October 2017 - Testbytes Software

5 Main Software Testing Issues and Methods to Resolve Them

Posted on October 31, 2017 by tbsupadminnxtbackendacc

Software testing is an integral part of any software development phase. Testing often accounts for more than 50% of the expenditure incurred in developing a particular software. The more complex is the software, the more time and resources need to be spent to make sure that flaws are detected and set right. However, often this is not the real picture.

Software or systems are often installed and rolled out with hundreds of defect in them. The result is poor performance and loss of many days both for the software development firm as well as the client. To avoid such problems team leads or managers must sort out some issues which are inherent to software testing. Let us go through 5 main software testing issues and methods to resolve them.

Inadequate schedule of testing:

Testing is a time consuming affair. It has to be so since it is done to bring out the defects or inadequacies of the system under different conditions and not to show that it works. Testing needs to go hand in hand with development. This will make sure that inadequacies or errors in a particular functionality of the system is brought to the notice of the development team and sorted out sooner than later.
However, more often than not what happens is that managers keep on postponing testing until late in the development process. This leaves very little time for final testing which results in inadequate schedule of the process.

The managers must emphasize the need for testing as a follow up and they have to make sure that development and testing of different functionalities of a system goes side by side. This will give the testing team enough time to look at the systemic inadequacies and vulnerabilities comprehensively.

Insufficient testing environment and tools:

Tools and environments are backbones of proper software testing. However, testing is often carried out in inadequate testing environment. An over reliance on manual testing or COTS testing tools is another aspect. Moreover, some of the environmental components themselves suffer from defects. What is commonly seen is that test environment, test data and test software are not under adequate configuration control.

Team managers must ensure that actual or close enough hardware and software requirements are met in a testing environment. This will make sure that testing brings out the flaws that would actually evolve during operations by the end user
Team managers must also deploy automated testing tools if the testing process is complex, as involving more human testers is not possible. This will make sure that testing is carried out fast, with limited resource and repeatedly and can bring out more flaws in the system

Wrong testing mindset

Often the mindset of the software testing team revolves around finding out functionality of the system rather than finding defects in it. This itself prohibits the team from finding out flaws in the software.

It is the duty of team lead to inculcate the notion that testing is done to find fault with the system or software under different conditions and not to prove that it works

Testing lessons are often ignored

It is often seen that same type of problems are repeated in systems,projects after projects.

This is purely a management related problem. Management must ensure that team leads are careful enough to document each and every lesson learnt in previous projects and implement them in projects thereafter.

Poor integration of testing and engineering processes

Often it is seen that testing and engineering processes are not properly integrated. This means that components or subsystems are often tested for flaws before they are mature enough to be tested on all parameters. Moreover, there may be some project specific needs that need to be looked into. One size fits all formula does not apply to software testing.

Testing team must ensure that components and subsystems are tested when they are mature enough to be tested on all parameters. This can only happen if the testing and engineering team works are well coordinated.

Conclusion
For letting us conclude, it is best said that unlike a single person, being a team is smarter. So, the best advice is to get together and fly high. Large enterprise and customers should not spend too much time accounting for errors which come up. Following a good and systematic practice for your QA needs will certainly provide quality to your team.

How AI will Change the Software Testing

Posted on October 27, 2017 by tbsupadminnxtbackendacc

Software testing has always been an integral part to the success of any product in the market. Be it a newly launched product or the latest version of the existing product, it is important for companies to make sure that each of its product passes through a stringent quality test to make sure that it meets the set standards.

Gone are the days when companies used to rely on manual testing. With the advancement in technology, the companies have almost switched completely to the automated mode of testing.
And, now the day is here when more and more companies will be seen using artificial intelligence (AI) in its software testing process.
AI has become the new buzzword as more and more companies are getting increasingly dependent on machines and computers to perform tasks that would have otherwise been performed only by humans.
This form of intelligence has simplified a lot of tasks and one of those is testing. All one needs to do now is feeding the computer with the required data, setting the required logic and simply running the testing process.
Shortcomings of Manual Testing
Although considered to be a reliable form of testing, manual testing has its own cons. These, in turn, reduce the efficiency and performance of the entire process. Some of the common issues of using manual testing are:

