Software Testing - Exit Criteria

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Software testing is a critical part of software development life cycle (SDLC). However, the decision when to stop testing is important since the testing activities can not continue forever, the software needs to move to the next stages of SDLC.

What is the Exit Criteria?

The exit criteria is defined by the testing team after taking feedback from the different stakeholders in the project, namely the developers, product managers, quality assurance managers etc. In order to define a correct exit criteria, the test team should go through the functional and non-functional requirements of the software. A fruitful communication and cooperation among all the stakeholders and team members help in creating an effective exit criteria for a software.

The exit criteria describes the critical quality metrics that determine if the software has met all the standards. These quality metrics include parameters like the performance, stability, security, usability, responsiveness, how much the software is working as per the requirements etc. The exit criteria also sets the clear pass and fail conditions and the threshold acceptable limit up to which the functional and non-functional requirements be satisfied in order to be considered for release.

The exit criterias are usually documented in a test plan and anyone from the team or project stakeholders can go through them and have an idea on the exit conditions that should be met so that the software can be considered ready for the customer. Thus an exit criteria is a group of pre-established contexts that need to be satisfied before testing is considered complete and the project can move to the next stages of SDLC.

An exit criteria also depends on the test plan, and the test strategy decided upon. It mainly tells about the project deadlines, budget, complete execution of all the test cases, coverage of all functional and non-functional requirements, closure of all high priority defects, successful regression execution, all types of compliance, approvals from project stakeholders etc. The software exit criteria is also maintained at each testing phase. For example, exit criteria of the unit testing phase should be completed before commencement of the system testing phase, and so on.

What Factors Decide the Exit Criteria?

The software exit criteria is determined at the time of test planning and implemented after taking inputs from test managers, developers, and all project stakeholders. Also, it is impacted by the testing methodologies adopted in the project. The factors which decide the software exit criteria are listed below −

• Specifications and functionalities of the software.
• The budget, resources, and timelines allocated for the software.

The exit criteria for testing a software application is also decided depending upon all the levels of testing namely, the unit testing, system testing, system integration testing, and the acceptance testing. Thus an exit criteria ensures that the quality of the software is maintained without impacting any schedules.

What are the Exit Criteria?

The exit criterias are different in different projects, organizations, teams etc. But some of the common exit criterias are listed below −

Execution of Test Cases

The execution of all the test cases decided on test plan should be completed and documented. To complete the testing process, there should be a minimum percentage of passed test cases with no critical opened defects.

Coverage

The execution of the test cases should achieve minimum percentage of test and code coverage.

Closure of Defect

All high priority defects should be closed. The count of the total number of open defects should be up to a certain number as mentioned in the test plan and should be deferred.

Regression Execution

All the regression test cases should be executed successfully and there should not be any defects introduced due new code changes.

Compliance

The testing process should adhere to the industry standards, regulations and compliance.

Performance

The software should be built such that all the non-functional requirements namely performance, scalability, usability, security, etc should be met.

Security Compliance

The software should adhere to all the security standards, compliances and verify if there are security vulnerabilities, or weaknesses in the software.

Test Report

The test report should be shared with the project stakeholders containing information about all the testing activities, results, any unresolved issues, risks etc.

Approval From Stakeholders

The test activities should be reviewed and approved by all stakeholders confirming that they are content with the entire process.

Importance of Exit Criteria

The exit criteria is very important to ensure that the software quality is maintained, and to take a unanimous decision on when to stop testing without impacting the project success. It establishes an open testing process and guidelines that are agreed upon by all project stakeholders.

The exit criteria helps to plan allocation of test resources. Once the exit criteria is met, the testing resources can be utilized for other projects. By analyzing the test exit criteria, the effectiveness of the testing process can be measured. Failure to meet the exit criteria repeatedly, points to the need for the test process improvements, resources addition etc.

Conclusion

This concludes our comprehensive take on the tutorial on Software Exit Criteria. We’ve started with describing what factors decide the exit criteria, what is the exit criteria, and what are the exit criteria. This equips you with in-depth knowledge of Software Exit Criteria. 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.