What Is a Staging Environment? Benefits, Process & Examples

Before being officially released, applications or websites are typically placed in a staging environment first.

In simple terms, staging is a replica used to facilitate the testing of an application or website before entering the production stage.

Find out more about what staging development is, its benefits, process, and examples in the article below.

What Is a Staging Environment? 

Staging is a replica of a website or application that has the exact design as its original environment in the production stage.

The staging environment is built to closely resemble the production environment, including servers, databases, and even caching.

In the realm of software development, a staging environment is used to ensure that the product's quality is optimal before entering the production stage.

This phase is essentially akin to the concept of a "rehearsal", as the development team can perform final tests before the application or website is officially launched.

The tests conducted during the staging phase are diverse, ranging from code accuracy tests, visualization of icons within the website/application, copywriting, and operational security.

Why Is Staging Environment Important?

Building a staging environment is a crucial step that development teams should not overlook when creating software, whether it's an application, website, or web app.

By incorporating the staging phase into the development process, you can gain significant benefits, such as:

1. Reduce Post-Production Errors

One of the advantages of staging is that it enables the development team to identify errors before the website or application reaches end-users. 

Through this simulation, errors overlooked during the development stage become much clearer, allowing for immediate corrections.

2. Maximize User Experience (UX)

The staging environment also plays a significant role in maximizing the overall user experience. In this process, the development team can test and ensure that all features are functioning as expected.

Additionally, staging also facilitates developers in reviewing visual assets, such as the placement and shape of buttons, text colors, and font sizes, ensuring that the entire user interface (UI) looks consistent and appealing.

3. Enhance Product Effectiveness Operationally

Within this environment, developers can gauge the operational effectiveness of a website or application. This stage usually involves specific testing to ensure that the developed site continues to operate smoothly in various work scenarios.

4. Cut Repair Costs

As mentioned earlier, staging can help the development team detect bugs or other potential issues before the official production of a website or application. This can prevent additional costs for repairs, which are typically more expensive if new issues are identified after the product's launch.

5. Gather Suggestions and Feedback

In some cases, the staging environment can also be presented to other teams to gather suggestions and feedback on certain aspects. 

Showcasing the staging appearance can help the development team gain fresh perspectives on the developed application or website.

Accordingly, developers can leverage this feedback to assess the successful implementation of features, identify potential improvements, and pinpoint user needs that may not have been addressed.

Staging Processes

Now that you understand what staging is and its benefits in software development, the next step is to learn about each process that occurs in the staging environment.

1. Unit Testing

The first staging process is unit testing. In this stage, the development team tests each component or small unit of software or an application. Overall, it is done to identify issues and fix them promptly before the component is implemented into the production stage.

2. Regression Testing

This test is conducted to ensure that any changes made by the development team do not disrupt the overall functionality of a device. Typically, regression testing is conducted right after the addition of new elements or features, bug fixes, or code changes.

3. Integration Testing

As the name suggests, integration testing is performed to ensure that all components within a device can interact with each other and have been well integrated.

4. Smoke Testing

Smoke testing is also called build verification. This test is usually conducted to ensure that the latest build or version of the software can operate without hindrance. 

It includes the process of verifying the build and system quality before the website or application moves to the next stage.

5. Chaos Engineering

This process is conducted by deploying controlled failure simulations within a system. The main goal is to identify potential vulnerabilities, understand system limitations, and enhance the resilience of the application or website against unexpected conditions.

6. User Acceptance Testing (UAT)

UAT staging is the final stage performed by examining all aspects of the software, both in terms of functionality and UI/UX. 

Typically, UAT involves end-users or stakeholders in an organization. The development team may ask them to conduct final testing before the product truly enters the production stage.

Development Stages

Essentially, software development can be categorized into three main stages:

1. Development

In this stage, the development team writes code, performs branch merging, and creates the design or architecture of the software.

2. Staging

Staging is an advanced phase where the developed code is thoroughly tested in an environment that resembles the production scope.

3. Production

This is the final stage where the software is ready for release and accessible to the general public. After the production stage is complete, the development team needs to monitor the software's performance regularly.

How to Properly Create A Staging Environment

If you are still unsure about how to create a staging environment, see some tips below: 

• Perform testing separately but simultaneously to ensure a comprehensive evaluation.
• Utilize the same tools and hardware in staging as in the production stage.
• Carry out continuous delivery and deployment processes.
• Collect feedback on staging regularly.
• Implement the suggestions received.
• Perform staging testing periodically.
• Select and use a flexible staging environment.

Staging Example

Here is an example of staging used in the cmlabs ecosystem. From the image below, it can be observed that the staging appearance is broadly similar to the original website. The only difference may lie in the URL of that page.

That concludes the explanation of staging definition, its benefits, processes, and stages in the software development process.

If you are a business professional working to improve your website pages (web revamp), then staging is a crucial step and should not be skipped.

To ensure you receive the best service in maximizing your digital business ecosystem, you can use the SEO Services by cmlabs.

In addition to projecting SEO strategies for your business, our team is also equipped with web development experts to assist you in creating a modern, navigable, and search engine-friendly business website.