Labpaq Case Study

Manual Testing Faq's

What is software testing?
Software testing is the process used to help identify the correctness, completeness, security, and quality of developed computer software.
Testing involves operation of a system or application under controlled conditions and evaluating the results. Controlled conditions should include both normal and abnormal
Why Management some times not serious about testing?
Solving problems is a high-visibility process; preventing problems is low-visibility.
What is verification?
Verification ensures the product is designed to deliver all functionality to the customer; it typically involves reviews and meetings to evaluate documents, plans, code, requirements and specifications; this can be done
with checklists, issues lists, walkthroughs and inspection meetings. You CAN learn to do verification, with little or no outside help. Get CAN get free information. Click on a link!
What is validation?
Validation ensures that functionality, as defined in requirements, is the intended behavior of the product; validation typically involves actual testing and takes place after verifications are completed.
What is a walkthrough?
A walkthrough is an informal meeting for evaluation or informational purposes. A walkthrough is also a process at an abstract level. It's the process of inspecting software code by following paths through the code (as determined by input conditions and choices made along the way). The purpose of code walkthroughs is to ensure the code fits the purpose. Walkthroughs also offer opportunities to assess an individual's or team's competency
What is an inspection?
An inspection is a formal meeting, more formalized than a walkthrough and typically consists of 3-10 people including a moderator, reader (the author of whatever is being reviewed) and a recorder (to make notes in the document). The subject of the inspection is typically a document, such as a requirements document or a test plan. The purpose of an inspection is to find problems and see what is missing, not to fix anything. The result of the meeting should be documented in a written report. Attendees should prepare for this type of meeting by reading through the document, before the meeting starts; most problems are found during this preparation. Preparation for inspections is difficult, but is one of the most cost-effective methods of ensuring quality, since bug prevention is more cost effective than bug detection.
What is quality?
Quality software is software that is reasonably bug-free, delivered on time and within budget, meets requirements and expectations and is maintainable. However, quality is a subjective term. Quality depends on who the customer is and their overall influence in the scheme of things. Customers of a software development project include end-users, customer acceptance test engineers, testers, customer contract officers, customer management, the development organization's management, test engineers, testers, salespeople, software engineers, stockholders and accountants. Each type of customer will have his or her own slant on quality. The accounting department might define quality in terms of profits, while an end-user might define quality as user friendly and bug free.
What is good code?
A good code is code that works, is free of bugs and is readable and maintainable. Organizations usually have coding standards all developers should adhere to, but every programmer and software engineer has different ideas about what is best and what are too many or too few rules. We need to keep in mind that excessive use of rules can stifle both productivity and creativity. Peer reviews and code analysis tools can be used to check for problems and enforce standards.
What is good design?
Design could mean to many things, but often refers to functional design or internal design. Good functional design is indicated by software functionality can be traced back to customer and end-user requirements. Good internal design is indicated by software code whose overall structure is clear, understandable, easily modifiable and maintainable; is robust with sufficient error handling and status logging capability; and works correctly when implemented.
What is software life cycle?
Software life cycle begins when a software product is first conceived and ends when it is no longer in use. It includes phases like initial concept, requirements analysis, functional design, internal design, documentation planning, test planning, coding, document preparation, integration, testing, maintenance, updates, re-testing and phase-out.
Why are there so many software bugs?
Generally speaking, there are bugs in software because of unclear requirements, software complexity, programming errors, changes in requirements, errors made in bug tracking, time pressure, poorly documented code and/or bugs in tools used in software development.
• There are unclear software requirements because there is miscommunication as to what the software should or shouldn't do.
• Software complexity. All of the followings contribute to the exponential growth in software and system complexity: Windows interfaces, client-server and distributed applications, data communications, enormous relational databases and the sheer size of applications.
• Programming errors occur because programmers and software engineers, like everyone else, can make mistakes.
• As to changing requirements, in some fast-changing business environments, continuously modified requirements are a fact of life. Sometimes customers do not understand the effects of changes, or understand them but request them anyway. And the changes require redesign of the software, rescheduling of resources and some of the work already completed have to be redone or discarded and hardware requirements can be effected, too.
• Bug tracking can result in errors because the complexity of keeping track of changes can result in errors, too.
• Time pressures can cause problems, because scheduling of software projects is not easy and it often requires a lot of guesswork and when deadlines loom and the crunch comes, mistakes will be made.
• Code documentation is tough to maintain and it is also tough to modify code that is poorly documented. The result is bugs. Sometimes there is no incentive for programmers and software engineers to document their code and write clearly documented, understandable code. Sometimes developers get kudos for quickly turning out code, or programmers and software engineers feel they cannot have job security if everyone can understand the code they write, or they believe if the code was hard to write, it should be hard to read.
• Software development tools , including visual tools, class libraries, compilers, scripting tools, can introduce their own bugs. Other times the tools are poorly documented, which can create additional bugs.
How do you introduce a new software QA process?
It depends on the size of the organization and the risks involved. For large organizations with high-risk projects, a serious management buy-in is required and a formalized QA process is necessary. For medium size organizations with lower risk projects, management and organizational buy-in and a slower, step-by-step process is required. Generally speaking, QA processes should be balanced with productivity, in order to keep any bureaucracy from getting out of hand. For smaller groups or projects, an ad-hoc process is more appropriate. A lot depends on team leads and managers, feedback to developers and good communication is essential among customers, managers, developers, test engineers and testers. Regardless the size of the company, the greatest value for effort is in managing requirement processes, where the goal is requirements that are clear, complete and testable.
Give me five common problems that occur during software development.
Poorly written requirements, unrealistic schedules, inadequate testing, adding new features after development is underway and poor communication.
1. Requirements are poorly written when requirements are unclear, incomplete, too general, or not testable; therefore there will be problems.
2. The schedule is unrealistic if too much work is crammed in too little time.
3. Software testing is inadequate if none knows whether or not the software is any good until customers complain or the system crashes.
