Published by : International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)

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Vol. 9 Issue 08, August-2020

Comprehensive Study of Software Testing

Techniques and Strategies: A Review
Miss. Divyani Shivkumar Taley Dr. Bageshree Pathak
Department of Electronics & Telecommunication Department of Electronics & Telecommunication
Engineering, Engineering
MKSSS's Cummins College of Engineering for Women, MKSSS's Cummins College of Engineering for Women,
Pune, India Pune, India

Abstract— Software testing is a process used to identify the organization. In simple terms in order to make sure that the
correctness, completeness and quality of developed software. It release software is safe and it's functioning as expected. The
includes set of activities conducted with the intent of finding concept of software testing was introduced. It is important
errors in software so that it could be corrected before the because software bugs, errors and defects can potentially
product is released to end user. It gives measures for finding
efficiency and accuracy of the software. It mainly focuses on
leads to expenses and dangerous consequences. Software
how to improve the functionality of the software and also on testing is exceptionally imaginative intellectual task for
how to improve performance of the software. To test software testers to perform. There are principles that every testers
fully, we need to do its validation and verification before should aware of while performing software testing. Different
handling it to the customer. So for this purpose, software issues are involved in software testing like scalability,
techniques and software testing strategies are developed. usability, security etc.
Software testing techniques deal with how a specific part of the
software would be tested, while Software testing strategies 2. LITREATURE SURVEY
provides, well planned series of steps that result in successful In 2019, Authors Azeem Uddin and Abhineet Anand, from
testing. This paper describes about software testing and its
aspects like software testing techniques and software testing
Galgotias University,Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India
strategies. Moreover it describes basic life cycles which are presented paper titled "Importance of Software Testing in the
required for performing quality testing. Process of Software Development". This paper is published
in International Journal for Scientific Research Development|
Keywords— Software Testing Life Cycle; Software Testing Vol. 6, Issue 12, 2019. Comparative study of present scenario
strategies; Software Testing Techniques of software testing with regard to testing in early days is
done. Described about the objectives of software testing and
1. INTRODUCTION also about different levels of software testing. Moreover, this
Software testing is process carried out to find whether the paper focuses on Why to test. This paper presented a
actual results meets the expected results. It is the evaluation comprehensive account of all the terminologies that are
of the software. To find errors in the developed software and related to software testing. [1].
those errors should get resolved from software development In 2017, Authors Monika Thakur and Sanjay from Himachal
team to improve the quality of the product. Quality engineers Pradesh Technical University, Hamirpur, India presented
should create tasks according to the severity of error. paper titled "Reviewon Structural Software Testing Coverage
Software testing is just not only for finding error or bugs in Approaches". This paper is published in International Journal
the software but also for improving the quality of the of Advance research, Ideas and Innovations in Technology,
software. To all worries it provides cost effective solution. It Volume3, Issue 3, 2017. In this paper different software
provides enhanced product to customer in terms of testing approaches are reviewed. Testing techniques used are
functionality, accuracy, data security etc. It is an iterative White-box testing and black box testing. Focuses on how to
process. It continues after the product is completed. The main enable the business to acknowledge and comprehend the
objective of software testing is to verify and validate the dangers of software usage the software testing can likewise
completeness of product. The product should meet the give a target, the free perspective of the software. [2].
technical requirement of the product. Technical bugs should In 2017, Authors Ms Ankita sethi from IPEM Group of
get report properly by tester and also tester should ensure that Institutions presented paper titled "A review paper on levels
software is glitch-free, before it releases to market. Testers on levels, types and techniques in software testing". This
have to generate high-quality test cases and issue correct paper is published in International Journal of Advanced
problem report Research in Computer Science, Volume 8, No. 7, July –
Software testing saves lot of effort, money and time of August 2017. In this paper different types of testing are
the organization that are developing and selling the product. discussed. Different software testing techniques have
Software testing offers business optimization. It confirms that mentioned. [3].
an application or product is able to operate well and fine in all In 2016, Author Rajendra Kumar presented paper titled
required conditions and on all different kinds of operating "Software testing technique and Strategies". This paper is
systems and on web browsers properly and correctly. Well published in International Journal of Engineering Applied
this enhances user experience and customer satisfaction. All Sciences and Technology, 2016 Vol. 2, Issue 2. This paper on
these above facts contributes to money so they bring profit Software testing describes in detail about software testing,

