How do you align SIT with the overall software development life cycle (SDLC) and testing strategy?

1 Define your SIT objectives and scope

Before you start your SIT, you need to define your SIT objectives and scope clearly and document them in your test plan. Your SIT objectives should align with the business requirements, system specifications, and quality standards of your project. Your SIT scope should specify what components, modules, subsystems, interfaces, and systems will be included or excluded from your SIT, as well as the test environment, test data, test tools, and test cases that will be used.

3 Prepare your SIT environment and data

Before you execute your SIT, you need to prepare your SIT environment and data that will simulate the real-world conditions and scenarios of your system. Your SIT environment should be configured and maintained to support the integration and interaction of the components, modules, subsystems, interfaces, and systems that will be tested. Your SIT data should be realistic and representative of the expected inputs and outputs of your system, as well as the possible variations and exceptions that may occur.

4 Execute your SIT cases and scripts

When you execute your SIT, you need to follow your SIT strategy and approach and use your SIT environment and data to perform the test cases and scripts that will verify the functionality, performance, and reliability of your system. You need to record and document your test results, observations, defects, and issues that arise during your SIT execution. You also need to monitor and measure your SIT progress, coverage, and quality using appropriate metrics and indicators.

6 Align your SIT with the overall SDLC and testing strategy

To align your SIT with the overall SDLC and testing strategy, you need to ensure that your SIT objectives and scope are consistent with the project goals and deliverables, your SIT strategy and approach are compatible with the development methodology and testing framework, your SIT environment and data are integrated with the other test environments and data, your SIT cases and scripts are traceable to the requirements and specifications, and your SIT outcomes and feedback are actionable and valuable for the stakeholders and users of your system.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?