4. It's extremely common that new features are added after development is underway.
5. Miscommunication either means the developers don't know what is needed, or customers have unrealistic expectations and therefore problems are guaranteed.
Do automated testing tools make testing easier?
Yes and no. For larger projects, or ongoing long-term projects, they can be valuable. But for small projects, the time needed to learn and implement them is usually not worthwhile. A common type of automated tool is the record/playback type. For example, a test engineer clicks through all combinations of menu choices, dialog box choices, buttons, etc. in a GUI and has an automated testing tool record and log the results. The recording is typically in the form of text, based on a scripting language that the testing tool can interpret. If a change is made (e.g. new buttons are added, or some underlying code in the application is changed), the application is then re-tested by just playing back the recorded actions and compared to the logged results in order to check effects of the change. One problem with such tools is that if there are continual changes to the product being tested, the recordings have to be changed so often that it becomes a very time-consuming task to continuously update the scripts. Another problem with such tools is the interpretation of the results (screens, data, logs, etc.) that can be a time-consuming task. You CAN learn to use automated testing tools, with little or no outside help. Get CAN get free information. Click on a link!
Give me five solutions to problems that occur during software development.
Solid requirements, realistic schedules, adequate testing, firm requirements and good communication.
1. Ensure the requirements are solid, clear, complete, detailed, cohesive, attainable and testable. All players should agree to requirements. Use prototypes to help nail down requirements.
2. Have schedules that are realistic. Allow adequate time for planning, design, testing, bug fixing, re-testing, changes and documentation. Personnel should be able to complete the project without burning out.
3. Do testing that is adequate. Start testing early on, re-test after fixes or changes, and plan for sufficient time for both testing and bug fixing.
4. Avoid new features. Stick to initial requirements as much as possible. Be prepared to defend design against changes and additions, once development has begun and be prepared to explain consequences. If changes are necessary, ensure they're adequately reflected in related schedule changes. Use prototypes early on so customers' expectations are clarified and customers can see what to expect; this will minimize changes later on.
5. Communicate. Require walkthroughs and inspections when appropriate; make extensive use of e-mail, networked bug-tracking tools, tools of change management. Ensure documentation is available and up-to-date. Use documentation that is electronic, not paper. Promote teamwork and cooperation.
What makes a good test engineer?
Rob Davis is a good test engineer because he
• Has a "test to break" attitude,
• Takes the point of view of the customer,
• Has a strong desire for quality,
• Has an attention to detail, He's also
• Tactful and diplomatic and
• Has good a communication skill, both oral and written. And he
• Has previous software development experience, too.
Good test engineers have a "test to break" attitude. We, good test engineers, take the point of view of the customer, have 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 and non-technical people. Previous software development experience is also helpful as it provides a deeper understanding of the software development process, gives the test engineer an appreciation for the developers' point of view and reduces the learning curve in automated test tool programming.

What makes a good QA engineer?
The same qualities a good test engineer has are useful for a QA engineer. Additionally, Rob Davis understands the entire software development process and how it fits into the business approach and the goals of the organization. Rob Davis' communication skills and the ability to understand various sides of issues are important. Good QA engineers understand the entire software development process and how it fits into the business approach and the goals of the organization. Communication skills and the ability to understand various sides of issues are important.
What makes a good resume?
On the subject of resumes, there seems to be an unending discussion of whether you should or shouldn't have a one-page resume. The followings are some of the comments I have personally heard: "Well, Joe Blow (car salesman) said I should have a one-page resume." "Well, I read a book and it said you should have a one page resume." "I can't really go into what I really did because if I did, it'd take more than one page on my resume." "Gosh, I wish I could put my job at IBM on my resume but if I did it'd make my resume more than one page, and I was told to never make the resume more than one page long." "I'm confused, should my resume be more than one page? I feel like it should, but I don't want to break the rules." Or, here's another comment, "People just don't read resumes that are longer than one page." I have heard some more, but we can start with these. So what's the answer? There is no scientific answer about whether a one-page resume is right or wrong. It all depends on who you are and how much experience you have. The first thing to look at here is the purpose of a resume. The purpose of a resume is to get you an interview. If the resume is getting you interviews, then it is considered to be a good resume. If the resume isn't getting you interviews, then you should change it. The biggest mistake you can make on your resume is to make it hard to read. Why? Because, for one, scanners don't like odd resumes. Small fonts can make your resume harder to read. Some candidates use a 7-point font so they can get the resume onto one page. Big mistake. Two, resume readers do not like eye strain either. If the resume is mechanically challenging, they just throw it aside for one that is easier on the eyes. Three, there are lots of resumes out there these days, and that is also part of the problem. Four, in light of the current scanning scenario, more than one page is not a deterrent because many will scan your resume into their database. Once the resume is in there and searchable, you have accomplished one of the goals of resume distribution. Five, resume readers don't like to guess and most won't call you to clarify what is on your resume. Generally speaking, your resume should tell your story. If you're a college graduate looking for your first job, a one-page resume is just fine. If you have a longer story, the resume needs to be longer. Please put your experience on the resume so resume readers can tell when and for whom you did what. Short resumes -- for people long on experience -- are not appropriate. The real audience for these short resumes is people with short attention spans and low IQ. I assure you that when your resume gets into the right hands, it will be read thoroughly..
What makes a good QA/Test Manager?
QA/Test Managers are familiar with the software development process; able to maintain enthusiasm of their team and promote a positive atmosphere; able to promote teamwork to increase productivity; able to promote cooperation between Software and Test/QA Engineers, have the people 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; able to communicate with technical and non-technical people; as well as able to run meetings and keep them focused.
What is the role of documentation in QA?
Documentation plays a critical role in QA. QA practices should be documented, so that they are repeatable. Specifications, designs, business rules, inspection reports, configurations, code changes, test plans, test cases, bug reports, user manuals should all be documented. Ideally, there should be a system for easily finding and obtaining of documents and determining what document will have a particular piece of information. Use documentation change management, if possible.
What about requirements?