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Published by : International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)
[Link] ISSN: 2278-0181
Vol. 9 Issue 08, August-2020

need of software testing, software testing goals and

principles. Different Software testing techniques such as
Correctness testing, Performance testing, Reliability testing,
security testing. Discussed about grey box testing, about its
strategies. [4].
In 2014, Author K. Rajasri, and T. Godwin Selva Raja from
Christ College of engineering and technology, Pondicherry
University, Pondicherry, India, presented paper titled "An
Evolution of Testing in Software Engineering" This paper is
published in International Journal of Advanced Research in
Computer Engineering Technology Volume 3, Issue 2. This
paper addressed all major points of Software Testing Life
Cycle (STLC) and the testing importance Bug Report. Detail
information about bug reporting is explained. Bug reporting
and importance and quality assurance for the applications is
the main focus of the paper. [5].
In 2013, Author Shruti N. Pardeshi from Medicaps Institute
of Science and Technology, Indore, India presented paper
title "Study of Testing Strategies and available Tools". This
paper is published in International Journal of Scientific and
Research Publications, Volume 3, Issue 3, March 2013. In
Fig 1: Software Development Life cycle
this paper various different strategies of testing is described.
Available testing tools and there necessity is described. [6].
Different phases of Software Development Life Cycle is
shown in above fig 1.
3. METHODOLOGY
Each phase of Software Development Life Cycle is explained
Executing test cases in planned and a systematic manner
below.
is called testing life cycle. Life cycle in single terms can be
stated as changes from one form to other. Every entity has its
3.1.1 Requirement analysis
life cycle. Software is also an entity. There basics life cycles
Requirement analysis is the first phase of Software
which is required while developing software are mentioned
development life cycle. In this phase all the required or
below.
relevant information is get collected from costumer.
Interaction is done with customer so as to develop the product
3.1 Software Development Life Cycle
as per customer expectations. Business analyst and project
Software Development Life Cycle is used in software
Manager interacts with customer that is they arrange meeting
industries. It is used for designing, developing and for testing
with customer and gathers all the required information like
high quality software. The main aim of this life cycle is to
what is the purpose of product, who will be end user of this
produce high quality product or application. It should meets
product etc. Before building a product having thorough
with requirements of customers, software should get develop
knowledge of the product is very important. This will give us
within time and cost estimations is also very important in this
idea to find out scope of the product. After gathering all the
life cycle. It works efficiently and effectively in the present
information, analysis can be done on product to decide how
information technology infrastructure available. Software
much time will require to develop a product, how much
Development Life Cycle is used to improve the development
resources will require, what are limitations, what is the
process. It shortens the time required for the production. It
benefits of the product and also some other item will be
gives a structure to developers, which they can prefers while
considered. From these analysis we will get know that how
developing any product or application. Software
much is the feasibility of the product. In this phase
Development Life Cycle provide basis to project. Gives us
requirement document should get finalised so that developers
complete idea about product or application estimation,
and also customer can refer that document in further.
planning and scheduling. Gives framework to set of
standards. In other words, we can say that it is one kind of
3.1.2 Feasibility study
mechanism for project tracking and its controlling. Software
Feasibility phase document is prepared which is require for
Development Life Cycle gives complete visibility to
software development. Different checks are taken into
stakeholders who are involved in development team. This
consideration to prepare this specification document. This
will leads to increase speed of development and also
document should include points like, is the project can get
enhances development quality. Also it will reduces project
completed within budget provided to us or not, whether the
risks.
existing computer system can support the software or not, can
we create different tasks or operations which is expected to
our costumer or to client, In the given schedule is we can
complete this project or not etc. Complete document in which
various factors of product or application are added.

