Software Testing Best
Practices
Need information management software
testing best practices and want practical suggestions to ensure rapid
project
delivery?
Software
testing best practices checklist
Test plan
 Test
objectives should clearly summarize project objectives, test
objectives,
scope and roles and responsibilities.
Test
strategy should refer to the requirements acceptance criteria,
that were developed as part of the requirements definition phase, and
the test
environments that will be used.
Test
plan should list the scope
of each test, including entrance
criteria, how test cases will be prepared, what test data will be used,
what test scripts are required, who will execute test
scripts, how
defects will be managed, how test results will be managed, and test
exit criteria;
Test
data
strategy should list the overall approach for creating
test
data.
Large
volumes of data for should not be used for unit, system,
integration,
regression and quality assurance testing.
Test
deliverables should specify what will be produced.
Resource
plan
should list all project roles and responsibilities, level
of effort, and other test resource requirements
Training
considerations should list any training that might be
required so the test team can complete testing; and
Test
schedule
should identify a test schedule that clearly defines
when all testing is expected to occur—This schedule may be included in
the project schedule.
A standard test plan template
should be used for each project.
Requirement traceability software testing best practices
A requirements traceability matrix should
be used to outline all testing
required for each requirement.
Test requirements should identify
which
of the following apply:
- Inspection,
requires a careful, critical review of documentation, code and/or data
to verify that a requirement has been addressed;
- Analysis,
examines
alternative solutions in detail so that the nature and function of each
alternative may be judged as to best fit for achieving the
requirements. One example is to analyze third party products
to
determine which of the products should be purchased. Another
example is to review business process metrics to determine if the
business process has improved as hoped because of implementing a new
solution;
- Demonstration,
a practical demonstration showing how
something works to provide evidence that a requirement has been
achieved via examples or experiments; and
- Test,
performs a
pre-defined examination or trial consisting of one or more steps
intended to ensure that a requirement has been properly implemented.
Unit testing software testing best practices
Should focus on
testing individual modules to ensure that they perform to
specification, handle all exceptions as expected, and produce the
appropriate alerts to satisfy error handling.
Should be performed in the
development environment.
Should be conducted by
the software developer who develops the code.
Should validate the
module's logic, adherence to functional requirements and adherence to
technical standards.
Should ensure that all module
source code has been executed and each
conditional logic branch followed.
Test data and test results
should be recorded and form part of the
release package when the code moves to production.
Code Review
Should focus on reviewing code and
unit test results to provide
additional verification that the code conforms to data movement best
practices and security requirement.
Should verify that
test results confirm that all conditional logic paths were followed and
that all error messages were tested properly
System testing
software testing best practices
Should focus on testing a set
of
components to ensure
that it performs to specification.
Should be performed by a senior
developer or lead developer in a system test or
integration test environment.
Errors, or defects, should be
documented, classified by severity,
and monitored by the defect management process to ensure timely
resolution.
Integration testing
Should focus on testing
software release i.e. a set of
components intended to move to production as a planned release.
Should be managed by the data
architect or software designer in an
integration test environment which "mirrors" the intended production
environment.
Errors, or defects, should be
documented, classified by severity,
and
monitored by the defect management process to ensure timely resolution.
Should include:
- System
and
volume testing to confirm that the system is
operating correctly and can handle the required data volumes;
- Reconciliation
tests to manually confirm the validity of data; Regression testing
to ensure that the new software does not cause
problems with existing software; and
- Performance testing
to
ensure that data can be loaded in the
available
“load window”; Load
manager
testing; Warehouse
manager testing; and Infrastructure
and
operations
component testing.
Security testing
Should be performed in the
production environment under the
direction of the security officer.
Should certify
compliance with system security and integrity
Should address:
- System back-up;
- Recovery; and
- Security audit trails and tracking.
Quality assurance
testing
Should focus on testing a set
of components to ensure
that they meets requirements.
Should be
performed by an independent test team in a quality assurance
environment that "mirrors" the production environment.
Should test every requirement
and all system, user and production
support documentation.
Test cases, test data and test
results should be defined as
configuration items and handed over to the production support team as
part of the release package.
User
acceptance testing (UAT)
Should focus on testing a set
of
requirements to ensure that they meet user expectations.
Should be
performed in the quality assurance test environment or in a separate
user acceptance test environment.
Test Documentation
Should state test objectives
and what the test is expected
to achieve.
Methodology should describe the
general methodology
or strategy for each test.
Conditions should specify the
type of input that
shall be used.
Test progression should
describe the manner in which
progression is made from one test to the next.
Test results should specify how
test results will be
documented and where they will be stored.
Constraints should indicate any
limitations on the
test.
Criteria should describe the
rules used to evaluate
test results e.g. range of data values, combinations of input types
used, maximum number of errors allowed.
Data reduction should describe
the techniques used to
manipulate or prepare the test data.
Test cases should specify
- Test name;
- Test description;
- Test control;
- Inputs;
- Outputs; and
- Test scripts (or procedures).
Defects
Should be documented in a
defect management repository.
Should be analyzed to
determine if they are
development issues or if they are requirement issues.
Should be assigned to the
appropriate team for
remedy.
Should be monitored to ensure
that appropriate tests are
conducted after software is modified.
Should be managed to ensure
that changed code is migrated into the
appropriate environment.
Should be monitored daily.
Software testing best practices summary...
Software testing best practices should be specified in the test plan
and clearly establish test expectations for all team members. It is
important to complete the plan
early in the project and manage it carefully to
ensure on time, within budget project delivery.
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