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Software Alpha Testing

A software goes through numerous stages of testing before it is actually launched for the customer. Alpha testing is testing type conducted before the software is ready for beta testing. It is a kind of user acceptance testing.

What is Alpha Testing?

Alpha testing is an end-to-end testing to check if the software functionalities are working fine, and its business requirements are satisfied. It is performed by individuals from the internal product team, developers or testers. A lab or staging environment is set up to carry out the alpha testing. It involves both black and white box testing.

While other testing like unit, and smoke are done on individual clusters and functionalities at the time of software development, the alpha testing measures software’s overall performance, its working, and performs all the tasks it is meant to do as per the end user expectations.

The alpha testing detects the critical software bugs before the software is released to production. It involves testing of all real-life use cases in the staging or controlled environment. The alpha testing is successful only if the acceptance criteria set by the product owner is met. It also verifies if the software is robust, user-friendly, stable, and has a good performance.

Why is Alpha Testing Done?

The alpha testing is done to identify the errors, and issues in the software which were not detected previously. Once these issues are fixed, it enhances the software quality. It involves the customers in the software development. The alpha testing gives us an idea of the overall software performance at the early stages of software development life cycle(SDLC).

It is conducted in the staging environment to verify if all the functionalities, and features of the software are working as expected. It also reduces the probability of defect occurrences once the software is released to the public.

Advantages of Alpha Testing

The advantages of alpha testing are listed below −

It gives the scope of identifying defects in the software before it is deployed to production.
As more and more defects are identified in the software, it enhances the software quality.
It leads to an increased customer satisfaction while the software is actually being used by them.
It helps to have faster resolution of issues and reduce the chances of encountering them again.
By identifying defects at the early stages of SDLC, it reduces the cost of defect leakage to production.
A successful alpha testing is a prerequisite for the beta release of the software.
Alpha testing helps to detect the threshold limit of usage load that the software is able to resist while executing the real-life use cases.

Disadvantages of Alpha Testing

The disadvantages of alpha testing are listed below −

It does not cover in-depth testing of the whole system.
It is conducted by internal teams, so the data used for alpha testing is different from the ones actually used by customers at the production.
The lab set up and the staging environment is used to simulate and execute the real-life scenarios during the alpha testing, however all these arrangements are not similar as the real environments, conditions etc used by the customers.

Process of Alpha Testing

The process of Alpha testing begins with the review, analysis of the design document and functional requirements. Based on the understanding of the requirements, the test plan and test strategy are created. Then the test scenarios and cases are designed and sent for reviews and approvals. Finally, once the software is ready, test execution is carried out, and defects are identified and logged. The fixed defects are retested and finally closed.

The Alpha testing is carried in two phases −

Phase 1 − In the Phase 1 of Alpha testing, verification is done by in-house developers. They utilize the hardware aided debuggers or software debuggers. It is made with the sole aim to detect defects quickly. A lot of defects, and issues are encountered in this phase.
Phase 2 − In the Phase 2 of Alpha testing, verification is done in-house quality assurance members. They perform both black and white box testing.

Difference Between Alpha and Beta Testing

The differences between the Alpha and Beta testing are listed below −

Alpha testing involves both black, and white box testing, however in Beta testing only black box testing is done.
Alpha testing is carried out by the internal product team, developers or testers, while the Beta testing is done outside the organization, specially from the customer side.
Alpha testing is done at labs and staging environments and the Beta testing is done at the client location in a real environment.
Beta testing verifies how secure, and reliable the software is, but alpha testing does not test these perimeters.
Alpha testing tests the software quality before it goes to beta testing, however the beta testing checks if the software is working properly, and incorporates the customer feedback to the software before it is released to production.
Errors detected in the alpha testing are fixed in the software, but errors identified in the beta testing phase are incorporated in the future software releases.
Several test cycles are done in the alpha testing phase, while one or two test cycles are performed in the beta testing.

Conclusion

This concludes our comprehensive take on the tutorial on Software Alpha Testing. We’ve started with describing what is alpha testing, why alpha testing is done, advantages, disadvantages, and process of alpha testing, and differences between alpha and beta testing. This equips you with in-depth knowledge of Software Alpha Testing. It is wise to keep practicing what you’ve learned and exploring others relevant to Software Testing to deepen your understanding and expand your horizons.