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3.1.3 Design of product is done. In maintenance phase production team

In this phase of development all features, architecture of the may add new features also.
product, all the necessary specifications proposed system
which will require are designed. Software can be designed in 3.2 Software Testing Life Cycle
two ways. Those ways are high level design and low level Software Testing Life Cycle consists different testing
design. In high level design brief description of architecture is activities which should be conducted in the sequence while
specified, what functionality will be require for designing testing. The main aim of this life cycle is that it should meet
module is outlined, interface specification are discussed, quality goals. Software testing phase plays vital part in
architecture information and its diagram is prepared, Software Development Life Cycle. Testing team needs to
identification of database, details of technology along with plan many activities. Every activity should be quality
architectural diagram. In low level design structure of input oriented. Every team needs to know its ultimate scope
and output items, how error message should appear, how whenever they starts planning any follow. Similarly, at a very
should be the interface of the product, type and size of the early stage testing should be able to analyse the scope of
database, dependencies issues should be mentioned all these testing for the product. Each and every document prepared by
point are specified. This information will help developers to testing team should be in a proper way and each step should
understand overall architecture of the system. be understandable. If all test scenarios are covered properly
as per the requirement, then it will take less time to execute
3.1.4 Coding test suit. This will help to find bugs at early stage.
This phase is the longest phase in Software Development Life
Cycle process. Developers write code in this phase. By using
chosen programming language code is written by developers.
In this phase tasks are divided in to sub tasks or in modules.
Different tasks gets assigned to different developers.
Developers need to write the code as per guidelines. Various
functional conditions should be taken into consideration
while writing code. Developers must follow the design
document.

3.1.5 Testing
In this phase quality assurance team and testing team tests the
functionality of the product. Once product is developed.
Developers deploy it for testing purpose. QA and testing team Fig 2: Software Testing Life Cycle
test the product and verify that whether present results match
with expected result as mentioned in requirement document. Different phases of testing life cycle are shown in Fig 2.
If the QA and testing team finds bug in product they can Each phase of Software Development Testing Life Cycle is
explained below.
report bug. Testers will assignee bug to developers.
Developers will fix the bug and assignee back for retesting
bug. QA and testing team will retest the bug. If the bug is 3.2.1 Requirement Analysis
fixed QA and testing team will closed the bug. If the bug is In this phase testing team and Quality Assurance team study
not fixed QA and testing team will reopen that bug. This and analyse the requirement document properly. Testing team
cycle will get continued until the product will becomes bug- and QA team tries to understand requirement document
thoroughly. If testing team and QA team unable to understand
free. Also, that product should meets with all conditions
added in requirement document. any point from requirement document then they can interact
with stakeholders to solve there queries related requirement
3.1.6 Installation/Deployment document in detail. Once testers and QA team understands
In this phase once all bugs are marked as closed by QA and requirement properly, it gives them clear idea about which
type of testing will be required to test the product. Testing
testing team that is when product reaches to the stage where
priorities can be set from this. Testers can set Environment
there is no error in the system and when all actual result
meets with expected results also depending on feedback of for testing.
project manager decision of deployment of software will be
taken. Manager releases the software for deployment. 3.2.2 Test Planning
In this phase test plan and test strategies are determined.
Testing manager calculates efforts and time required for
3.1.7 Maintenance
testing. Also he finds outs the cost estimation required for
Once the product is deployed successfully, then this product
enters into maintenance phase. After product is deployed, testing. Testing team decides that which environment will
customer starts using it. Customer gives reviews to the require for testing and which types of testing will be done.
products from which team will gets idea which feature should Determines roles and responsibilities.
we add. Testing of the products continues after deployment.
3.2.3 Test Case Development
There may be some scenarios which are not tested at all. Bug
fixing is done at every stage. After fixing bugs, up-gradation

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Testers mostly refers requirement document or test plans to

