Project Management

Aberdeen, NC, North Carolina, Trend Analysis

Project Management - Software Testing

Do you rely on your software developers for all your applications testing? Do users end up becoming the de-facto testers because lack of organized testing passes too many bugs along to them? Are you experiencing application hangs, crashes, or data issues and need to know the root cause? Productive Technology's project management services offers software testing expertise to address these issues.

Develop a Test Plan

Just as you need a requirements specification to build an IT system, you need a test plan to ensure the system operates correctly. The larger and more complex the system, the more important the test plan becomes. The test plan is your basis for repeating tests, and your proof that the software performs in a certain manner. After making changes, test plans are important to repeating earlier tests to ensure no bugs or unexpected behavior was introduced.

A good test plan will specify the test environment, describe the feature or behavior being tested, list each step to perform the test, and give the expected result. Testers, who are not necessarily IT professionals, use the test plan as a script. They will perform the tests, and then note if the results conform to the test specifications. Good test plans group related tests together to minimize the amount of time required to set up the tests. Most importantly, the best test plans accurately simulate all activity that the software can reasonably be expected to encounter in a production environment.

Establish a Test Environment

Tests are performed under specific conditions. Perhaps the test plan calls for using a certain database with known test records. Perhaps the application must be installed with other software in a particular configuration. The test environment is the a basis of all further activity, and should as much as possible reflect the actual conditions the system will encounter in production.

Productive Technology often employs virtual machine technology using standardized machine images. This approach allows use of many different operating systems. Combinations of installed software, and other test criteria can be quickly changed without the delay of configuring physical PCs. Automated testing tools are also available, and where appropriate, can greatly improve the efficiency and accuracy of software testing.

Manage Bug Fixes

Since bugs are inevitable in all software, a good testing program will catch them, perhaps quite a few of them. When bugs are caught, the temptation can be to fix them immediately. This is not always the best approach. Productive Technology favors documenting bugs during the testing cycle, then deferring all changes to the end of the cycle.

At times, a bug will be located that will affect may other tests; when testing cannot continue until a bug is fixed, you can end the test cycle early, fix the bug, and then re-start it.

Skilled software consultants understand the extent to which a bug fix can impact a software system. Some changes are so pervasive that a complete system test is needed. Others are so isolated that only a very limited re-test is needed following the bug fix. This determination can only be made after understanding the technical details of the fix.

Live Beta Testing

When the internal testing has completed such that the testers using the test plan are finding no new bugs, and the remaining known bugs that do exist are not critical, the system is ready for beta testing. In a beta test, a limited but representative sample of live installations are made.

To be effective, beta testers must meet certain key requirements:

• Accept that they will likely encounter some bugs
• Have decent communications skills to accurately describe the bugs
• Understand the business and the software system well enough to distinguish a bona-fide bug an expected behavior
• Have a positive attitude when dealing with software installations, some troubleshooting skill, and be able to communicate with IT staff and consultants
• Be in a position that they will heavily exercise as many features of the software as possible during the beta period

In addition, you should select enough beta testers to allow for the fact that not all users will exercise all features. For example, if you have logic that is specific to a particular category of user, at least one user of each category should participate in beta program.

Troubleshooting

Software testing and troubleshooting go hand in hand. Testing reveals flaws, and troubleshooting determines resolutions. Productive Technology has an expert software test consultant with software development skills for fast and accurate diagnosis of problems. This combination of skills is important to have within your software testing resources.

Testing Help On Demand

When you need additional help developing or implementing test plans, contact Productive Technology. Your expert test consultant is ready to assist you and your team with your next IT system deployment.