Manual testing is usually part of a comprehensive software testing process and is performed prior to software release. The testing process can be a systematic process that uses formal test plans and action cases or can informally be performed by a user domain expert. The software can be tested for multiple user roles such as for software admin and software user—both using software but in a different ways. Some of the steps within a manual testing approach include the following testing Approach.

Although manual testing primarily reviews and tests a website from an end-user perspective, manual testing may also be performed by software developers/testers using their knowledge and experience to identify defects within software.