create test cases. Testers starts creating test cases and test Every phase of Bug Life Cycle is explained below:
scripts in this phase. All pre-condition should be taking into New: While testing product, if testers finds any bug then
consideration while creating test case document and test tester can report new bug.
script. Verification of test case should be done in this phase. Assignee: When testers creates new bug. According to the
If test environment is available then create test data. bug type, assignee's that bug to appropriate developer.
Open: Whenever tester creates new bug, the status of that bug
3.2.4 Test Environment Setup will be open. When developer starts working on that bug, he
This phase plays vital role in Software Testing Life cycle. It will change bug status according to the work process he is
decides conditions on which software is tested. This activity been performing.
independent activity. That is testers can starts performing this Fixed: When developer fixes the issue that is when he
activity along with development of product. In this completes his work. He marks the status of bug as fixed. An
requirement list of hardware and software is prepared. Tester assignee back this issue to tester.
does not decides test environment. Test environment is Retest: When developer assignee back the bug to the tester.
created by developer and customer. Tester retest that bug.
Verified: When tester retest that bug. He verifies all steps are
3.2.5 Test Execution working properly which are mentioned in bug.
Test execution phase gets started once test case development Closed: If the test case which is mentioned in the bug is
and test environment setup is done. Testers starts executing working properly then tester marks bug status as closed.
test cases and if any failure occurs in it testers reports it. Reopen: If the test case which is mentioned in the bug is not
Tester's reports bug. Development team fixes that bug. working properly, that is if tester is not getting expected
Testers retest that bug and mark it as close if it is fixed or results then he marks bug status as reopen and assignee this
reopens it if it not fixed. bug again to appropriate.
Duplicate: If tester reports the same bug. One of bug among
3.2.6 Test Cycle Closure two bugs can be marked as Duplicate.
In this phase evaluation of different activities is carried out. In progress: When developer starts his works. At this stage
Completion of time, quality, execution, business conditions developer marks bug status as in progress.
and quality of software. Need to prepare test matrices. Testers Deferred: When reported bug in not on high priority and
prepares test closure report. Quantitative report should get when that bug can be fixed in next release. Status of those
prepared to give work product to customer. Need to find out bugs are marked as deferred.
how many defects has occurred and its distribution according Not a bug: If the reported bug is not correct or when the bug
to its severity and priority should be done. is not genuine. Then those bug are marked as not a bug

3.3 Bug Life Cycle 3.3 Software testing techniques

Bug life cycle goes through different phases. Bug life cycle After the code is develop successfully, tester's needs to test
starts when tester found new issue and ends when tester the functionality of the system. Software testing techniques
closes that issue. Bug life cycle differs from project to are broadly categorized into two parts. Those parts are static
project. testing and dynamic testing.

3.3.1 Manual testing (Static testing)

Manual testing is primitive type of testing. In manual
testing testers manually execute test cases. Any product
should get tested manually first before performing
automation testing. Manually testing helps in finding bugs in
product. Manual testing can be chosen manual testing when
project is in initial development phase. When testing user
interface especially with visual aspects also when project is
short term project. When there is a short term project and
when writing a script becomes time consuming manual
testing is prefer.

[Link] Steps of Manual testing

Step 1: In order to successfully conduct the manual testing
you first need to understand requirement document. So by
understanding requirements you will get to know that what
needs to be tested and what classify as a defect or bug. This is
Fi the crucial part of testing.
g 3: Bug Life Cycle Step 2: Writing the test cases. Once you understand the
requirements you can write test cases. This test cases
Above fig 3 shows different phases of Bug Life Cycle. basically guide you through sequence of test, test function

