Test Strategy
Actual writing of a strategy involves aspects, which define other issues between the Testing organization and the client. Testers must basically understand some of the issues that are discussed in the strategy document, which are outlined below.
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Testing Approach
The testing process may take the form of an End-to-End approach or individual segment testing using various values.
End-to-End: The test path uses the entire flow provided in the application for completion of a specified task. Within this process various test conditions and values are covered and results analyzed. There maybe a possibility of reporting several defects relating to the segments while covering the test path. The advantage of using this approach is to minimize combination and permutation of conditions/values and ensure coverage and integration.
Individual Segment Testing: Several conditions and values are identified for testing at the unit level for testing. These are tested as separate cases.
Automation Strategy
Automation of testing process is done to reduce the effort during regression testing. In some cases automating the entire testing process may not possible due to technical and time constraints. The possible automation strategies that could be adopted depending on the type of the project are
Selective: Critical and complex cases are identified. These test cases are generally automated to simplify the testing process and save time.
Complete: As the term suggests, all test cases technically possible are automated.
Performance Strategy
The client specifies the standards for the performance testing. It generally contains
· Response time
· Number of Virtual Users
Using the above information, a Usage Pattern of the application is derived and documented in the strategy. Issues discussed in the performance strategy document are
Resources: Personnel trained in Performance testing tool identified. Datewise utilization of the resources is laid down.
Infrastructure: Generation of virtual users require huge amount of RAM. The performance team should be given a machine, which is suitable for the performance tool.
Report: The type of report that will be generated after the tests are discussed. Reports are ideally in the form of graphs. Reports generated are:
· Detailed Transaction Report (By Virtual user)
· Throughput Graph
· Hits per second Graph
· Transaction per second
· Transaction Response Time Graph
· Transaction Performance Summary Graph
· Transaction Distribution Graph
· Transaction Performance Summary Graph
Risk Analysis
Risk’s associated with projects are analyzed and mitigation’s are documented in this document. Types of risk that are associated are
Schedule Risk: Factors that may affect the schedule of testing are discussed.
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Technology Risk: Risks on the hardware and software of the application are discussed here
Resource Risk: Test team availability on slippage of the project schedule is discussed.
Support Risk: Clarifications required on the specification and availability of personnel for the same is discussed.
Effort Estimation
The function points in the Functional Specifications will be used, as the basis for the purpose of estimating the effort needed for the project. The average of the different estimates from the Peers in the test team will be taken as the basis for calculation of the effort required.
There could be some variation in the planned to actual effort. An effort estimation review will be done by a Senior Consultant to identify gaps, if any.
In case of the UAT, function points are taken from the Business Requirement document.
Infrastructure
Hardware and software requirements for the testing the application are documented. Apart from this, any other requirement should also be documented. Infrastructure that has to be provided by the client is also specified.
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Jul 7, 2008
Jul 6, 2008
Defect Management
WHAT IS A DEFECT?
A Defect is a product anomaly or flaw. Defects include such things as omissions and imperfections found during testing phases. Symptoms (flaws) of faults contained in software that is sufficiently mature for production will be considered as defects. Deviations from expectation that is to be tracked and resolved is also termed a defect.
Types of Defects
Defects that are detected by the tester are classified into categories by the nature of the defect. The following are the classification
Showstopper (X): The impact of the defect is severe and the system cannot go into the production environment without resolving the defect since an interim solution may not be available.
Critical (C): The impact of the defect is severe, however an interim solution is available. The defect should not hinder the test process in any way.
Non critical (N): All defects that are not in the X or C category are deemed to be in the N category. These are also the defects that could potentially be resolved via documentation and user training. These can be Graphic User Interface (GUI) defects are some minor field level observations.
A Defect is a product anomaly or flaw. Defects include such things as omissions and imperfections found during testing phases. Symptoms (flaws) of faults contained in software that is sufficiently mature for production will be considered as defects. Deviations from expectation that is to be tracked and resolved is also termed a defect.
Types of Defects
Defects that are detected by the tester are classified into categories by the nature of the defect. The following are the classification
Showstopper (X): The impact of the defect is severe and the system cannot go into the production environment without resolving the defect since an interim solution may not be available.
Critical (C): The impact of the defect is severe, however an interim solution is available. The defect should not hinder the test process in any way.
Non critical (N): All defects that are not in the X or C category are deemed to be in the N category. These are also the defects that could potentially be resolved via documentation and user training. These can be Graphic User Interface (GUI) defects are some minor field level observations.
Defect Reporting By Tester
Defects or Bugs when detected in the application by the tester must be duly reported through an automated tool. Particulars that have to be filled by a tester are
Defect Id: Number associated with a particular defect, and henceforth referred by its ID
Date of execution: The date on which the test case which resulted in a defect was executed
Defect Category: These are explained in the next section, ideally decided by the test leader
Severity: As explained, it can be Critical, Non-Critical and Showstopper
Module ID: Module in which the defect occurred
Status: Raised, Authorised, Deferred, Fixed, Re-raised, Closed and Duplicate.
Defect description: Description as to how the defect was found, the exact steps that should be taken to simulate the defect, other notes and attachments if any.
Test Case Reference No: The number of the test case and script in combination which resulted in the defect
Owner: The name of the tester who executed the test case
Test case description: The instructions in the test cases for the step in which the error occurred
Expected Result: The expected result after the execution of the instructions in the test case descriptions
History of the defect: Normally taken care of the automated tool used for defect tracking and reporting.
Attachments: The screen shot showing the defect should be captured and attached
Responsibility: Identified team member of the development team for fixing the defect.
Jul 5, 2008
Testing Types
White Box Testing
· Aims to establish that the code works as designed
· Examines the internal structure and implementation of the program
· Target specific paths through the program
· Needs accurate knowledge of the design, implementation and code
Black Box Testing
· Aims to establish that the code meets the requirements
· Tends to be applied later in the lifecycle
· Mainly aimed at finding deviations in behavior from the specification or requirement
· Causes are inputs, effects are observable outputs
Alpha Testing
•Tested at developer site by customer
•Developer "looks over shoulder" and records errors & usage problems
•Tests are conducted in a controlled environment.
