as planned in a correctly configured test environment. The deliverables of this phase include completed RTM with execution status, test results, and defect reports.

### Test Cycle Closure

The final stage of STLC is test closure, which is the generation of testing reports. Ideally, it should include the duration of testing, total errors found and fixed, and the percentage of errors to positive test results.

## Software Test Automation

Implementing test automation and maximizing test coverage can speed up and improve a software testing process. If you want to run the testing effectively, you can use a software testing tool like MuukTest, a codeless test automation platform with 20x faster testing.

## Conclusion

The Software Testing Life Cycle is a set of measures to understand the state of a system and make recommendations for improvement. Software test automation tools can help speed up the whole process by helping you run smooth test cycles and producing instant reports.