Time-consuming.
Limited testing scenarios.
Limited possibility of testing manual/automation scenarios.
Maintaining the code as per QA trends.
Lack of automation

Benefits of AI in Software Testing
Incorporating AI in software testing is an apt decision as doing so will not only save a lot of time and labour but also will benefit in a number of other ways like:
1. Better Quality:
Using AI in software testing after the process of development not only saves time but also helps in ensuring better quality. It predicts, prevents as well as automates the entire process of testing using self-learning algorithms.
AI will not only support and improve the requirements models and test cases but also provide more sophisticated and refined form of text recognition and better code generators.
2. Quick and Reliable:
Using AI in the software testing process will save a lot of time of the development team. This is because using AI helps in delivering quick and faster results that are also reliable for the team.
Using AI will not only allow the team to use data to develop better projects but will also help them prevent any sort of repetition of errors done in the past.
3. Early Feedback:
Automating the entire testing process not only saves a lot of time but also helps the developers in collecting quick feedback. Collecting early feedback helps in ensuring that the bugs are fixed quickly and the better product is soon launched in the market.
Using AI will also allow the team to spot any or all sorts of bugs that might have occurred during the previous development process and avoid the same so as to ensure the delivery of a better performing product.
4. Traceability:
Since everything is stored on a machine, it becomes easier for the developers, testers and other team members to quickly trace and access the details of any testing process that has been executed.
Whether it is about missing a test case or identifying a dead case, all is possible with ease using AI.
5. Integrated Platform:
This type of testing uses one integrated platform and is also adaptable to client technology landscape. Having one single integrated platform makes this process a reliable process to execute a test.
Since the projects are built on open source stack making the project flexible and agile, cost effective and secure, AI testing can be executed much more smoothly.
6. Script Automation:
Using AI will end the need of creating a test design or automating a test script. This is because all this will be done and executed automatically by the AI algorithm.
With AI, it gets easier for the system to go through the log files as well as improve the test planning and coverage of the system.

Apart from testing, AI will also make developers as well as applications smarter. Using AI will make developers and applications smart in the following ways:

Quick turning of an idea into a code using better code generators.
Precise estimation of time lines.
Quick identification of bugs and effective remedies.
Automated decision-making about the next step of development and testing.
Enable quick and easy human interaction.
Applications capable of learning on their own.

However, it is true that AI has an ability to simplify a lot of tasks. But, it is important to find a balance between the role of a machine and human.
Being completely dependent on any of the two might hamper the productivity as well as performance. Therefore, the best way out is to find a way in which both machine and humans can exist simultaneously, delivering maximum results.

9 Best Practices to Improve Software Testing Process

Posted on October 26, 2017 by tbsupadminnxtbackendacc

Software testing is the process used to evaluate a product to find out whether it actually meets the specific functions. It is the process that helps to provide the product owners with the information about its quality and whether it meets the required standards.

Providing the team with an unbiased and independent view of the software, software testing is an excellent step that allows business houses to comprehend the risks associated with the implementation of the software. Some of the common properties that are tested during software testing include whether it meets specified needs such as its design, development, responds correctly to all kinds of inputs, executes the desired functions within the desired time frame, is operational and achieves the results as desired by the stakeholders.
Software testing is conducted at a different stage of Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC). However, when a team chooses to begin it early, it helps in saving a lot of time, cost as well as ensure the delivery of an error-free product. If not, the team can always begin to conduct testing on a software as soon as an executable version of the software is available.
A typical testing process can be divided into five major steps:

Planning
Analysis and designing
Implementation and execution
Evaluating and reporting
Test closure activities

While every organization ensures that the software testing is conducted in a way that helps identify and fix all bugs, there is always a scope of improvement. Mentioned below are some of the simple ways that can be implanted to ensure process improvement in software testing:

Define a process

To ensure a successful execution of a software testing process, it is important to have a process in place beforehand. The process defined by the company should be robust as well as approved by the experts to ensure that there is no hurdle in its execution. Even though it is not required that the testing team follows this process stringently, but this definitely can serve as a guideline to begin the process. The process can improve and develop along with the product and testing requirements.