Beta Testing
•Conducted at one or more customer sites by end user of software
•Live application environment cannot be controlled by developer
•Customer records all problems encountered and reports to developer at regular intervals.
· Aims to establish that the code works as designed
· Examines the internal structure and implementation of the program
· Target specific paths through the program
· Needs accurate knowledge of the design, implementation and code
Black Box Testing
· Aims to establish that the code meets the requirements
· Tends to be applied later in the lifecycle
· Mainly aimed at finding deviations in behavior from the specification or requirement
· Causes are inputs, effects are observable outputs
Alpha Testing
•Tested at developer site by customer
•Developer "looks over shoulder" and records errors & usage problems
•Tests are conducted in a controlled environment.
Beta Testing
•Conducted at one or more customer sites by end user of software
•Live application environment cannot be controlled by developer
•Customer records all problems encountered and reports to developer at regular intervals.
Parallel Testing
•The new system is used in parallel with the existing system for certain period
•Thorough cross-checking of the outputs and comparison with outputs from existing system.
Important Question/Answer about Testing
What makes a good Software Test engineer?
A good test engineer has a 'test to break' attitude, an ability to take the point of view of the customer, a strong desire for quality, and an attention to detail. Tact and diplomacy are useful in maintaining a cooperative relationship with developers, and an ability to communicate with both technical (developers) and non-technical (customers,management) people is useful. Previous software development experience can be helpful as it provides a deeper understanding of the software development process, gives the tester an appreciation for the developers' point of view, and reduce the learning curve in automated test tool programming. Judgement skills are needed to assess high-risk areas of an application on which to focus testing efforts when time is limited.
What makes a good Software QA engineer?
The same qualities a good tester has are useful for a QA engineer. Additionally, they must be able to understand the entire software development process and how it can fit into the business approach and goals of the organization. Communication skills and the ability to understand various sides of issues are important. In organizations in the early stages of implementing QA processes, patience and diplomacy are especially needed. An ability to find problems as well as to see 'what's missing' is important for inspections and reviews.
What makes a good QA or Test manager?
A good QA, test, or QA/Test(combined) manager should:
• be familiar with the software development process
• be able to maintain enthusiasm of their team and promote a positive atmosphere,despite what is a somewhat 'negative' process (e.g., looking for or preventing problems)
• be able to promote teamwork to increase productivity
• be able to promote cooperation between software, test, and QA engineers
• have the diplomatic skills needed to promote improvements in QA processes
• have the ability to withstand pressures and say 'no' to other managers when
quality is insufficient or QA processes are not being adhered to
• have people judgement skills for hiring and keeping skilled personnel
• be able to communicate with technical and non-technical people, engineers,
managers, and customers.
• be able to run meetings and keep them focused.
What's the role of documentation in QA?
Critical. (Note that documentation can be electronic, not necessarily paper, may be embedded in code comments, etc.) QA practices should be documented such that they are repeatable. Specifications, designs, business rules, inspection reports, configurations, code changes, test plans, test cases, bug reports, user manuals, etc. should all be documented in some form. There should ideally be a system for easily finding and obtaining information and determining what documentation will have a particular piece of information. Change management for documentation should be used if possible.
What's the big deal about 'requirements'?
One of the most reliable methods of ensuring problems, or failure, in a large, complex software project is to have poorly documented requirements specifications. Requirements are the details describing an application's externally-perceived functionality and properties. Requirements should be clear, complete, reasonably detailed, cohesive,attainable, and testable. A non-testable requirement would be, for example, 'user-friendly' (too subjective). A testable requirement would be something like 'the user must enter their previously-assigned password to access the application'. Determining and organizing requirements details in a useful and efficient way can be a difficult effort;
different methods are available depending on the particular project. Many books are available that describe various approaches to this task.
Care should be taken to involve ALL of a project's significant 'customers' in the
requirements process. 'Customers' could be in-house personnel or out, and could include end-users, customer acceptance testers, customer contract officers, customer management, future software maintenance engineers, salespeople, etc. Anyone who could later derail the project if their expectations aren't met should be included if possible.
Organizations vary considerably in their handling of requirements specifications. Ideally,the requirements are spelled out in a document with statements such as 'The product shall.....'. 'Design' specifications should not be confused with 'requirements'; design specifications should be traceable back to the requirements.
In some organizations requirements may end up in high level project plans, functionalspecification documents, in design documents, or in other documents at various levels of detail. No matter what they are called, some type of documentation with detailed requirements will be needed by testers in order to properly plan and execute tests.
Without such documentation, there will be no clear-cut way to determine if a softwareapplication is performing correctly.
'Agile' methods such as XP use methods requiring close interaction and cooperation between programmers and customers/end-users to iteratively develop requirements. In the XP 'test first' approach developmers create automated unit testing code before the application code, and these automated unit tests essentially embody the requirements.
What steps are needed to develop and run software tests?
The following are some of the steps to consider:
• Obtain requirements, functional design, and internal design specifications and
other necessary documents
• Obtain budget and schedule requirements
• Determine project-related personnel and their responsibilities, reporting
requirements, required standards and processes (such as release processes, change processes, etc.)
• Determine project context, relative to the existing quality culture of the
organization and business, and how it might impact testing scope, aproaches, and
methods.
• Identify application's higher-risk aspects, set priorities, and determine scope and limitations of tests
• Determine test approaches and methods - unit, integration, functional, system,
load, usability tests, etc.
• Determine test environment requirements (hardware, software, communications,etc.)
• Determine testware requirements (record/playback tools, coverage analyzers, test tracking, problem/bug tracking, etc.)
• Determine test input data requirements
• Identify tasks, those responsible for tasks, and labor requirements
• Set schedule estimates, timelines, milestones
• Determine input equivalence classes, boundary value analyses, error classes
• Prepare test plan document and have needed reviews/approvals
• Write test cases
• Have needed reviews/inspections/approvals of test cases
• Prepare test environment and testware, obtain needed user manuals/reference
documents/configuration guides/installation guides, set up test tracking processes, set up logging and archiving processes, set up or obtain test input data
• Obtain and install software releases
• Perform tests
• Evaluate and report results
• Track problems/bugs and fixes
• Retest as needed
• Maintain and update test plans, test cases, test environment, and testware through life cycle
What's a 'test plan'?