Requirement specifications are important and one of the most reliable methods of insuring problems in a complex software project is to have poorly documented requirement 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", which is too subjective. A testable requirement would be something such as, "the product shall allow the user to enter their previously-assigned password to access the application". Care should be taken to involve all of a project's significant customers in the requirements process. Customers could be in-house or external and could include end-users, customer acceptance test engineers, testers, customer contract officers, customer management, future software maintenance engineers, salespeople and anyone who could later derail the project. If his/her expectations aren't met, they should be included as a customer, if possible. In some organizations, requirements may end up in high-level project plans, functional specification documents, design documents, or other documents at various levels of detail. No matter what they are called, some type of documentation with detailed requirements will be needed by test engineers in order to properly plan and execute tests. Without such documentation there will be no clear-cut way to determine if a software application is performing correctly. You CAN learn to capture requirements, with little or no outside help. Get CAN get free information. Click on a link!
What is 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 way to think through the efforts needed to validate the acceptability of a software product. The completed 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 none outside the test group will be able to read it.
What is a test case?
A test case is a document that describes an input, action, or event and its expected result, in order to determine if a feature of an application is working correctly. A test case should contain particulars such as a...
• Test case identifier
• Test case name
• Objective
• Test conditions/setup
• Input data requirements/steps, and
• Expected results.
Please note, the process of developing test cases can help find problems in the requirements or design of an application, since it requires you to completely think through the operation of the application. For this reason, it is useful to prepare test cases early in the development cycle, if possible.
What should be done after a bug is found?
When a bug is found, it needs to be communicated and assigned to developers that can fix it. After the problem is resolved, fixes should be re-tested. Additionally, determinations should be made regarding requirements, software, hardware, safety impact, etc., for regression testing to check the fixes didn't create other problems elsewhere. If a problem-tracking system is in place, it should encapsulate these determinations. A variety of commercial, problem-tracking/management software tools are available. These tools, with the detailed input of software test engineers, will give the team complete information so developers can understand the bug, get an idea of its severity, reproduce it and fix it.
What is configuration management?
Configuration management (CM) covers the tools and 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. Rob Davis has had experience with a full range of CM tools and concepts. Rob Davis can easily adapt to your software tool and process needs.
What if the software is so buggy it can't be tested at all?
In this situation the best bet is to have test engineers go through the process of reporting whatever bugs or 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, insufficient integration testing, poor design, improper build or release procedures, managers should be notified and provided with some documentation as evidence of the problem.
How do you know 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, e.g. release deadlines, testing deadlines
• Test cases completed with certain percentage passed
• Test budget has been depleted
• Coverage of code, functionality, or requirements reaches a specified point
• Bug rate falls below a certain level or
• Beta or alpha testing period ends.
What if there isn't enough time for thorough testing?
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. Use risk analysis to determine where testing should be focused. This requires judgment skills, common sense and experience. The checklist should include answers to the following questions:
• 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 considerations listed under "What if there isn't enough time for thorough testing?" do apply. The test engineer then should do "ad hoc" testing, or write up a limited test plan based on the risk analysis.
What can be done if requirements are changing continuously?
Work with management early on to understand how requirements might change, so that alternate test plans and strategies can be worked out in advance. It is helpful if the application's initial design allows for some adaptability, so that later changes do not require redoing the application from scratch. Additionally, try to...
• Ensure the code is well commented and well documented; this makes changes easier for the developers.
• Use rapid prototyping whenever possible; this will help customers feel sure of their requirements and minimize changes.
• In the project's initial schedule, allow for some extra time to commensurate with probable changes.
• Move new requirements to a 'Phase 2' version of an application and use the original requirements for the 'Phase 1' version.
• Negotiate to allow only easily implemented new requirements into the project; move more difficult, new requirements into future versions of the application.
• Ensure customers and management understand scheduling impacts, inherent risks and costs of significant requirements changes. Then let management or the customers decide if the changes are warranted; after all, that's their job.
• Balance the effort put into setting up automated testing with the expected effort required to redo them to deal with changes.
• Design some flexibility into automated test scripts;
• Focus initial automated testing on application aspects that are most likely to remain unchanged;
• Devote appropriate effort to risk analysis of changes, in order to minimize regression-testing needs;
• Design some flexibility into test cases; this is not easily done; the best bet is to minimize the detail in the test cases, or set up only higher-level generic-type test plans;
• Focus less on detailed test plans and test cases and more on ad-hoc testing with an understanding of the added risk this entails.
What if the application has functionality that wasn't in the
requirements?
It may take serious effort to determine if an application has significant unexpected or hidden functionality, which it would indicate deeper problems in the software development process. If the functionality isn't necessary to the purpose of the application, it should be removed, as it may have unknown impacts or dependencies that were not taken into account by the designer or the customer.
If not removed, design information will be needed to determine added testing needs or regression testing needs. Management should be made aware of any significant added risks as a result of the unexpected functionality. If the functionality only affects areas, such as minor improvements in the user interface, it may not be a significant risk.
How can software QA processes be implemented without stifling productivity?
Implement QA processes slowly over time. Use consensus to reach agreement on processes and adjust and experiment as an organization grows and matures. Productivity will be improved instead of stifled. Problem prevention will lessen the need for problem detection. Panics and burnout will decrease and there will be improved focus and less wasted effort. At the same time, attempts should be made to keep processes simple and efficient, minimize paperwork, promote computer-based processes and automated tracking and reporting, minimize time required in meetings and promote training as part of the QA process. However, no one, especially talented technical types, like bureaucracy and in the short run things may slow down a bit. A typical scenario would be that more days of planning and development will be needed, but less time will be required for late-night bug fixing and calming of irate customers.
What if organization is growing so fast that fixed QA processes are impossible?
This is a common problem in the software industry, especially in new technology areas. There is no easy solution in this situation, other than...
• Hire good people
• Ruthlessly prioritize quality issues and maintain focus on the customer;
• Everyone in the organization should be clear on what quality means to the customer.
