As we all know, Software Testing is one of the important processes in the IT field. This process tracks and verifies whether the software has any bugs or is giving the expected result. The creation of software is a game of finding and solving bugs. Bugs can be a headache and a lifesaver at the same time in the process of software testing.
You must have been confused why we are focusing so much on bugs today. The reason is our today's topic. This article will discuss the difference between Severity vs Priority in Software Testing.
Severity
Severity is the maximum impact on software due to a bug or defect. Severity is a parameter that is measured based on the impact of a specific feature in the software. If it is high means the bug will have a greater impact on the software. A Quality Assurance Engineer is a person who measures the Severity level of software.
Types of Severity
The severity is divided into four categories. Let's discuss them one by one.
Critical: This is a type of bug in which the complete software or the program stops working. In other words, it is a condition where the tester or the user cannot use any features of the software. These types of features should be fixed immediately.
Major: This is a type of bug in which a few important features get blocked due to some defect in the program. These types of bugs do not shut down the complete system, though they are also important and must be fixed within time.
Minor: This is a type of bug in which you face some undesirable mistakes, but the features of the software work properly. These types of bugs can wait until the next update of the software.
Low: This is a type of bug in which the features of the software or the UX do not get affected even though they are considered valid bugs that need to be fixed.
Priority
Priority can be defined as the order in which the developer should fix a bug. The bugs that are higher in order should be fixed first, according to the definition. The tester set the priority level based on the effect of the bug in the system. The priority order is denoted in numerical or alphabetical order.
Types of Priority
There are mainly three types of priority. Let's discuss them one by one.
High: This is a type of defect where the failure issue requires instant action because it can damage the software as time passes. This can lead to many issues like system breaches, data loss, crashes, etc.
Medium: This is a type of defect that also harms the software but not as much as high-priority does. The causes of these kinds of defects can be incorrect results or the instability of the software. These types of issues can wait until the next update of the software.
Low: This is a type of defect that harms the software very little. This leads to making it the least-priority task. These defects get fixed along with some big bugs or defects. The low-priority defects include minor formatting issues, typographical errors, and cosmetic defects.
Severity vs Priority
We are now clear with the definition of Severity and Priority. Let us now discuss the difference between Severity vs Priority in Software Testing.
Severity
Priority
The severity is subjective and does not change from time to time.
The priority is not subjective, so it changes from time to time.
Severity works on the quality standard.
Priority works on scheduling and fixing the issues.
Severity deals with the technical aspects of the software.
Priority deals with the order of defects that needs to be fixed.
The testing engineer decides the Severity.
The product manager sets the priority of bugs.
The severity is detected by its functionality.
The priority is detected by the business value.
Severity has further four types:
Critical
Major
Minor
Low
Priority is further divided into three types, which are as follows.
High
Medium
Low
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Software Testing?
Software Testing is one of the important processes in the IT field. This process tracks and verifies whether the software has any bugs or is giving the expected result.
Explain the main difference between Severity vs Priority in Software Testing.
The main difference between Severity vs Priority in Software Testing is that Severity is the maximum impact on software due to a bug or defect. On the other hand, Priority is defined as the order in which the developer should fix a bug.
Name all types of Severity in Software Testing.
There are four types of Severity in Software Testing, which are Critical, Major, Minor and Low. The critical type is a type that needs to be fixed on an urgent basis.
Name all types of Priority in Software Testing.
There are three types of Priority in Software Testing, which are High, Medium and Low. As the name says, High-priority needs to be fixed as soon as possible, medium priority can wait for the next update, and low priority can be fixed with other defects.
Conclusion
This article discusses the difference between Severity vs Priority in Software Testing. In detail, we have seen the definition of Severity and Priority along with their types. We have also seen the tabular difference between Severity vs Priority in Software Testing.
We hope this blog has helped you enhance your knowledge of the difference between Severity vs Priority in Software Testing. If you want to learn more, then check out our articles.
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