A software project test plan is a document that describes the objectives, scope, approach,and focus of a software testing effort. The process of preparing a test plan is a useful wayto think through the efforts needed to validate the acceptability of a software product. Thecompleted document will help people outside the test group understand the 'why' and 'how' of product validation. It should be thorough enough to be useful but not so thorough that no one outside the test group will read it. The following are some of the items that might be included in a test plan, depending on the particular project:
• Title
• Identification of software including version/release numbers
• Revision history of document including authors, dates, approvals
• Table of Contents
• Purpose of document, intended audience
• Objective of testing effort
• Software product overview
• Relevant related document list, such as requirements, design documents, other test plans, etc.
• Relevant standards or legal requirements
• Traceability requirements
• Relevant naming conventions and identifier conventions
• Overall software project organization and personnel/contact-info/responsibilties
• Test organization and personnel/contact-info/responsibilities
• Assumptions and dependencies
• Project risk analysis
• Testing priorities and focus
• Scope and limitations of testing
• Test outline - a decomposition of the test approach by test type, feature,
functionality, process, system, module, etc. as applicable
• Outline of data input equivalence classes, boundary value analysis, error classes
• Test environment - hardware, operating systems, other required software, data
configurations, interfaces to other systems
• Test environment validity analysis - differences between the test and production
systems and their impact on test validity.
• Test environment setup and configuration issues
• Software migration processes
• Software CM processes
• Test data setup requirements
• Database setup requirements
• Outline of system-logging/error-logging/other capabilities, and tools such as
screen capture software, that will be used to help describe and report bugs
• Discussion of any specialized software or hardware tools that will be used by
testers to help track the cause or source of bugs
• Test automation - justification and overview
• Test tools to be used, including versions, patches, etc.
• Test script/test code maintenance processes and version control
• Problem tracking and resolution - tools and processes
• Project test metrics to be used
• Reporting requirements and testing deliverables
• Software entrance and exit criteria
• Initial sanity testing period and criteria
• Test suspension and restart criteria
• Personnel allocation
• Personnel pre-training needs
• Test site/location
• Outside test organizations to be utilized and their purpose, responsibilties,
deliverables, contact persons, and coordination issues
• Relevant proprietary, classified, security, and licensing issues.
• Open issues
• Appendix - glossary, acronyms, etc.
What's a 'test case'?
• A test case is a document that describes an input, action, or event and an expected response, to determine if a feature of an application is working correctly.
A test case should contain particulars such as test case identifier, test case name,
objective, test conditions/setup, input data requirements, steps, and expected
results.
• Note that the process of developing test cases can help find problems in the
requirements or design of an application, since it requires completely thinking
through the operation of the application. For this reason, it's useful to prepare test cases early in the development cycle if possible.
What should be done after a bug is found?
The bug needs to be communicated and assigned to developers that can fix it. After the problem is resolved, fixes should be re-tested, and determinations made regarding requirements for regression testing to check that fixes didn't create problems elsewhere. If a problem-tracking system is in place, it should encapsulate these processes. A variety of commercial problem-tracking/management software tools are available :
• Complete information such that developers can understand the bug, get an idea of it's severity, and reproduce it if necessary.
• Bug identifier (number, ID, etc.)
• Current bug status (e.g., 'Released for Retest', 'New', etc.)
• The application name or identifier and version
• The function, module, feature, object, screen, etc. where the bug occurred
• Environment specifics, system, platform, relevant hardware specifics
• Test case name/number/identifier
• One-line bug description
• Full bug description
• Description of steps needed to reproduce the bug if not covered by a test case or if the developer doesn't have easy access to the test case/test script/test tool
• Names and/or descriptions of file/data/messages/etc. used in test
• File excerpts/error messages/log file excerpts/screen shots/test tool logs that
would be helpful in finding the cause of the problem
• Severity estimate (a 5-level range such as 1-5 or 'critical'-to-'low' is common)
• Was the bug reproducible?
• Tester name
• Test date
• Bug reporting date
• Name of developer/group/organization the problem is assigned to
• Description of problem cause
• Description of fix
• Code section/file/module/class/method that was fixed
• Date of fix
• Application version that contains the fix
• Tester responsible for retest
• Retest date
• Retest results
• Regression testing requirements
• Tester responsible for regression tests
• Regression testing results
A reporting or tracking process should enable notification of appropriate personnel at various stages. For instance, testers need to know when retesting is needed, developers need to know when bugs are found and how to get the needed information, and reporting/summary capabilities are needed for managers.
What is 'configuration management'?
Configuration management covers the processes used to control, coordinate, and track:code, requirements, documentation, problems, change requests, designs,
tools/compilers/libraries/patches, changes made to them, and who makes the changes.
What if the software is so buggy it can't really be tested at all?
The best bet in this situation is for the testers to go through the process of reporting whatever bugs or blocking-type problems initially show up, with the focus being on critical bugs. Since this type of problem can severely affect schedules, and indicates deeper problems in the software development process (such as insufficient unit testing or insufficient integration testing, poor design, improper build or release procedures, etc.) managers should be notified, and provided with some documentation as evidence of the problem.
How can it be known when to stop testing?
This can be difficult to determine. Many modern software applications are so complex,and run in such an interdependent environment, that complete testing can never be done.
Common factors in deciding when to stop are:
• Deadlines (release deadlines, testing deadlines, etc.)
• Test cases completed with certain percentage passed
• Test budget depleted
• Coverage of code/functionality/requirements reaches a specified point
• Bug rate falls below a certain level
• Beta or alpha testing period ends
What if there isn't enough time for thorough testing?
Use risk analysis to determine where testing should be focused.
Since it's rarely possible to test every possible aspect of an application, every possible combination of events, every dependency, or everything that could go wrong, risk analysis is appropriate to most software development projects. This requires judgement skills, common sense, and experience. (If warranted, formal methods are also available.)
Considerations can include:
• Which functionality is most important to the project's intended purpose?
• Which functionality is most visible to the user?
• Which functionality has the largest safety impact?
• Which functionality has the largest financial impact on users?