How is testing affected by object-oriented designs?
A well-engineered object-oriented design can make it easier to trace from code to internal design to functional design to requirements. While there will be little affect on black box testing (where an understanding of the internal design of the application is unnecessary), white-box testing can be oriented to the application's objects. If the application was well designed this can simplify test design.
Why do you recommended that we test during the design phase?
Because testing during the design phase can prevent defects later on. We recommend verifying three things...
1. Verify the design is good, efficient, compact, testable and maintainable.
2. Verify the design meets the requirements and is complete (specifies all relationships between modules, how to pass data, what happens in exceptional circumstances, starting state of each module and how to guarantee the state of each module).
3. Verify the design incorporates enough memory, I/O devices and quick enough runtime for the final product.
What is software quality assurance?
Software Quality Assurance, is oriented to *prevention*. It involves the entire software development process. Prevention is monitoring and improving the process, making sure any agreed-upon standards and procedures are followed and ensuring problems are found and dealt with. Software Testing, is also oriented to *detection*. Testing involves the operation of a system or application under controlled conditions and evaluating the results. Organizations vary considerably in how they assign responsibility for QA and testing. Sometimes they're the combined responsibility of one group or individual. Also common are project teams, which include a mix of test engineers, testers and developers who work closely together, with overall QA processes monitored by project managers. It depends on what best fits your organization's size and business structure.
Process and procedures - why follow them?
Detailed and well-written processes and procedures ensure the correct steps are being executed to facilitate a successful completion of a task. They also ensure a process is repeatable.
What is black box testing?
Black box testing is functional testing, not based on any knowledge of internal software design or code. Black box testing are based on requirements and functionality.
What is white box testing?
White box testing is based on knowledge of the internal logic of an application's code. Tests are based on coverage of code statements, branches, paths and conditions.
What is unit testing?
Unit testing is the first level of dynamic testing and is first the responsibility of developers and then that of the test engineers. Unit testing is performed after the expected test results are met or differences are explainable/acceptable.
What is parallel/audit testing?
Parallel/audit testing is testing where the user reconciles the output of the new system to the output of the current system to verify the new system performs the operations correctly.
What is functional testing?
Functional testing is black-box type of testing geared to functional requirements of an application. Test engineers *should* perform functional testing.
What is usability testing?
Usability testing is testing for 'user-friendliness'. Clearly this is subjective and depends on the targeted end-user or customer. User interviews, surveys, video recording of user sessions and other techniques can be used. Programmers and developers are usually not appropriate as usability testers.
What is incremental integration testing?
Incremental integration testing is continuous testing of an application as new functionality is recommended. This may require that various aspects of an application's functionality are independent enough to work separately, before all parts of the program are completed, or that test drivers are developed as needed. This type of testing may be performed by programmers, software engineers, or test engineers.
What is integration testing?
Upon completion of unit testing, integration testing begins. Integration testing is black box testing. The purpose of integration testing is to ensure distinct components of the application still work in accordance to customer requirements. Test cases are developed with the express purpose of exercising the interfaces between the components. This activity is carried out by the test team.
Integration testing is considered complete, when actual results and expected results are either in line or differences are explainable/acceptable based on client input.
What is system testing?
System testing is black box testing, performed by the Test Team, and at the start of the system testing the complete system is configured in a controlled environment. The purpose of system testing is to validate an application's accuracy and completeness in performing the functions as designed. System testing simulates real life scenarios that occur in a "simulated real life" test environment and test all functions of the system that are required in real life. System testing is deemed complete when actual results and expected results are either in line or differences are explainable or acceptable, based on client input.
Upon completion of integration testing, system testing is started. Before system testing, all unit and integration test results are reviewed by Software QA to ensure all problems have been resolved. For a higher level of testing it is important to understand unresolved problems that originate at unit and integration test levels.
What is end-to-end testing?
Similar to system testing, the *macro* end of the test scale is testing a complete application in a situation that mimics real world use, such as interacting with a database, using network communication, or interacting with other hardware, application, or system.
What is regression testing?
The objective of regression testing is to ensure the software remains intact. A baseline set of data and scripts is maintained and executed to verify changes introduced during the release have not "undone" any previous code. Expected results from the baseline are compared to results of the software under test. All discrepancies are highlighted and accounted for, before testing proceeds to the next level.
What is performance testing?
Although performance testing is described as a part of system testing, it can be regarded as a distinct level of testing. Performance testing verifies loads, volumes and response times, as defined by requirements.
What is load testing?
Load testing is testing an application under heavy loads, such as the testing of a web site under a range of loads to determine at what point the system response time will degrade or fail.
What is installation testing?
Installation testing is testing full, partial, upgrade, or install/uninstall processes. The installation test for a release is conducted with the objective of demonstrating production readiness. This test includes the inventory of configuration items, performed by the application's System Administration, the evaluation of data readiness, and dynamic tests focused on basic system functionality. When necessary, a sanity test is performed, following installation testing.
What is recovery/error testing?
Recovery/error testing is testing how well a system recovers from crashes, hardware failures, or other catastrophic problems.
What is compatibility testing?
Compatibility testing is testing how well software performs in a particular hardware, software, operating system, or network environment.
What is comparison testing?
Comparison testing is testing that compares software weaknesses and strengths to those of competitors' products.
What is acceptance testing?
Acceptance testing is black box testing that gives the client/customer/project manager the opportunity to verify the system functionality and usability prior to the system being released to production. The acceptance test is the responsibility of the client/customer or project manager, however, it is conducted with the full support of the project team. The test team also works with the client/customer/project manager to develop the acceptance criteria.
What is alpha testing?
Alpha testing is testing of an application when development is nearing completion. Minor design changes can still be made as a result of alpha testing. Alpha testing is typically performed by a group that is independent of the design team, but still within the company, e.g. in-house software test engineers, or software QA engineers.
What is beta testing?
Beta testing is testing an application when development and testing are essentially completed and final bugs and problems need to be found before the final release. Beta testing is typically performed by end-users or others, not programmers, software engineers, or test engineers.
