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Categorized into two major types, functional and non-functional, requirements are an integral part of software development, as they help developers develop a product that meets the expectations of the client. Functional requirements can be thought of as an 'objective' of the software product and the core of the entire software development process. Whereas, non-functional requirements are an extension to the functional requirements.

Though considered to be similar, Functional Testing and Non-Functional Testing, both, are vital parts of Software Testing Life Cycle (STLC), which are used to test various important features and components of the software product, such as its quality, functionality, performance, and more. Moreover, both of these testing techniques ensure the basic requirements of the software are accomplished and it has optimum compatibility, reliability, scalability, security, etc.

In this article, learn how Non-Functional Testing encapsulates various productive testing techniques to evaluate and assess the non-functional traits of a software application.

If you want to understand the differences between System, Functional, and Business Requirement Specification, check out our article on the same and get a detailed comparison of the three requirement specifications.

A type of non-functional testing and a part of the quality management system, Operational Acceptance Testing is an important testing technique used in software development and software maintenance projects. It is performed during the last stage of software testing and can be termed as the final verification before the product release.

Also known as Flood Testing, Volume Testing belongs to a group of non-functional tests (volume, load, and stress) that are performed to analyze the system performance by increasing the volume of data. This volume can be in general terms, the size of the database or it could be the size of a file interface that is being tested in volume.

Compatibility testing is a non-functional testing technique, generally used to validate and verify the compatibility of the developed software or website with various other devices or browsers. It is performed during the early stages of quality assurance, as it enables the team to ensure that the compatibility requirements are fulfilled and inbuilt in the end product.

A type of software testing, Robustness testing assesses the performance of the software under stressed conditions. Testers have to be very careful while preparing test cases, as it is primarily focused on non-functional aspects of a system.

A non-functional form of testing, Recovery testing is performed through forced failing the software in different ways and checking how well the recovery has panned out. Some of the potential failures that are resolved with this process are: External server becomes Unreachable Failure of Power Supply Hazardous Climate Conditions Unexpected System Behaviour Disturbances from Nearby Electronics Intermittent or Disconnected Network Overloaded Network