• Which aspects of the application are most important to the customer?
• Which aspects of the application can be tested early in the development cycle?
• Which parts of the code are most complex, and thus most subject to errors?
• Which parts of the application were developed in rush or panic mode?
• Which aspects of similar/related previous projects caused problems?
• Which aspects of similar/related previous projects had large maintenance
expenses?
• Which parts of the requirements and design are unclear or poorly thought out?
• What do the developers think are the highest-risk aspects of the application?
• What kinds of problems would cause the worst publicity?
• What kinds of problems would cause the most customer service complaints?
• What kinds of tests could easily cover multiple functionalities?
• Which tests will have the best high-risk-coverage to time-required ratio?
What if the project isn't big enough to justify extensive testing?
Consider the impact of project errors, not the size of the project. However, if extensive testing is still not justified, risk analysis is again needed and the same considerations as described previously in 'What if there isn't enough time for thorough testing?' apply.
Thetester might then do ad hoc testing, or write up a limited test plan based on the risk analysis.
How does a client/server environment affect testing?
Client/server applications can be quite complex due to the multiple dependencies among clients, data communications, hardware, and servers, especially in multi-tier systems.
Thus testing requirements can be extensive. When time is limited (as it usually is) the focus should be on integration and system testing. Additionally, load/stress/performance testing may be useful in determining client/server application limitations and capabilities.
There are commercial tools to assist with such testing.
How can World Wide Web sites be tested?
Web sites are essentially client/server applications - with web servers and 'browser' clients. Consideration should be given to the interactions between html pages, TCP/IP communications, Internet connections, firewalls, applications that run in web pages (such as applets, javascript, plug-in applications), and applications that run on the server side (such as cgi scripts, database interfaces, logging applications, dynamic page generators, asp, etc.). Additionally, there are a wide variety of servers and browsers, various versions of each, small but sometimes significant differences between them, variations in connection speeds, rapidly changing technologies, and multiple standards and protocols.
The end result is that testing for web sites can become a major ongoing effort. Other considerations might include:
• What are the expected loads on the server (e.g., number of hits per unit time?),
and what kind of performance is required under such loads (such as web server
response time, database query response times). What kinds of tools will be needed
for performance testing (such as web load testing tools, other tools already in
house that can be adapted, web robot downloading tools, etc.)?
• Who is the target audience? What kind of browsers will they be using? What kind
of connection speeds will they by using? Are they intra- organization (thus with
likely high connection speeds and similar browsers) or Internet-wide (thus with a
wide variety of connection speeds and browser types)?
• What kind of performance is expected on the client side (e.g., how fast should
pages appear, how fast should animations, applets, etc. load and run)?
• Will down time for server and content maintenance/upgrades be allowed? how
much?
• What kinds of security (firewalls, encryptions, passwords, etc.) will be required
and what is it expected to do? How can it be tested?
• How reliable are the site's Internet connections required to be? And how does that affect backup system or redundant connection requirements and testing?
• What processes will be required to manage updates to the web site's content, and
what are the requirements for maintaining, tracking, and controlling page content, graphics, links, etc.?
• Which HTML specification will be adhered to? How strictly? What variations
will be allowed for targeted browsers?
• Will there be any standards or requirements for page appearance and/or graphics throughout a site or parts of a site??
• How will internal and external links be validated and updated? how often?
• Can testing be done on the production system, or will a separate test system be
required? How are browser caching, variations in browser option settings, dial-up
connection variabilities, and real-world internet 'traffic congestion' problems to be accounted for in testing?
• How extensive or customized are the server logging and reporting requirements;
are they considered an integral part of the system and do they require testing?
• How are cgi programs, applets, javascripts, ActiveX components, etc. to be
maintained, tracked, controlled, and tested?
• Pages should be 3-5 screens max unless content is tightly focused on a single
topic. If larger, provide internal links within the page.
• The page layouts and design elements should be consistent throughout a site, so
that it's clear to the user that they're still within a site.
• Pages should be as browser-independent as possible, or pages should be provided or generated based on the browser-type.
• All pages should have links external to the page; there should be no dead-end
pages.
• The page owner, revision date, and a link to a contact person or organization
should be included on each page.
A good test engineer has a 'test to break' attitude, an ability to take the point of view of the customer, a strong desire for quality, and an attention to detail. Tact and diplomacy are useful in maintaining a cooperative relationship with developers, and an ability to communicate with both technical (developers) and non-technical (customers,management) people is useful. Previous software development experience can be helpful as it provides a deeper understanding of the software development process, gives the tester an appreciation for the developers' point of view, and reduce the learning curve in automated test tool programming. Judgement skills are needed to assess high-risk areas of an application on which to focus testing efforts when time is limited.
What makes a good Software QA engineer?
The same qualities a good tester has are useful for a QA engineer. Additionally, they must be able to understand the entire software development process and how it can fit into the business approach and goals of the organization. Communication skills and the ability to understand various sides of issues are important. In organizations in the early stages of implementing QA processes, patience and diplomacy are especially needed. An ability to find problems as well as to see 'what's missing' is important for inspections and reviews.
What makes a good QA or Test manager?
A good QA, test, or QA/Test(combined) manager should:
• be familiar with the software development process
• be able to maintain enthusiasm of their team and promote a positive atmosphere,despite what is a somewhat 'negative' process (e.g., looking for or preventing problems)
• be able to promote teamwork to increase productivity
• be able to promote cooperation between software, test, and QA engineers
• have the diplomatic skills needed to promote improvements in QA processes
• have the ability to withstand pressures and say 'no' to other managers when
quality is insufficient or QA processes are not being adhered to
• have people judgement skills for hiring and keeping skilled personnel
• be able to communicate with technical and non-technical people, engineers,
managers, and customers.
• be able to run meetings and keep them focused.
What's the role of documentation in QA?
Critical. (Note that documentation can be electronic, not necessarily paper, may be embedded in code comments, etc.) QA practices should be documented such that they are repeatable. Specifications, designs, business rules, inspection reports, configurations, code changes, test plans, test cases, bug reports, user manuals, etc. should all be documented in some form. There should ideally be a system for easily finding and obtaining information and determining what documentation will have a particular piece of information. Change management for documentation should be used if possible.