What testing roles are standard on most testing projects?
Depending on the organization, the following roles are more or less standard on most testing projects: Testers, Test Engineers, Test/QA Team Lead, Test/QA Manager, System Administrator, Database Administrator, Technical Analyst, Test Build Manager and Test Configuration Manager. Depending on the project, one person may wear more than one hat. For instance, Test Engineers may also wear the hat of Technical Analyst, Test Build Manager and Test Configuration Manager.
What is a Test/QA Team Lead?
The Test/QA Team Lead coordinates the testing activity, communicates testing status to management and manages the test team.
What is a Test Engineer?
Test Engineers are engineers who specialize in testing. We, test engineers, create test cases, procedures, scripts and generate data. We execute test procedures and scripts, analyze standards of measurements, evaluate results of system/integration/regression testing. and also...
• Speed up the work of the development staff
• Reduce your organization's risk of legal liability
• Give you the evidence that your software is correct and operates properly
• Improve problem tracking and reporting
• Maximize the value of your software
• Maximize the value of the devices that use it
• Assure the successful launch of your product by discovering bugs and design flaws, before users get discouraged, before shareholders loose their cool and before employees get bogged down
• Help the work of your development staff, so the development team can devote its time to build up your product
• Promote continual improvement

• Provide documentation required by FDA, FAA, other regulatory agencies and your customers
• Save money by discovering defects 'early' in the design process, before failures occur in production, or in the field
• Save the reputation of your company by discovering bugs and design flaws,before bugs and design flaws damage the reputation of your company.
What is a Test Build Manager?
Test Build Managers deliver current software versions to the test environment, install the application's software and apply software patches, to both the application and the operating system, set-up, maintain and back up test environment hardware. Depending on the project, one person may wear more than one hat. For instance, a Test Engineer may also wear the hat of a Test Build Manager.
What is a Technical Analyst?
Technical Analysts perform test assessments and validate system/functional test requirements. Depending on the project, one person may wear more than one hat. For instance, Test Engineers may also wear the hat of a Technical Analyst.
What is a Test Configuration Manager?
Test Configuration Managers maintain test environments, scripts, software and test data. Depending on the project, one person may wear more than one hat. For instance, Test Engineers may also wear the hat of a Test Configuration Manager.
What is a test schedule?
The test schedule is a schedule that identifies all tasks required for a successful testing effort, a schedule of all test activities and resource requirements.
What is software testing methodology?
One software testing methodology is the use a three step process of...
1. Creating a test strategy
2. Creating a test plan/design and
3. Executing tests.
This methodology can be used and molded to your organization's needs. Rob Davis believes that using this methodology is important in the development and in ongoing maintenance of his customers' applications
What is the general testing process?
The general testing process is the creation of a test strategy (which sometimes includes the creation of test cases), creation of a test plan/design (which usually includes test cases and test procedures) and the execution of tests.
How do you create a test strategy?
The test strategy is a formal description of how a software product will be tested. A test strategy is developed for all levels of testing, as required. The test team analyzes the requirements, writes the test strategy and reviews the plan with the project team. The test plan may include test cases, conditions, the test environment, a list of related tasks, pass/fail criteria and risk assessment.
Inputs for this process:
• A description of the required hardware and software components, including test tools. This information comes from the test environment, including test tool data.
• A description of roles and responsibilities of the resources required for the test and schedule constraints. This information comes from man-hours and schedules.
• Testing methodology. This is based on known standards.
• Functional and technical requirements of the application. This information comes from requirements, change request, technical and functional design documents.
• Requirements that the system can not provide, e.g. system limitations.
Outputs for this process:
• An approved and signed off test strategy document, test plan, including test cases.
• Testing issues requiring resolution. Usually this requires additional negotiation at the project management level.
How do you create a test plan/design?
Test scenarios and/or cases are prepared by reviewing functional requirements of the release and preparing logical groups of functions that can be further broken into test procedures. Test procedures define test conditions, data to be used for testing and expected results, including database updates, file outputs, report results. Generally speaking...
• Test cases and scenarios are designed to represent both typical and unusual situations that may occur in the application.
• Test engineers define unit test requirements and unit test cases. Test engineers also execute unit test cases.
• It is the test team that, with assistance of developers and clients, develops test cases and scenarios for integration and system testing.
• Test scenarios are executed through the use of test procedures or scripts.
• Test procedures or scripts define a series of steps necessary to perform one or more test scenarios.
• Test procedures or scripts include the specific data that will be used for testing the process or transaction.
• Test procedures or scripts may cover multiple test scenarios.
• Test scripts are mapped back to the requirements and traceability matrices are used to ensure each test is within scope.
• Test data is captured and base lined, prior to testing. This data serves as the foundation for unit and system testing and used to exercise system functionality in a controlled environment.
• Some output data is also base-lined for future comparison. Base-lined data is used to support future application maintenance via regression testing.
• A pretest meeting is held to assess the readiness of the application and the environment and data to be tested. A test readiness document is created to indicate the status of the entrance criteria of the release. Inputs for this process:
• Approved Test Strategy Document.
• Test tools, or automated test tools, if applicable.
• Previously developed scripts, if applicable.
• Test documentation problems uncovered as a result of testing.
• A good understanding of software complexity and module path coverage, derived from general and detailed design documents, e.g. software design document, source code and software complexity data.
Outputs for this process:
• Approved documents of test scenarios, test cases, test conditions and test data.
• Reports of software design issues, given to software developers for correction.
How do you execute tests?
Execution of tests is completed by following the test documents in a methodical manner. As each test procedure is performed, an entry is recorded in a test execution log to note the execution of the procedure and whether or not the test procedure uncovered any defects. Checkpoint meetings are held throughout the execution phase. Checkpoint meetings are held daily, if required, to address and discuss testing issues, status and activities.
