Why Software Testing Matters
|
How to use the technology available to improve software development and QA testing
|
|
With the advent of mobile phones and social networking, new platforms and new competitors are constantly emerging. As a result, developers are being pressured to quickly release new, interesting and effective programs. This means that development managers need to know what their teams are working on, what bugs exist and in what stages, and what (if any) feedback is coming in from clients. We’ve moved way beyond the days when a basic spreadsheet (or email!) was sufficient for tracking the development lifecycle.
|
|
In such a competitive market, a company releasing faulty software is likely to lost their customers to the next company in line. In real time systems such as banks, hospitals, and airplanes, releasing software that still contains bugs can cause real damage to a company’s reputation, not to mention the people that rely on these systems. Performing test cases on each function of the application lets you ensure that the program performs as designed, and each function produces the desired results, prior to release.
|
|
A testing manager needs a to communicate with everyone involved in the testing process. Ideally, a test case should be analyzed by the tester as well as the testing manager. When analyzing the tests, details on past test results, previous testers, and processes used to generate past test results are integral in comparing functionality of the feature in its past and present iterations. If a bug is found, a separate method is needed for tracking and fixing the issue. Keeping track of these bugs and their current statuses is necessary for completing the testing process. In an ideal world, any tools used for bug tracking and test case tracking would be integrated, allowing easy transfer of information from one data set to the other.
|
|
Additionally, testers need to be able to see what their peers are doing in order to make critical decisions regarding their own tasks. If the developers and testers are able to easily communicate and view results from other team members, they can incorporate feedback and bug fixes quickly and efficiently. Testing managers want to do everything they can, and use every tool at their disposal, in order to facilitate communication between and amongst teams. Continuous feedback on the status of bugs and issues, and individual test case steps during the testing process can greatly reduce the amount of time a software system spends in development, and as the saying goes, Time is Money!
|
|
In a detailed and organized test case scenario, it’s useful to have the Test Case ID and Description, Expected Output, Actual Output, Results, Remarks, Steps, Related Requirements, Test Category, Author, and Time Spent on hand. Listing the detail of input, expected output, preconditions and post conditions is a time consuming process. Testing managers can increase efficiency, and decrease frustration, by having a method or system in place to preserve this information for future and related tests.
|
|
Theoretically, test cases can be tracked by keeping a detailed and constantly updated spreadsheet with test case methods, statuses and results. While this is fine for small scale projects, it isn't a reasonable or even feasible method for most software and application development teams. Email is also often used as a more proactive, albeit less organized, method of tracking test cases. While both of these methods utilize existing infrastructure and often don’t require any additional cost, once the time spent by developers and testers in looking for files and searching for data has been analyzed, it's obvious they're inefficient.
|
|
Of many different test case management solutions available, Software-as-a-Service tools just make the most sense. SaaS providers, like Elementool, not only host the management software, but are responsible for maintaining, updating and securing it. The low monthly fee is easily justified by the reduction in IT overhead. Shifting maintenance and often time consuming upgrades to the Elementool allows the development team to focus on their product and business growth.
|
|
Companies which often have multiple projects in various phases at various times, with developers and managers spread throughout the globe, tend to find that the most effective solution is one which will offer a detailed and organized test case scenario, easy archiving and reporting and fluid communication between groups.
|