Involve testers in development

It is an excellent practice to involve testers in the process of product development right from the beginning of the SDLC. This is because, it helps the testers gain a better understanding of the product, its requirements and thus, develop comprehensive tests for the product. Along with this, doing so is also a cost-effective option to avoid bugs in the final product as well as prevent any delays in its delivery.

Maintain all the records

While it is true that all the bugs and product development related information is readily available over email, it is highly advisable to store this information intelligently in the form of documents and reports. This is to ensure that there is no scattering of the information over email or internet rather, it can be easily accessed from one single place, which, in turn, helps improve productivity.

Keep test cases ready in advance

It is good to keep the test cases ready in advance during requirement analysis and design phase. This will help improve the productivity as well as save a lot of time of both the developers as well as testers. It can also help the testers identify and determine whether the requirements mentioned for the product can be tested or not.
It is important to make sure that the test cases were written are clear enough to be comprehended by both the developer as well as a tester.

Have a positive mindset

For a tester to successfully implement the testing of a software, it is important to have a positive mindset before starting the test. This is because having a positive attitude helps one to easily identify any bugs or errors in the application. Think that there are multiple bugs and errors in the code and you will definitely end up finding many.

Divide the functional module

It is important for the testing team to divide the entire product module into smaller parts. This is because it helps ensure that each and every aspect of a particular application is tested. The division of the entire logic into smaller modules also make it easier to identify and fix the bugs so as to deliver a high-quality product.

Write a detailed bug report

When a testing team opts to write a clear and detailed bug report, it not only saves a lot of time of the company but also for the developers. It is important for the testers to understand that the clarity in the bug report is essential to fix any sort of bugs that are present in the product and hence, ensure the delivery of an error-free product.
Establish a good relationship with the development team by not only sharing a bug report but also suggesting them the most appropriate ways to fix the same. This will not only save the time of developers’ but also safeguard you from any sort of delay.

Create a good test environment

It is the responsibility of the testing team to ensure that the test environments established by it are an exact imitation of the product’s production. This is to ensure that there are no flaws or bugs that are missed out during the product’s testing.
For instance, there might be a situation when a developer has added certain configurations or run scripts but has missed adding the same in release document or configuration file. This, in turn, would lead to the application’s success in the lower environment but failure during production. In such a situation, when the testing team has complete control over the testing environment but developers do not, it is possible to gain a control over such situations.

Increase communication with developer

Establishing better and improved channels of communication between tester and developer can help in the process improvement in software testing. Having a discussion with the developer regarding any sort of issues, bugs and confusion can help in making things, process and the product better.

It is important to keep a record of all such discussions over email so that one can refer back to them in the case of any clashes or when the need arises.
To meet the ever-changing demands of the clients, it is important for the testing team to upgrade their skills and meet the essential requirements. Incorporating the above-mentioned tips can also be helpful for process improvement in software testing. Thus, it is the time that you stand strong professionally with your skills and deliver the best to the market.

10 Industries Where Blockchain May Cause Massive Disruption [Infographic]

Posted on October 24, 2017 by tbsupadminnxtbackendacc

Blockchain technology has topped the headlines in various sectors due to its potential to disrupt and transform different industries. As an efficient and moreover a reliable way for storage and data exchange, it can be used to reform industries that rely on accessibility of certain data.

Being a complex form of technology, Blockchain is a globally distributed database that can run on various devices where not just information but anything of value can be stored like money, music, art, scientific discoveries, votes etc. where it can be also moved and stored securely, regardless of location.
This technology is beneficial as it works as a system of record that is shared among participants of different business networks, eliminating the need for disparate ledgers. Each member would have the access rights, where confidential data is shared on a need to know basis.
So, there’s no doubt that blockchain technology has the chance to change things, as its more a unique data structure where authorization is vital for digital transactions and are established as a result of the configuration of blockchain technology.

What is A/B Testing? How to Use it?

Posted on October 11, 2017 by tbsupadminnxtbackendacc

Websites and apps with high conversion rates have something unique in them. This uniqueness is nothing but the optimal distribution of attributes that pull the visitors and convert them to customers. To achieve this balance, the company or the developers have to hypothesize different scenario and design the attributes accordingly. The process has the name A/B testing
However, how do you compare between two versions of the same website? How do you know that the painstaking efforts in changing the attributes, here and there, have really led to higher conversion rate? You can rely on A/B testing for all these.
What is Open Source A/B testing Software?