• The output from the execution of test procedures is known as test results. Test results are evaluated by test engineers to determine whether the expected results have been obtained. All discrepancies/anomalies are logged and discussed with the software team lead, hardware test lead, programmers, software engineers and documented for further investigation and resolution. Every company has a different process for logging and reporting bugs/defects uncovered during testing.
• A pass/fail criteria is used to determine the severity of a problem, and results are recorded in a test summary report. The severity of a problem, found during system testing, is defined in accordance to the customer's risk assessment and recorded in their selected tracking tool.
• Proposed fixes are delivered to the testing environment, based on the severity of the problem. Fixes are regression tested and flawless fixes are migrated to a new baseline. Following completion of the test, members of the test team prepare a summary report. The summary report is reviewed by the Project Manager, Software QA Manager and/or Test Team Lead.
• After a particular level of testing has been certified, it is the responsibility of the Configuration Manager to coordinate the migration of the release software components to the next test level, as documented in the Configuration Management Plan. The software is only migrated to the production environment after the Project Manager's formal acceptance.
• The test team reviews test document problems identified during testing, and update documents where appropriate.
Inputs for this process:
• Approved test documents, e.g. Test Plan, Test Cases, Test Procedures.
• Test tools, including automated test tools, if applicable.
• Developed scripts.
• Changes to the design, i.e. Change Request Documents.
• Test data.
• Availability of the test team and project team.
• General and Detailed Design Documents, i.e. Requirements Document, Software Design Document.
• A software that has been migrated to the test environment, i.e. unit tested code, via the Configuration/Build Manager.
• Test Readiness Document.
• Document Updates.
Outputs for this process:
• Log and summary of the test results. Usually this is part of the Test Report. This needs to be approved and signed-off with revised testing deliverables.
• Changes to the code, also known as test fixes.
• Test document problems uncovered as a result of testing. Examples are Requirements document and Design Document problems.
• Reports on software design issues, given to software developers for correction. Examples are bug reports on code issues.
• Formal record of test incidents, usually part of problem tracking.
• Base-lined package, also known as tested source and object code, ready for migration to the next level.
What testing approaches can you tell me about?
Each of the followings represents a different testing approach:
• Black box testing
• White box testing
• Unit testing
• Incremental testing
• Integration testing
• Functional testing
• System testing
• End-to-end testing
• Sanity testing
• Regression testing
• Acceptance testing
• Load testing
• Performance testing
• Usability testing
• Install/uninstall testing
• Recovery testing
• Security testing
• Compatibility testing
• Exploratory testing,ad-hoc testing
• User acceptance testing
• Comparison testing
• Alpha testing
• Beta testing and
• Mutation testing
What is stress testing?
Stress testing is testing that investigates the behavior of software (and hardware) under extraordinary operating conditions. For example, when a web server is stress tested, testing aims to find out how many users can be on-line, at the same time, without crashing the server. Stress testing tests the stability of a given system or entity. It tests something beyond its normal operational capacity, in order to observe any negative results. For example, a web server is stress tested, using scripts, bots, and various denial of service tools.
What is load testing?
Load testing simulates the expected usage of a software program, by simulating multiple users that access the program's services concurrently. Load testing is most useful and most relevant for multi-user systems, client/server models, including web servers. For example, the load placed on the system is increased above normal usage patterns, in order to test the system's response at peak loads.
What is the difference between performance testing and load testing?
Load testing is a blanket term that is used in many different ways across the professional software testing community. The term, load testing, is often used synonymously with stress testing, performance testing, reliability testing, and volume testing. Load testing generally stops short of stress testing. During stress testing, the load is so great that errors are the expected results, though there is gray area in between stress testing and load testing.
What is the difference between reliability testing and load testing?
Load testing is a blanket term that is used in many different ways across the professional software testing community. The term, load testing, is often used synonymously with stress testing, performance testing, reliability testing, and volume testing. Load testing generally stops short of stress testing. During stress testing, the load is so great that errors are the expected results, though there is gray area in between stress testing and load testing
What is the difference between volume testing and load testing?
Load testing is a blanket term that is used in many different ways across the professional software testing community. The term, load testing, is often used synonymously with stress testing, performance testing, reliability testing, and volume testing. Load testing generally stops short of stress testing. During stress testing, the load is so great that errors are the expected results, though there is gray area in between stress testing and load testing.
What is incremental testing?
Incremental testing is partial testing of an incomplete product. The goal of incremental testing is to provide an early feedback to software developers.
What is alpha testing?
Alpha testing is final testing before the software is released to the general public. First, (and this is called the first phase of alpha testing), the software is tested by in-house developers. They use either debugger software, or hardware-assisted debuggers. The goal is to catch bugs quickly. Then, (and this is called second stage of alpha testing), the software is handed over to us, the software QA staff, for additional testing in an environment that is similar to the intended use.
What is beta testing?
Following alpha testing, "beta versions" of the software are released to a group of people, and limited public tests are performed, so that further testing can ensure the product has few bugs. Other times, beta versions are made available to the general public, in order to receive as much feedback as possible. The goal is to benefit the maximum number of future users.
What is the difference between alpha and beta testing? in-house developers and software QA personnel perform alpha testing. The public, a few select prospective customers, or the general public performs beta testing.
What is clear box testing?
Clear box testing is the same as white box testing. It is a testing approach that examines the application's program structure, and derives test cases from the application's program logic.
What is boundary value analysis?
Boundary value analysis is a technique for test data selection. A test engineer chooses values that lie along data extremes. Boundary values include maximum, minimum, just inside boundaries, just outside boundaries, typical values, and error values. The expectation is that, if a systems works correctly for these extreme or special values, then it will work correctly for all values in between. An effective way to test code, is to exercise it at its natural boundaries.
What is ad hoc testing?
Ad hoc testing is a testing approach; it is the least formal testing approach.
What is gamma testing?
Gamma testing is testing of software that has all the required features, but it did not go through all the in-house quality checks. Cynics tend to refer to software releases as "gamma testing".
What is glass box testing?
Glass box testing is the same as white box testing. It is a testing approach that examines the application's program structure, and derives test cases from the application's program logic.