What's the big deal about 'requirements'?
One of the most reliable methods of ensuring problems, or failure, in a large, complex software project is to have poorly documented requirements specifications. Requirements are the details describing an application's externally-perceived functionality and properties. Requirements should be clear, complete, reasonably detailed, cohesive,attainable, and testable. A non-testable requirement would be, for example, 'user-friendly' (too subjective). A testable requirement would be something like 'the user must enter their previously-assigned password to access the application'. Determining and organizing requirements details in a useful and efficient way can be a difficult effort;
different methods are available depending on the particular project. Many books are available that describe various approaches to this task.
Care should be taken to involve ALL of a project's significant 'customers' in the
requirements process. 'Customers' could be in-house personnel or out, and could include end-users, customer acceptance testers, customer contract officers, customer management, future software maintenance engineers, salespeople, etc. Anyone who could later derail the project if their expectations aren't met should be included if possible.
Organizations vary considerably in their handling of requirements specifications. Ideally,the requirements are spelled out in a document with statements such as 'The product shall.....'. 'Design' specifications should not be confused with 'requirements'; design specifications should be traceable back to the requirements.
In some organizations requirements may end up in high level project plans, functionalspecification documents, in design documents, or in other documents at various levels of detail. No matter what they are called, some type of documentation with detailed requirements will be needed by testers in order to properly plan and execute tests.
Without such documentation, there will be no clear-cut way to determine if a softwareapplication is performing correctly.
'Agile' methods such as XP use methods requiring close interaction and cooperation between programmers and customers/end-users to iteratively develop requirements. In the XP 'test first' approach developmers create automated unit testing code before the application code, and these automated unit tests essentially embody the requirements.
What steps are needed to develop and run software tests?
The following are some of the steps to consider:
• Obtain requirements, functional design, and internal design specifications and
other necessary documents
• Obtain budget and schedule requirements
• Determine project-related personnel and their responsibilities, reporting
requirements, required standards and processes (such as release processes, change processes, etc.)
• Determine project context, relative to the existing quality culture of the
organization and business, and how it might impact testing scope, aproaches, and
methods.
• Identify application's higher-risk aspects, set priorities, and determine scope and limitations of tests
• Determine test approaches and methods - unit, integration, functional, system,
load, usability tests, etc.
• Determine test environment requirements (hardware, software, communications,etc.)
• Determine testware requirements (record/playback tools, coverage analyzers, test tracking, problem/bug tracking, etc.)
• Determine test input data requirements
• Identify tasks, those responsible for tasks, and labor requirements
• Set schedule estimates, timelines, milestones
• Determine input equivalence classes, boundary value analyses, error classes
• Prepare test plan document and have needed reviews/approvals
• Write test cases
• Have needed reviews/inspections/approvals of test cases
• Prepare test environment and testware, obtain needed user manuals/reference
documents/configuration guides/installation guides, set up test tracking processes, set up logging and archiving processes, set up or obtain test input data
• Obtain and install software releases
• Perform tests
• Evaluate and report results
• Track problems/bugs and fixes
• Retest as needed
• Maintain and update test plans, test cases, test environment, and testware through life cycle
What's a 'test plan'?
A software project test plan is a document that describes the objectives, scope, approach,and focus of a software testing effort. The process of preparing a test plan is a useful wayto think through the efforts needed to validate the acceptability of a software product. Thecompleted document will help people outside the test group understand the 'why' and 'how' of product validation. It should be thorough enough to be useful but not so thorough that no one outside the test group will read it. The following are some of the items that might be included in a test plan, depending on the particular project:
• Title
• Identification of software including version/release numbers
• Revision history of document including authors, dates, approvals
• Table of Contents
• Purpose of document, intended audience
• Objective of testing effort
• Software product overview
• Relevant related document list, such as requirements, design documents, other test plans, etc.
• Relevant standards or legal requirements
• Traceability requirements
• Relevant naming conventions and identifier conventions
• Overall software project organization and personnel/contact-info/responsibilties
• Test organization and personnel/contact-info/responsibilities
• Assumptions and dependencies
• Project risk analysis
• Testing priorities and focus
• Scope and limitations of testing
• Test outline - a decomposition of the test approach by test type, feature,
functionality, process, system, module, etc. as applicable
• Outline of data input equivalence classes, boundary value analysis, error classes
• Test environment - hardware, operating systems, other required software, data
configurations, interfaces to other systems
• Test environment validity analysis - differences between the test and production
systems and their impact on test validity.
• Test environment setup and configuration issues
• Software migration processes
• Software CM processes
• Test data setup requirements
• Database setup requirements
• Outline of system-logging/error-logging/other capabilities, and tools such as
screen capture software, that will be used to help describe and report bugs
• Discussion of any specialized software or hardware tools that will be used by
testers to help track the cause or source of bugs
• Test automation - justification and overview
• Test tools to be used, including versions, patches, etc.
• Test script/test code maintenance processes and version control
• Problem tracking and resolution - tools and processes
• Project test metrics to be used
• Reporting requirements and testing deliverables
• Software entrance and exit criteria
• Initial sanity testing period and criteria
• Test suspension and restart criteria
• Personnel allocation
• Personnel pre-training needs
• Test site/location
• Outside test organizations to be utilized and their purpose, responsibilties,
deliverables, contact persons, and coordination issues
• Relevant proprietary, classified, security, and licensing issues.
• Open issues
• Appendix - glossary, acronyms, etc.
What's a 'test case'?
• A test case is a document that describes an input, action, or event and an expected response, to determine if a feature of an application is working correctly.
A test case should contain particulars such as test case identifier, test case name,
objective, test conditions/setup, input data requirements, steps, and expected
results.
• Note that the process of developing test cases can help find problems in the
requirements or design of an application, since it requires completely thinking
through the operation of the application. For this reason, it's useful to prepare test cases early in the development cycle if possible.
What should be done after a bug is found?
The bug needs to be communicated and assigned to developers that can fix it. After the problem is resolved, fixes should be re-tested, and determinations made regarding requirements for regression testing to check that fixes didn't create problems elsewhere. If a problem-tracking system is in place, it should encapsulate these processes. A variety of commercial problem-tracking/management software tools are available :
• Complete information such that developers can understand the bug, get an idea of it's severity, and reproduce it if necessary.