The essence of A/B testing is like testing a copy of a page or app with the B copy of it. It is also known as bucket testing, since you split the page or app into two with different attributes and then experiment with them for their relative efficacy in achieving higher conversion rate.
Why should you do A/B Testing?
1) Trial and error
With open source A/B testing software you have the ability to test the performance of your website or application with two different attributes. Let us say you made a landing page of a website and now want to see if changing some attribute like colour, font or anything else will make some difference in terms of user satisfaction and conversion rate.
To see that you need to change the attribute that you think may make a difference and use the A/B testing open source software to experiment with the traffic and conversion rate in each version of the page. Such trial and error to arrive at the best product is possible with the help of A/B testing open source software.
2) Data integrity
If you are using third party analytical services like Google Analytics or Adobe Analytics your data integrity may be lost. You need to handover your business critical sensitive data to these third party analytic firms. With A/B testing open source software you need not lose hold of your data. So data integrity is maintained.
3) Customized User Interface
For conducting different tests, you need a user interface that is customized for attributes specific to your business goals and needs. With A/B testing open source software, you are able to not only experiment with pages and apps, but also have the results of the split test reflected in a user friendly interface.
4) Real Time Result
Experiments with any A/B testing open source software can get real time results, and this helps the organisation in minimizing the time required in experimentation.
5) Selecting the most suitable Open Source A/B Testing Software
A very important aspect of selecting an A/B testing software is to see that it integrates with a variety of renowned content providers. This will ensure good content for your site and if your goal is better conversion rate then, the software must also have a feature of tracking revenues, sign ups, conversion rates etc. Another important aspect to note is the unlimited undo which will help in fixing mistakes.
How To do A/B testing?
Shockingly, numerous marketers are as yet doing unplanned tests without keeping clear objectives and regulations at the top of their priority list.
They don’t consider a definitive motivation behind the content before playing out and at last, they don’t notice any growth.

Keep in mind what works for your competitor, may not generally work for you! You must never aimlessly follow the success of other marketers without testing it on your individual platform first.
When you direct A/B testing, firstly, answer sensibly every below-listed question prior to starting in the accurate pattern.
What is my objective; boost conversions to the website or more signups or to increase income?
How am I going to assess results subsequent to actualizing A/B testing?
What things will I alter or enhance after this testing?
Did the real results coordinate with my assumed objectives?
Subsequent to deciding your primary objectives, the following level is choosing what components ought to be tested keeping in mind the goal to boost your conversions.
A conversion is another approach of saying the number of individuals who achieved your objective.
Now, after all this, you can start by establishing your A/B testing for your social media campaign.
Remember the given crucial tips to successfully execute A/B Testing for your social media campaigns.
For what A/B testing is used for?

Email campaigns
Individual emails
Website design
Multimedia marketing strategies
Paid internet advertising
Newsletters

How A/B Testing works?

Have an idea about what to test from the initial stage itself
Make two version of the update that’s about to be implemented. Or a new product
Subject it to customer review
Have a clear idea about how the website /competitor product is performing
Choose the correct tool to analyse the traffic change and user behavior
In your testing program create variation based on hypothesis
And wait for the response.
Make sure that you have a clear idea about the results you are looking for
Tests needs to be carried over simultaneously

Process involved in A/B Testing

Identify the real problem that you are experiencing, no conversions is can’t be considered as a real problem. Emphasis should be one of the multiple problems that’s preventing conversions
Find out what’s relevant for the user by analyzing user data
Develop a hypothesis to test
Run A/B test with various versions of the page or the software
Once the test is over analyse the results to find out what worked and what not
If an option wins in the test, again, test it against other options which are equally successful.