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and different scenarios written within software product or Step 8: Reporting bugs
application. Writing good test cases is very important as they Step 9: Maintenance of scripts
are can help in executing each and every test case very
smoothly and ensure good test coverage. 3.4 Software testing strategies
Step 3: Once you are done by writing test cases. Next step is Software testing strategies are very important in order to
conducting the tests. Once test cases are written and test construct software successfully. Software testing strategies
environment are properly prepared it's time to begin testing. combines test cases design methods. This will leads to
You can follow test cases and mark each test as pass or fail or planned systematic steps for carrying out successful testing of
skipped. While doing manual testing it is important to keep a software. Software testing strategies are developed by
notes. That's really important you can't ignore the fact just software tester and project manager.
because your test fails. Four types of testing strategies are there. Explaination of each
Steps 4: Next step is to log good bug report. In addition to strategies is given below.
actual testing as a tester you will be responsible for logging
bugs as well. So as you find any bug, you need to inform log 3.4.1 Unit testing
information for the development team about the defect. Smallest testable part of software is called as unit. This
Writing good bug report will help you and your team later. testing type is performed by development team. As this
You will save yourself time answering this questions about testing type is performed by developer, respective developer
the bugs later. So basically you have a document you refer to. needs to have proper knowledge about code designing. Unit
A good bug report should have title, steps how to overcome testing is the simplest testing type. Quality assurance team
bugs, expected and actual results and any relevant member can also perform this type of testing. It is cost
attachments that will help development team to understand effective testing type and also it is not time consuming
the bug like screenshot, recordings etc. activity. Several other testing techniques get performed under
Step 5: You need to create detail test report. After running unit testing effectively like functional testing, structural
tests it is good to know the tests at very high level like how testing etc. Unit testing is not depended on whole system.
many tests got run successfully, how many tests got failed, Individual testing of small unit is carried out in this. Multiple
how many tests got passed and how many test got skipped engineers can perform this testing type at a time. This testing
like that. This step is very straight forward. can also be performed while fixing issues in parallel. Unit
testing comes under white box testing. This testing type is
3.3.2 Automation testing (Dynamic testing) performed at lowest level.
In automation testing, automated tools are used. Test
suits are run on automation tool. Whereas in manual testing 3.4.2 Integration testing
testers needs to sit and run test suits one by one. Testers On combining two or more tested units an integrated
needs to write test scripts. Automation testing is faster than structure or group is formed. The main aim of integration
manual testing. In automation testing random test are not testing is to combine these small units and test them together
allowed. Automation testing are done by using tools. Highly that is, to test them in form of group. Every time tester needs
skilled testers are required in this field who is having full to perform each test after adding new unit in existing group.
knowledge of that domain. Automation testing is known as On performing this testing type continuously, less error may
validation testing. For modification purpose testers needs to occurs at time of regression testing. If immediate bugs are
modify the scripts. Testing can be performed on different reported while performing integration testing then may be
operating platform which will help in reducing the time. For less effort will require for regression testing. If new module
performing automation testing, testers should have proper gets added in structure then testers needs to verify each test
knowledge of programming language. In automation testing case repeatedly from start to end. Integration testing is an
other testing types are also get suited. Those are regression upper level testing.
testing, load testing, performance testing. As this testing is
done by tools this testing type is more accurate. Automation 3.4.3 System testing
testing is cost effective. Automation testing is more reliable Validation of whole architecture is main aim of system
than manual testing. More investment are required for tools testing. All unit are combined in this testing type. In this end-
and for automation engineers. Automation testing require less to-end testing is performed. It tests that whether system meets
complex testing setup or less complex environment setup to specified requirement. Quality of software can be ensured by
test scripts. performing system testing. From specified requirement, all
functional condition should get validate by system testing.
[Link] Steps of Automation testing This testing is performed on production environment. Some
Step 1: Testers needs to find automation tools experts. other types of testing are also performed while doing system
Step 2: Need to choose the correct tool for testing. testing those are security, recovery, user interface,
Step 3: Analysing various application and from that need to compatibility etc. System testing falls under black box
decide that which tool is best suited for automation. testing.
Step 4: Training the other team mates.
Step 5: Creating framework for the automation. 3.4.4 Acceptance testing
Step 6: Executing developed planned.
Step 7: Write scripts

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Acceptance testing is called as final stage testing. It is very testing requires less complex testing setup than manual
important type of testing. It is performed before delivering testing.
the system finally to end user. It tests that whether product REFERENCES
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Tester should have the knowledge of what testing techniques
should be used at different stages while building software.

5. CONCLUSION
Software testing strategies and software testing
techniques are discussed in this paper. Moreover, it provides
information on each phase of Software Development Life
Cycle, Software Testing Life Cycle and Bug Life Cycle.
These life cycles helps in improving the quality of software
and in overall development process of software. By using
these standard testing techniques and testing strategies a
stable and robust product can get delivered to end user.
For testing software testers requires technology at each
stack level to ensure that every part of system as well as
entire software works properly without breaking down. Every
testing level of software testing strategies has its own
significance. Unit testing is performed for testing small
modules or part of software, integration testing is performed
to test integrated modules of software, system testing is
performed to evaluate complete system or software and
acceptance testing is performed to evaluate system's
compliance requirement. Software testing techniques helps to
develop test cases and test scripts for performing manual and
automation testing respectively. These techniques provides
the procedure for testing a specific part of the system and also
for testing whole system. In manual testing test cases are
executed by human tester whereas in automation testing
automation tools are used to execute test cases. Automation
testing is significantly faster than manual testing. Automation

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