What is open box testing?
Open box testing is same as white box testing. It is a testing approach that examines the application's program structure, and derives test cases from the application's program logic.
What is black box testing?
Black box testing a type of testing that considers only externally visible behavior. Black box testing considers neither the code itself, nor the "inner workings" of the software.
What is functional testing?
Functional testing is same as black box testing. Black box testing a type of testing that considers only externally visible behavior. Black box testing considers neither the code itself, nor the "inner workings" of the software.
What is closed box testing?
Closed box testing is same as black box testing. Black box testing a type of testing that considers only externally visible behavior. Black box testing considers neither the code itself, nor the "inner workings" of the software.
What is bottom-up testing?
Bottom-up testing is a technique for integration testing. A test engineer creates and uses test drivers for components that have not yet been developed, because, with bottom-up testing, low-level components are tested first. The objective of bottom-up testing is to call low-level components first, for testing purposes.
What is software quality?
The quality of the software does vary widely from system to system. Some common quality attributes are stability, usability, reliability, portability, and maintainability. See quality standard ISO 9126 for more information on this subject.
How do test case templates look like?
Software test cases are in a document that describes inputs, actions, or events, and their expected results, in order to determine if all features of an application are working correctly. Test case templates contain all particulars of every test case. Often these templates are in the form of a table. One example of this table is a 6-column table, where column 1 is the "Test Case ID Number", column 2 is the "Test Case Name", column 3 is the "Test Objective", column 4 is the "Test Conditions/Setup", column 5 is the "Input Data Requirements/Steps", and column 6 is the "Expected Results". All documents should be written to a certain standard and template. Standards and templates maintain document uniformity. They also help in learning where information is located, making it easier for users to find what they want. Lastly, with standards and templates, information will not be accidentally omitted from a document.
What is a software fault?
Software faults are hidden programming errors. Software faults are errors in the correctness of the semantics of computer programs.
What is software failure?
Software failure occurs when the software does not do what the user expects to see.
What is the difference between a software fault and a software failure?
Software failure occurs when the software does not do what the user expects to see. A software fault, on the other hand, is a hidden programming error. A software fault becomes a software failure only when the exact computation conditions are met, and the faulty portion of the code is executed on the CPU. This can occur during normal usage. Or, when the software is ported to a different hardware platform. Or, when the software is ported to a different complier. Or, when the software gets extended.
What is a test engineer?
Test engineers are engineers who specialize in testing. We, test engineers, create test cases, procedures, scripts and generate data. We execute test procedures and scripts, analyze standards of measurements, evaluate results of system/integration/regression testing.
What is the role of test engineers?
Test engineers speed up the work of the development staff, and reduce the risk of your company's legal liability. We, test engineers, also give the company the evidence that the software is correct and operates properly. We also improve problem tracking and reporting, maximize the value of the software, and the value of the devices that use it. We also assure the successful launch of the product by discovering bugs and design flaws, before users get discouraged, before shareholders loose their cool and before employees get bogged down. We, test engineers help the work of software development staff, so the development team can devote its time to build up the product. We, test engineers also promote continual improvement. They provide documentation required by FDA, FAA, other regulatory agencies, and your customers. We, test engineers save your company money by discovering defects EARLY in the design process, before failures occur in production, or in the field. We save the reputation of your company by discovering bugs and design flaws, before bugs and design flaws damage the reputation of your company.
What is a QA engineer?
QA engineers are test engineers, but QA engineers do more than just testing. Good QA engineers understand the entire software development process and how it fits into the business approach and the goals of the organization. Communication skills and the ability to understand various sides of issues are important. We, QA engineers, are successful if people listen to us, if people use our tests, if people think that we're useful, and if we're happy doing our work. I would love to see QA departments staffed with experienced software developers who coach development teams to write better code. But I've never seen it. Instead of coaching, we, QA engineers, tend to be process people.
What metrics are used for bug tracking?
Metrics that can be used for bug tracking include: total number of bugs, total number of bugs that have been fixed, number of new bugs per week, and number of fixes per week. Metrics for bug tracking can be used to determine when to stop testing, e.g. when bug rate falls below a certain level.
What is role of the QA engineer?
The QA Engineer's function is to use the system much like real users would, find all the bugs, find ways to replicate the bugs, submit bug reports to the developers, and to provide feedback to the developers, i.e. tell them if they've achieved the desired level of quality.
What are the responsibilities of a QA engineer?
Let's say, an engineer is hired for a small software company's QA role, and there is no QA team. Should he take responsibility to set up a QA infrastructure/process, testing and quality of the entire product? No, because taking this responsibility is a classic trap that QA people get caught in. Why? Because we QA engineers cannot assure quality. And because QA departments cannot create quality. What we CAN do is to detect lack of quality, and prevent low-quality products from going out the door. What is the solution? We need to drop the QA label, and tell the developers, they are responsible for the quality of their own work. The problem is, sometimes, as soon as the developers learn that there is a test department, they will slack off on their testing. We need to offer to help with quality assessment only.
What metrics can be used in software development?
Metrics refer to statistical process control. The idea of statistical process control is a great one, but it has only a limited use in software development. On the negative side, statistical process control works only with processes that are sufficiently well defined AND unvaried, so that they can be analyzed in terms of statistics. The problem is, most software development projects are NOT sufficiently well defined and NOT sufficiently unvaried. On the positive side, one CAN use statistics. Statistics are excellent tools that project managers can use. Statistics can be used, for example, to determine when to stop testing, i.e. test cases completed with certain percentage passed, or when bug rate falls below a certain level. But, if these are project management tools, why should we label them quality assurance tools?
How do you perform integration testing?
First, unit testing has to be completed. Upon completion of unit testing, integration testing begins. Integration testing is black box testing. The purpose of integration testing is to ensure distinct components of the application still work in accordance to customer requirements. Test cases are developed with the express purpose of exercising the interfaces between the components. This activity is carried out by the test team. Integration testing is considered complete, when actual results and expected results are either in line or differences are explainable/acceptable based on client input.
