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| Software Engineering Process |
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Testing and Quality Assurance
The testing and quality assurance discipline includes planning, creating, and implementing tests of various kinds. These tests could
include integration tests, user acceptance tests, load tests, stress tests, or other types of testing which may or may not be automated.
Also included in this discipline are provisions for software quality by means of a software quality plan.
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Discipline Details
During the testing and quality assurance discipline, test cases for integration testing, user acceptance testing, stress and performance
testing are finalized, approved, performed, and reviewed. Testing artifacts are at the core of this discipline, with the test plan laying
out the testing approach, the test elements enabling the concrete testing of the application, and the test results serving to document the
testing outcome and enable the identification of any shortcomings in the software that need to be reconciled prior to official acceptance
of the software product. In addition to the testing artifacts, the software quality plan defines what is an acceptable level of quality for
the software and outlines measures for capturing software metrics and enabling a linear comparison of these metrics across iterations and releases.
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Activities
Testing and quality assurance activities are conducted by test managers, test designers, and testers. Test managers and designers focus on aligning
the tests with application goals, requirements, and needs of the users, while the testers focus on implementation of the tests achieving traceability
back to the requirements. The primary activities completed during this discipline are:
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- Establishing and verifying a test approach
- Creating or updating test elements
- Recording and reviewing test results
- Measuring and improving software quality
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Artifacts
Four artifacts are produced as part of the testing and quality assurance discipline. These artifacts are:
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- Software Quality Plan - The software quality plan artifact defines what is an acceptable level of quality for the software and outlines measures
for capturing software metrics and enabling a linear comparison of these metrics across iterations and releases. The plan includes team roles and
responsibilities, metrics, and data capture and analysis expectations.
- Test Plan - The test plan artifact addresses the goals and objectives of testing as well as the corresponding types of testing that will be used
to address these goals. The plan details expected outputs of the testing process; aligning testing team roles with the responsibility for producing
these outputs.
- Test Element - The test element artifact realizes the actual testing implementation. The test elements may be in a variety of formats, from
automated testing scripts to manual test cases.
- Test Results - The test results are a collection of the output of the collective test scenarios covered by the test element artifacts. Test results
are used to make a final determination on the fitness and completeness of the software prior to its acceptance for migration to a production environment.
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Tools
There are two primary tool groups used to support testing and quality assurance activities. These tools are:
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- Code Quality Measurement Tools - Code quality measurement tools allow the responsible application staff to measure the quality of the application's
code against the standards established in the software quality plan. These tools may include code coverage tools, dynamic analysis tools, code complexity
and sizing tools, and code quality and conformance tools, just to name a few common types of tools.
- Automated Testing Tools - There are a variety of automated testing tools available on the marketplace, allowing just about every type of testing to
be automated to a certain degree. The focus of automated testing tools should be on test case, requirements, and/or code coverage, depending upon the type
of tool being used for the testing.
External Dependencies
There are no external dependencies associated with this discipline.
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| Copyright© 2006-2009 Lorenzo Oldain Thompson, CPA, P.A. All Rights Reserved. |
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