What is Alpha Testing? Process, Example

What is Alpha Testing?

Alpha Testing is a type of software testing performed to identify bugs before releasing the software product to the real users or public. It is a type of acceptance testing. The main objective of alpha testing is to refine the software product by finding and fixing the bugs that were not discovered through previous tests.

This testing is referred to as an alpha testing only because it is done early on, near the end of the development of the software, and before Beta Testing. Check Differences between Alpha testing and Beta testing

Alpha testing is typically performed by in-house software engineers or QA staff. It is the final testing stage before the software is released into the real world.

Because it is run internally, the people who carry it out are drawn from two different groups.

Who is involved in Alpha testing?

Alpha testing has two phases,

1. The first phase of testing is done by in-house developers. They either use hardware-assisted debuggers or debugger software. The aim is to catch bugs quickly. Usually while alpha testing, a tester will come across plenty of bugs, crashes, missing features, and docs.
2. While the second phase of alpha testing is done by software QA staff, for additional testing in an environment. It involves both black box and White Box Testing.

So, alpha testing can be envisioned as an online application that is not completely ready for the usage but has been opened up to get some initial feedback.

Entry and Exit Criteria for Alpha Testing

Alpha testing is a formal phase, not an open-ended activity. Agreeing in advance on what must be true before it starts, and what must be true before it is declared finished, prevents the phase from either beginning too early or running indefinitely.

Entry criteria are the conditions that must be satisfied before the first alpha test case is run.

• Requirements and design specifications are reviewed and signed off.
• A comprehensive test plan and test cases are written and approved.
• The build is feature complete for the scope under test, and smoke tests pass.
• A dedicated test lab environment and test data are available.
• A defect tracking tool is in place and the team is trained on it.

Exit criteria are the conditions that show the phase has achieved its purpose.

• Every planned test case has been executed and its result recorded.
• All critical and high severity defects are fixed and verified by retest.
• Remaining low severity defects are documented and formally accepted.
• The alpha test summary report is delivered and approved.
• The product is judged stable enough to expose to external beta users.

With those boundaries agreed, the day-to-day process can be described.

Alpha Testing Process Example

Usually, alpha testing takes place in the test lab environment on a separate system. In this technique, the project manager teams up with the developer to define specific goals for alpha testing, and to integrate the results into evolving project plans.

As such alpha testing is done on a prototype, in-depth reliability testing, installation testing, and documentation testing can be ignored.

A good alpha test must have a well-defined Test Plan with comprehensive test cases. Various activities involved in alpha testing are logging defects, fixing defects, retesting, several iterations, etc.

Although Alpha testing is not completely functional, the QA team must ensure that whatever is on hand should be thoroughly tested, especially those parts which have to be sent to the customer.

For best practice, the QA team should gather early all additional information like usability feedback on an alpha stage storage code, look and feel of the software, navigation scheme, etc.

Also, e-mail to the customer citing all the details about the test is recommended to make the customer aware of the current condition of the software.

How to do Alpha Testing

To do Alpha Testing efficiently for software testing, we need to first review the design specification and functional requirements, then develop a comprehensive test plan and test cases, after that execute the test plan in order to find log defects and fix those defects and finally retest once the issues are solved for smooth functioning of software.

Alpha Testing vs Beta Testing

Alpha and beta testing are consecutive stages, not alternatives. Alpha comes first and is run by people inside the organisation on a controlled build. Beta follows once the product is stable enough to survive contact with real users on their own machines. Confusing the two leads teams to expose an unstable build to customers, or to delay external feedback until it is too late to act on it.

Advantages of Alpha Testing

• Better insight about the software’s reliability at its early stages
• Free up your team for other projects
• Reduce delivery time to market
• Early feedback helps to improve software quality

Disadvantages of Alpha Testing

The same in-house setting that makes alpha testing fast also limits what it can prove.

• Not a real environment: The test lab rarely matches the range of devices, networks, and configurations that customers use, so environment-specific faults survive the phase.
• Internal bias: Testers who know how the product is meant to be used avoid the unexpected paths that real users take, which hides usability problems.
• Limited depth on a prototype: In-depth reliability, installation, and documentation testing are commonly skipped, so those risks remain open.
• Cost of a dedicated lab: Maintaining a separate environment and staffing two testing phases adds expense that small teams may struggle to justify.
• Schedule pressure: Because alpha sits immediately before release, any slippage earlier in the project tends to compress this phase first.

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