What is integration testing?
Integration testing is black box testing. The purpose of integration testing is to ensure distinct components of the application still work in accordance to customer requirements. Test cases are developed with the express purpose of exercising the interfaces between the components. This activity is carried out by the test team. Integration testing is considered complete, when actual results and expected results are either in line or differences are explainable/acceptable based on client input.
What is a "bug life cycle"?
Bug life cycles are similar to software development life cycles. At any time during the software development life cycle errors can be made during the gathering of requirements, requirements analysis, functional design, internal design, documentation planning, document preparation, coding, unit testing, test planning, integration, testing, maintenance, updates, re-testing and phase-out. Bug life cycle begins when a programmer, software developer, or architect makes a mistake, creates an unintentional software defect, i.e. a bug, and ends when the bug is fixed, and the bug is no longer in existence. What should be done after a bug is found? When a bug is found, it needs to be communicated and assigned to developers that can fix it. After the problem is resolved, fixes should be re-tested. Additionally, determinations should be made regarding requirements, software, hardware, safety impact, etc., for regression testing to check the fixes didn't create other problems elsewhere. If a problem-tracking system is in place, it should encapsulate these determinations. A variety of commercial, problem-tracking/management software tools are available. These tools, with the detailed input of software test engineers, will give the team complete information so developers can understand the bug, get an idea of its severity, reproduce it and fix it.
When do you choose automated testing?
For larger projects, or ongoing long-term projects, automated testing can be valuable. But for small projects, the time needed to learn and implement the automated testing tools is usually not worthwhile. Automated testing tools sometimes do not make testing easier. One problem with automated testing tools is that if there are continual changes to the product being tested, the recordings have to be changed so often, that it becomes a very time-consuming task to continuously update the scripts. Another problem with such tools is the interpretation of the results (screens, data, logs, etc.) that can be a time-consuming task.
What is the ratio of developers and testers?
This ratio is not a fixed one, but depends on what phase of the software development life cycle the project is in. When a product is first conceived, organized, and developed, this ratio tends to be 10:1, 5:1, or 3:1, i.e. heavily in favor of developers. In sharp contrast, when the product is near the end of the software development life cycle, this ratio tends to be 1:1, or even 1:2, in favor of testers.
What is your role in your current organization?
I'm a Software QA Engineer. I use the system much like real users would. I find all the bugs, find ways to replicate the bugs, submit bug reports to developers, and provides feedback to the developers, i.e. tell them if they've achieved the desired level of quality.
What software tools are in demand these days?
The software tools currently in demand include LabView, LoadRunner, Rational Tools, and Winrunner -- and especially the Loadrunner and Rational Toolset -- but there are many others, depending on the end client, and their needs, and preferences.
What are some of the software configuration management tools?
Software configuration management tools include Rational ClearCase, DOORS, PVCS, CVS; and there are many others. Rational ClearCase is a popular software tool, made by Rational Software, for revision control of source code. DOORS, or "Dynamic Object Oriented Requirements System", is a requirements version control software tool. CVS, or "Concurrent Version System", is a popular, open source version control system to keep track of changes in documents associated with software projects. CVS enables several, often distant, developers to work together on the same source code. PVCS is a document version control tool, a competitor of SCCS. SCCS is an original UNIX program, based on "diff". Diff is a UNIX command that compares contents of two files.
What is software configuration management?
Software Configuration management (SCM) is the control, and the recording of, changes that are made to the software and documentation throughout the software development life cycle (SDLC). SCM covers the tools and processes used to control, coordinate and track code, requirements, documentation, problems, change requests, designs, tools, compilers, libraries, patches, and changes made to them, and to keep track of who makes the changes. Rob Davis has experience with a full range of CM tools and concepts, and can easily adapt to an organization's software tool and process needs.
What other roles are in testing?
Depending on the organization, the following roles are more or less standard on most testing projects: Testers, Test Engineers, Test/QA Team Leads, Test/QA Managers, System Administrators, Database Administrators, Technical Analysts, Test Build Managers, and Test Configuration Managers. Depending on the project, one person can and often wear more than one hat. For instance, we Test Engineers often wear the hat of Technical Analyst, Test Build Manager and Test Configuration Manager as well.
What's the difference between priority and severity?
"Priority" is associated with scheduling, and "severity" is associated with standards. "Piority" means something is afforded or deserves prior attention; a precedence established by order of importance (or urgency). "Severity" is the state or quality of being severe; severe implies adherence to rigorous standards or high principles and often suggests harshness; severe is marked by or requires strict adherence to rigorous standards or high principles, e.g. a severe code of behavior. The words priority and severity do come up in bug tracking. A variety of commercial , problem-tracking/management software tools are available. These tools, with the detailed input of software test engineers, give the team complete information so developers can understand the bug, get an idea of its 'severity', reproduce it and fix it. The fixes are based on project 'priorities' and 'severity' of bugs. The 'severity' of a problem is defined in accordance to the customer's risk assessment and recorded in their selected tracking tool. A buggy software can 'severely' affect schedules, which, in turn can lead to a reassessment and renegotiation of 'priorities'.
What's the difference between efficient and effective?
"Efficient" means having a high ratio of output to input; working or producing with a minimum of waste. For example, "An efficient engine saves gas". "Effective", on the other hand, means producing, or capable of producing, an intended result, or having a striking effect. For example, "For rapid long-distance transportation, the jet engine is more effective than a witch's broomstick".
What is the difference between verification and validation?
Verification takes place before validation, and not vice versa. Verification evaluates documents, plans, code, requirements, and specifications. Validation, on the other hand, evaluates the product itself. The inputs of verification are checklists, issues lists, walkthroughs and inspection meetings, reviews and meetings. The input of validation, on the other hand, is the actual testing of an actual product. The output of verification is a nearly perfect set of documents, plans, specifications, and requirements document. The output of validation, on the other hand, is a nearly perfect, actual product.