• Bug identifier (number, ID, etc.)
• Current bug status (e.g., 'Released for Retest', 'New', etc.)
• The application name or identifier and version
• The function, module, feature, object, screen, etc. where the bug occurred
• Environment specifics, system, platform, relevant hardware specifics
• Test case name/number/identifier
• One-line bug description
• Full bug description
• Description of steps needed to reproduce the bug if not covered by a test case or if the developer doesn't have easy access to the test case/test script/test tool
• Names and/or descriptions of file/data/messages/etc. used in test
• File excerpts/error messages/log file excerpts/screen shots/test tool logs that
would be helpful in finding the cause of the problem
• Severity estimate (a 5-level range such as 1-5 or 'critical'-to-'low' is common)
• Was the bug reproducible?
• Tester name
• Test date
• Bug reporting date
• Name of developer/group/organization the problem is assigned to
• Description of problem cause
• Description of fix
• Code section/file/module/class/method that was fixed
• Date of fix
• Application version that contains the fix
• Tester responsible for retest
• Retest date
• Retest results
• Regression testing requirements
• Tester responsible for regression tests
• Regression testing results
A reporting or tracking process should enable notification of appropriate personnel at various stages. For instance, testers need to know when retesting is needed, developers need to know when bugs are found and how to get the needed information, and reporting/summary capabilities are needed for managers.
What is 'configuration management'?
Configuration management covers the processes used to control, coordinate, and track:code, requirements, documentation, problems, change requests, designs,
tools/compilers/libraries/patches, changes made to them, and who makes the changes.
What if the software is so buggy it can't really be tested at all?
The best bet in this situation is for the testers to go through the process of reporting whatever bugs or blocking-type problems initially show up, with the focus being on critical bugs. Since this type of problem can severely affect schedules, and indicates deeper problems in the software development process (such as insufficient unit testing or insufficient integration testing, poor design, improper build or release procedures, etc.) managers should be notified, and provided with some documentation as evidence of the problem.
How can it be known when to stop testing?
This can be difficult to determine. Many modern software applications are so complex,and run in such an interdependent environment, that complete testing can never be done.
Common factors in deciding when to stop are:
• Deadlines (release deadlines, testing deadlines, etc.)
• Test cases completed with certain percentage passed
• Test budget depleted
• Coverage of code/functionality/requirements reaches a specified point
• Bug rate falls below a certain level
• Beta or alpha testing period ends
What if there isn't enough time for thorough testing?
Use risk analysis to determine where testing should be focused.
Since it's rarely possible to test every possible aspect of an application, every possible combination of events, every dependency, or everything that could go wrong, risk analysis is appropriate to most software development projects. This requires judgement skills, common sense, and experience. (If warranted, formal methods are also available.)
Considerations can include:
• Which functionality is most important to the project's intended purpose?
• Which functionality is most visible to the user?
• Which functionality has the largest safety impact?
• Which functionality has the largest financial impact on users?
• Which aspects of the application are most important to the customer?
• Which aspects of the application can be tested early in the development cycle?
• Which parts of the code are most complex, and thus most subject to errors?
• Which parts of the application were developed in rush or panic mode?
• Which aspects of similar/related previous projects caused problems?
• Which aspects of similar/related previous projects had large maintenance
expenses?
• Which parts of the requirements and design are unclear or poorly thought out?
• What do the developers think are the highest-risk aspects of the application?
• What kinds of problems would cause the worst publicity?
• What kinds of problems would cause the most customer service complaints?
• What kinds of tests could easily cover multiple functionalities?
• Which tests will have the best high-risk-coverage to time-required ratio?
What if the project isn't big enough to justify extensive testing?
Consider the impact of project errors, not the size of the project. However, if extensive testing is still not justified, risk analysis is again needed and the same considerations as described previously in 'What if there isn't enough time for thorough testing?' apply.
Thetester might then do ad hoc testing, or write up a limited test plan based on the risk analysis.
How does a client/server environment affect testing?
Client/server applications can be quite complex due to the multiple dependencies among clients, data communications, hardware, and servers, especially in multi-tier systems.
Thus testing requirements can be extensive. When time is limited (as it usually is) the focus should be on integration and system testing. Additionally, load/stress/performance testing may be useful in determining client/server application limitations and capabilities.
There are commercial tools to assist with such testing.
How can World Wide Web sites be tested?
Web sites are essentially client/server applications - with web servers and 'browser' clients. Consideration should be given to the interactions between html pages, TCP/IP communications, Internet connections, firewalls, applications that run in web pages (such as applets, javascript, plug-in applications), and applications that run on the server side (such as cgi scripts, database interfaces, logging applications, dynamic page generators, asp, etc.). Additionally, there are a wide variety of servers and browsers, various versions of each, small but sometimes significant differences between them, variations in connection speeds, rapidly changing technologies, and multiple standards and protocols.
The end result is that testing for web sites can become a major ongoing effort. Other considerations might include:
• What are the expected loads on the server (e.g., number of hits per unit time?),
and what kind of performance is required under such loads (such as web server
response time, database query response times). What kinds of tools will be needed
for performance testing (such as web load testing tools, other tools already in
house that can be adapted, web robot downloading tools, etc.)?
• Who is the target audience? What kind of browsers will they be using? What kind
of connection speeds will they by using? Are they intra- organization (thus with
likely high connection speeds and similar browsers) or Internet-wide (thus with a
wide variety of connection speeds and browser types)?
• What kind of performance is expected on the client side (e.g., how fast should
pages appear, how fast should animations, applets, etc. load and run)?
• Will down time for server and content maintenance/upgrades be allowed? how
much?
• What kinds of security (firewalls, encryptions, passwords, etc.) will be required
and what is it expected to do? How can it be tested?
• How reliable are the site's Internet connections required to be? And how does that affect backup system or redundant connection requirements and testing?
• What processes will be required to manage updates to the web site's content, and
what are the requirements for maintaining, tracking, and controlling page content, graphics, links, etc.?
• Which HTML specification will be adhered to? How strictly? What variations
will be allowed for targeted browsers?
