Alpha and beta testing

Now we know a few techniques for testing it is important that they are put into practice. Testing is carried out in phases and by different people. The two most obvious phases are alpha and beta tests.

Alpha tests are always carried out by the developer or their testing team. The user of the software will not be involved. When code is translated initially it will contain a lot of bugs. As such alpha builds do not tend to be stable. In fact alpha builds may lack functionality or not even work. It is critical that a alpha built is not given to the customer.

Beta testing is normally done further on in the development cycle. Beta testing is where all of the main functionality has been created and already tested. Beta builds should be more stable than alpha builds but may contain bugs and problems. Beta testing is carried out by the user so they can show what bugs and problems they will come up against when using the code for real. It is also a chance to suggest tweaks where necessary.

It is common for a beta build to be completely rejected by the user. Projects where this happens tend to either fail or come in over budget. Common reasons for the user to reject the software tend to be based around the fact that the developer had not carried out analysis well. Customer involvement from the outset of a project is critical to the projects success.