Alpha Testing in Software Engineering

Phases of Alpha Testing :

Alpha testing contains two phases –

1. The first phase consists of testing by developers in which defects are identified and detected quickly.
2. The second phase of testing is done by quality assurance team for additional testing i.e. to ensure that product works properly or not.

Process of Alpha Testing :

1. Analyze the design specification
2. Review the functional requirements
3. Create a test plan and test cases
4. Execute test plan
5. Find log issues
6. Retesting after fixing the issues

Goal of Alpha Testing :

• It ensures that software should work properly according to the customer’s requirement for which it is created.
• This testing helps to find the critical issues/defects in the software product.
• The main aim of this testing is to provide the feedback from the customers.
• It gives the answer of the question “Does the product works ?”

Advantages of Alpha Testing :

• Feedback gets earlier which helps to improve the software quality.
• Build confidence to deliver the software product.
• It provides better test management.
• It helps to analyze the risks before delivering the product.
• It is cost-effective with respect to similiar data gathering techniques.

Disadvantages of Alpha Testing :

• It is not expected to test all the functionality of the software product.
• Reliability and security are not tested.
• It can take a long time to complete execution cycle. 
• Only the business requirements are scoped.