• Will there be any standards or requirements for page appearance and/or graphics throughout a site or parts of a site??
• How will internal and external links be validated and updated? how often?
• Can testing be done on the production system, or will a separate test system be
required? How are browser caching, variations in browser option settings, dial-up
connection variabilities, and real-world internet 'traffic congestion' problems to be accounted for in testing?
• How extensive or customized are the server logging and reporting requirements;
are they considered an integral part of the system and do they require testing?
• How are cgi programs, applets, javascripts, ActiveX components, etc. to be
maintained, tracked, controlled, and tested?
• Pages should be 3-5 screens max unless content is tightly focused on a single
topic. If larger, provide internal links within the page.
• The page layouts and design elements should be consistent throughout a site, so
that it's clear to the user that they're still within a site.
• Pages should be as browser-independent as possible, or pages should be provided or generated based on the browser-type.
• All pages should have links external to the page; there should be no dead-end
pages.
• The page owner, revision date, and a link to a contact person or organization
should be included on each page.
TEST PLANNING
What is Plan?
•“A road-map indicating when a work will be done and by whom.”
•Benefits of planning:
»reduces uncertainty
»increases understanding
»improves efficiency by optimum utilisation of resources
»involves people in the project
»helps in monitoring and control..
•A plan is description of events to come
•It is a model of the work to be done
•All plans are dynamic: are subject to change with changing circumstances - this should not be an excuse so as to avoid planning
IF YOU FAIL TO PLAN……. YOU SHOULD PLAN TO FAIL!!
STEPS IN PLANNING
•Identify all the activities and milestones
•Identify the inter-dependencies
•Identify the resources required
•Allocate the resources
•Schedule the activities with start date and end date of each activity
•Specify criteria for completion
•Specify authorities for approvals of deliverables.
Testing Process
Steps In Testing Process
•Establish test objectives
•Generate test ideas
•Design test cases
•Write test cases
•Review test cases
•Execute the tests
•Examine test results
•Repeat the tests (regression).
What Is Verification?
•Disciplined approach to evaluate whether a software product fulfils the requirements or conditions imposed on it (are we building the product right?)
•Method: walkthrough, formal inspection and review of each software product
•Also called static testing..
•Done by systematically reading the contents of a software product with the intention of detecting defects
•Helps in identifying not only presence of defects but also their location
•A ‘filter’ applied at various points during the SDLC to ‘purify’ the product as it progresses through various phases.
What Is Validation?
•Disciplined approach to evaluate whether the final, as-built software product fulfils its specific intended use (are we building the right product?)
•Method: testing each software product at each phase of life cycle using test plans, test cases for properly selected types of tests
•Also called dynamic testing..
•Done by systematically testing a software product with the intention of finding defects
•Helps in identifying the presence of defects, not their location
•Necessary to demonstrate not just that the software is doing what it is supposed to do, but also is not doing what it is not supposed to do
•Establish test objectives
•Generate test ideas
•Design test cases
•Write test cases
•Review test cases
•Execute the tests
•Examine test results
•Repeat the tests (regression).
What Is Verification?
•Disciplined approach to evaluate whether a software product fulfils the requirements or conditions imposed on it (are we building the product right?)
•Method: walkthrough, formal inspection and review of each software product
•Also called static testing..
•Done by systematically reading the contents of a software product with the intention of detecting defects
•Helps in identifying not only presence of defects but also their location
•A ‘filter’ applied at various points during the SDLC to ‘purify’ the product as it progresses through various phases.
What Is Validation?
•Disciplined approach to evaluate whether the final, as-built software product fulfils its specific intended use (are we building the right product?)
•Method: testing each software product at each phase of life cycle using test plans, test cases for properly selected types of tests
•Also called dynamic testing..
•Done by systematically testing a software product with the intention of finding defects
•Helps in identifying the presence of defects, not their location
•Necessary to demonstrate not just that the software is doing what it is supposed to do, but also is not doing what it is not supposed to do
Test Ideas
What Is Test Ideas?
•A test idea is a brief statement that identifies a test that might be useful
•A test idea differs from a test case, in that the test idea contains no specification of the test workings, only the essence of the idea behind the test..
•Test ideas are generators for test cases: potential test cases are derived from a test ideas list
•A key question for the tester or test analyst is which ones are the ones worth trying.
•Test Ideas can be derived from:
»Models
»Specifications
»Customer complaints
»Brainstorm sessions among colleagues
What is Test Idea Catalogue?
•A test-ideas catalogue is a list of related test ideas that are usable under many circumstances.
»For example, the test ideas for numeric input fields can be catalogued together and used for any numeric input field
•In many situations, these catalogs are sufficient test documentation. That is, an experienced tester can often proceed with testing directly from these without creating documented test cases.
•A test idea is a brief statement that identifies a test that might be useful
•A test idea differs from a test case, in that the test idea contains no specification of the test workings, only the essence of the idea behind the test..
•Test ideas are generators for test cases: potential test cases are derived from a test ideas list
•A key question for the tester or test analyst is which ones are the ones worth trying.
•Test Ideas can be derived from:
»Models
»Specifications
»Customer complaints
»Brainstorm sessions among colleagues
What is Test Idea Catalogue?
•A test-ideas catalogue is a list of related test ideas that are usable under many circumstances.
»For example, the test ideas for numeric input fields can be catalogued together and used for any numeric input field
•In many situations, these catalogs are sufficient test documentation. That is, an experienced tester can often proceed with testing directly from these without creating documented test cases.
Software Testing Concepts
What Is Software Testing?
Primary role of testing is not demonstration of correct performance, but the exposure of hidden defects." - G. J. Myers
•It is not sufficient to demonstrate that the software is doing what it is supposed to do.
•It is more important to demonstrate that the software is not doing what it is not supposed to do.
What Testing Actually Is?
•Identifying the differences between expected and actual results
•Process of executing a program (or part of it) with the intention or goal of finding defects
•Detecting specification errors and deviations from the specifications.
Essentials Of Software Testing
•TESTING IS DESTRUCTIVE PROCESS : A CREATIVE DESTRUCTION
•TESTING NEEDS A SADISTIC APPROACH
•If a test does not detect a defect actually present, is it successful or unsuccessful?
