Testing and BA

Start with SDLC

1. Initiation and Planning
2. Requirements Gathering
3. Development and design
4. Testing
5. Implementation
6. Maintenance
There are Several Teams in a Software company:
1. Business Development BD (Marketing & Sales)
2. Business Analyst Team
3. Development Team
4. Testing Team
5. Deployment or Implementation Team
6. Support Team

PROJECT INITIATION AND PLANNING
BD Team: Backbone of the company. BD people will get projects from customers with their
marketing skills. Once they get a customer, they will have an high-level requirements of software
which is supposed to be built.
Project manager, business analyst and technical architect sit with the sales team to analyse if the
project is feasible based on cost, profit, risks, high level delivery schedule, etc. Based on this
discussion they come to a conclusion and submit proposal to the client called RFP Request For
Proposal.
BD Team will get back to the client with cost and delivery schedule. If client agrees, sales team will
prepare a document called SOW Statement of Work which will be signed off by the client as well.
Once SOW is there, Project manager will prepare a delivery plan called Project Plan, which includes
milestones of the project, iterations, end dates, etc. Also, requirement gathering schedule,
development schedule, design, testing, and implementation schedule will be mentioned in detail.
REQUIREMENT GATHERING
After project is initiated and planning is done by project manager, Business Analyst starts his work.
Business analyst will have a high level requirement from BD team. BA will establish connection with
client and starts requirement gathering. Requirements can be collected via phone, email, face to
face discussion, etc.
Then starts DOCUMENTATION.
BA captures the requirements and translates the issues in the language of developers who have
knowledge of the software they are dealing with. In simple terms BA acts like a translator and
conveys clearly the client requirements to the development team.
The document SRS or BRD Business requirement document is prepared by BA. After the document is
completed the BA and the client meet for a formal review for the approval of the BRD.
BA also prepares Traceability Matrix.
Later on FRD Functional Requirement Document or FSD Functional Specification Document is
prepared by him. This document also requires formal approval of the client.
Once FRD is signed off, BA provides FRD walkthrough to the development/testing teams. For any
queries/clarification on the requirement, development/testing teams can approach BA. Based on
this FRD, testers create test scenarios/ test cases.
The role of BA is very critical because the earlier the errors are introduced in the project, the more
expensive it is to detect and resolve.
DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT
Technical architect would do the designing. How application should interact with Database (front
end, back end), and other technical specifications will be designed at this phase. Two types of
design: High level Design, Low level Design.
DEVELOPMENT
Developers will code the functionality provided by the BA. Once development is over, they do one
round of testing called Unit testing.
TESTING
After coding, it will be passed to testers. Testers will have test cases written vis-a-vis FRD document.
They will validate whether the code developed is in accordance with the FRD document or not. If
any bugs or defects are found, it is passed back to the developers to fix those bugs. The cycle goes
on until all bugs are fixed.
Once application is made bug free, application will be dispatched to User Acceptance Testing, which
is done at client side.
Here again, BA will come into picture. Usually client takes their own time in doing UAT, BA will co-
ordinate with the client. If any bugs found in UAT it will again be moved back to the developers and
testing team. (If any bugs found in UAT by client, it is very bad on testers)
After UAT is successful, application will be in Beta (Beta testing)period for some time, depending on
the deal happened with the marketing team. During Beta period free support will be given to client.
Beta period will be live. After Beta period, Project manager will get sign off form the client. He
provides all the documentation to use software like user guide, installation manual etc.
Later if anything related to software, it will be considered as MAINTENANCE.
Requirement Traceability Matrix (RTM):
The matrix is created at the very beginning of the project as it forms the basis of the projects scope
and deliverables that will be produced.
The purpose of RTM is to ensure that all requirements defined for a system are covered and are
tested in the test protocol.
RTM parameters:
Requirement ID
Risks
Requirement Description
Functional Requirement Document created/updated
Unit Test Cases
Integration Test Cases
System Test Cases
User Acceptance Test Cases
The RTM template shows the mapping between the actual requirement and user
requirement/system requirement. This is the mapping between actual requirement and design
specification.
In any case, if you want to change the requirement in future then you can see the RTM to make the
respective changes and you can easily judge how many associated test cases will be changing.
Requirement
ID
Risks

Requirement
Description

Functional
Requirement
Document
created/updated

Unit
Test
Cases

Integration
Test Cases

System
Test
Cases

User
Acceptance
Test Cases




Difference between BRD and FRD:
The requirements given by the user/customer/client collected in a single document called BRD. It is
a high level document which contains what all the application has to perform to satisfy user needs.
In FRD the requirements are explained in an elaborated manner using use cases, mock ups, etc. It
provides a user clear understanding in pictorial manner using flow diagrams.
Use Case:
A use case is a written description of how users will perform tasks on your application/website. It
outlines, from a users point of view, system behaviour as it responds to a request.
Each use case is represented as a sequence of simple steps, beginning with a users goal and ending
when that goal is fulfilled.