•Test that detects a defect is valuable investment: it has helped in improving the product..
•The quality of the test process determines the success of test effort
•The longer the defect remains, the more expensive it is to remove it
•Prevent defect migration by using early life cycle testing techniques..
•Use appropriate software testing tools where required
•Testing is largely a problem of economics
•Exhaustive input testing is impossible..
•Each test case should provide maximum yield (probability that the test case will expose a previously undetected error)
•Investment is measured by the time and cost to produce, execute and verify test and communicate
•Investment is limited by schedule and budget..
•If sole purpose of a test is to validate specifications were implemented, then:
» testing is an unnecessary and unproductive activity
»testing is designed to compensate for ineffective software development
•It is risky to develop software and not test it.
•High pressures to deliver software as quickly as possible: test process must provide maximum value in shortest time..
•Testing is no longer:
»after-programming evaluation
»adjunct to the SDLC
•It is:
»key integral part of EACH phase of SDLC
•Highest payback comes from detecting defects early or preventing defects:
»avoid incorrect design and coding so as to avoid correcting defects later..
•Aim is to reduce the time ‘wasted’ in defect removal: concentrate on defect prevention.
•Misconceptions:
»Anyone can test software: no particular skill is required!
»Testers can test for quality at the end of a project!
»Defects found mean blaming the developers.
•A programmer should avoid testing his or her own program
•A team should avoid testing its own program
•Thoroughly inspect the results of each test
•Establishing that a program does what it is supposed to do is only half the battle:
»The other, more important half is seeing whether the program is doing what it is not supposed to do..
•Good testing MUST examine:
»users’ requirements
»design objectives
»user interface
»internal structure
»AND then execute the code..
Primary role of testing is not demonstration of correct performance, but the exposure of hidden defects." - G. J. Myers
•It is not sufficient to demonstrate that the software is doing what it is supposed to do.
•It is more important to demonstrate that the software is not doing what it is not supposed to do.
What Testing Actually Is?
•Identifying the differences between expected and actual results
•Process of executing a program (or part of it) with the intention or goal of finding defects
•Detecting specification errors and deviations from the specifications.
Essentials Of Software Testing
•TESTING IS DESTRUCTIVE PROCESS : A CREATIVE DESTRUCTION
•TESTING NEEDS A SADISTIC APPROACH
•If a test does not detect a defect actually present, is it successful or unsuccessful?
•Test that detects a defect is valuable investment: it has helped in improving the product..
•The quality of the test process determines the success of test effort
•The longer the defect remains, the more expensive it is to remove it
•Prevent defect migration by using early life cycle testing techniques..
•Use appropriate software testing tools where required
•Testing is largely a problem of economics
•Exhaustive input testing is impossible..
•Each test case should provide maximum yield (probability that the test case will expose a previously undetected error)
•Investment is measured by the time and cost to produce, execute and verify test and communicate
•Investment is limited by schedule and budget..
•If sole purpose of a test is to validate specifications were implemented, then:
» testing is an unnecessary and unproductive activity
»testing is designed to compensate for ineffective software development
•It is risky to develop software and not test it.
•High pressures to deliver software as quickly as possible: test process must provide maximum value in shortest time..
•Testing is no longer:
»after-programming evaluation
»adjunct to the SDLC
•It is:
»key integral part of EACH phase of SDLC
•Highest payback comes from detecting defects early or preventing defects:
»avoid incorrect design and coding so as to avoid correcting defects later..
•Aim is to reduce the time ‘wasted’ in defect removal: concentrate on defect prevention.
•Misconceptions:
»Anyone can test software: no particular skill is required!
»Testers can test for quality at the end of a project!
»Defects found mean blaming the developers.
•A programmer should avoid testing his or her own program
•A team should avoid testing its own program
•Thoroughly inspect the results of each test
•Establishing that a program does what it is supposed to do is only half the battle:
»The other, more important half is seeing whether the program is doing what it is not supposed to do..
•Good testing MUST examine:
»users’ requirements
»design objectives
»user interface
»internal structure
»AND then execute the code..
Principles of Testing
•Testing is not something done as a formality at the end of development; it is done throughout the SDLC to detect defects as early as possible and prevent defect migration to subsequent phases
•SOFTWARE TESTING =
»Verification (Static Testing)
»+
»Validation (Dynamic Testing).
•Good testing does not just happen
•It must be planned
•Automation is not the only answer
•Avoid ‘Anti-testing’ messages.
Quality Basics
What Is Quality?
•A predictable degree of uniformity and dependability at low cost and suited to the market (Dr. Edward Deming)
•Degree to which a set of inherent characteristics fulfills the requirements (ISO 9000)..
•CONSISTENTLY MEETING AND EXCEEDING CUSTOMER NEEDS IN TERMS OF:
»REQUIREMENTS
»COST
»DELIVERY SCHEDULE
»SERVICE
•A predictable degree of uniformity and dependability at low cost and suited to the market (Dr. Edward Deming)
•Degree to which a set of inherent characteristics fulfills the requirements (ISO 9000)..
•CONSISTENTLY MEETING AND EXCEEDING CUSTOMER NEEDS IN TERMS OF:
»REQUIREMENTS
»COST
»DELIVERY SCHEDULE
»SERVICE
QUALITY CONTROL
•Part of quality management focussed on fulfilling quality requirements (ISO 9000)
•Process by which product quality is compared against standards and action is taken if there is nonconformance
»Involves detecting and fixing defects (management by outputs)..
•Relates to a product or service
•Verifies whether specific attributes are in or not in a particular product or service
•Identifies defects with the purpose of removing defects.
QUALITY ASSURANCE
•Part of quality management focussed on providing confidence that quality requirements will be fulfilled
•Set of planned and systematic activities to provide confidence that products and services will conform to specified requirements and meets user needs
»Involves preventing defects (management by inputs)..
•Helps establish processes
•Sets up measurement programs to evaluate processes
•Identifies weaknesses in a process and improves them
•Primarily a management responsibility, performed as staff function.
QUALITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
Management system to direct and control an organisation with regard to quality (ISO 9000).
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