A/B testing your social media Campaign

Outline Your Plan

The more conscious and centered you are about each progression of your testing, the steadier your discoveries will be.
As already said, the initial step is to decide the objective of the test. It may be to increment average sales per client, get more repeat buys or grow conversion rates.
You ought to likewise have an objective for the outcomes you need to accomplish. You know where you are currently, so you have to set an objective for where you need to be.
Also, one must invest in the right tools. There is a lot of A/B testing tools accessible that will assist you in setting up, running and assessing tests.
Make certain to look into a few alternatives to locate the one that best obliges your social media needs. It’s a little yet great investment which will eventually upgrade your net revenues.

Discover Your Target Audience

Prior to beginning a social media campaign, you need to become acquainted with your targeted audience.
This procedure for testing is one of a kind, in that you will not be changing the real content of the social media campaign.
Rather, you will demonstrate a similar post or ads to different sections to observe which one will respond best.
When testing Facebook advertisements, for example, you will, for the most part, need to fragment by area, gender, age, platform, device, or interests.

Strategize With Certainty

A/B testing is possibly the most effortless path for the marketers to advance their online business through social media platform for more conversion.
With the assistance of this philosophy, you can undoubtedly wipe out the mystery and take steps that give results through increased conversion rates and search ranking.
Utilizing this strategy, you can attempt and test variations to your web pages against the present plan and execute those that give the high-grade results.
By estimating the effect of the variation, you need to present on your social media page, you can settle on an educated choice and guarantee that it will deliver positive results. Basically, it can have a major effect on the viability of conversion rates and your business site.

Test Landing Page

Landing pages are a key component we test to check paid and organic execution.
An essential best practice here is that when you know which post copy and image perform best, you should develop your landing page depending on them.
At that point, there is conversion testing.
Tools make it simple to set up modifications of your landing page.
These can go from slight changes, for example, CTA buttons to totally extraordinary styles.
In the last situation, every variant will be checked on half of your users. Following parameters empower you to detect customer engagement with every change – and which accomplishes your objectives best.
Remember that the more components you include, the more post variations you should make and the all the more tracking codes you should control.

Test CTAs and Copy

One fundamental yet crucial test you can do – with different variations of your messaging copy.
By utilizing both engagement and performance estimations, you will have the capacity to rapidly make sense of which copy setting accomplishes the best outcomes.
Obviously, this relies upon the objectives behind your post e.g. engagement, traffic, conversation etc. It is suggested that you leave a couple of days between posts, however, attempt to put them out at the same time.
Also, it’s a smart idea to keep alternate components, for example, the picture same in each test. Furthermore, make sure to modify your tracking codes for every version.

Drive Your Test Minimum For a Week

Make a point to run your idea of A/B test for no less than seven days. But in case that you are testing a low activity page, you may need to wait for a couple of more weeks and considerably more, to acquire results with the statistical importance.
A standout among-st the most imperative things to remember when performing an A/B test is to dependably wait till your outcomes are factually notable.
Such as deciding the time length to run an A/B test, waiting for the factually important number of visitors ought to be based off your certainty interim.

Test Pictures

Pictures are another great component to A/B test. Symbolism is crucial on social media platforms where posts must emerge to get a valuable attention of the users. Here too you should utilize differentiated tracking codes.

Gather Data

By utilizing the analytics tools, you will get assistance on verifying which particular territories of your social media content you ought to A/B test. For a more granular understanding, you could utilize a heat map to discover how clients are or are not utilizing your marketing initiative to get a strong beginning stage.

Get Customer Involved

You may have many A/B testing plans as the main priority, however, instead of wasting your time attempting all of them, get your customers included.
Invite them to take a survey about their experience with the page and distinguish objects in the conversion process that they discovered inadmissible or confusing.
Other than this, you can likewise take a look at the chat transcripts and connect with your sales and customer support group to discover the regular inquiries and reviews that the audience has.
This will enable you to recognize A/B tests that may be the most essential to actualize.

Interpret Adequacy & Repeat

Apparently, the most vital component of the test procedure is to check the effectiveness of the A/B testing.
As it empowers you to apply what you have determined from the test results keeping in mind the goal to roll out positive improvements.
The work of A/B tester is never concluded. Eventually, user choices change after some time, and you will need to keep your posts new and that locks in.

Despite the fact that you had arrived on an awesome setup for your social media content, you may need to extend your innovative models and take a stab at something new.
Once the winning post has been discovered, it is best to keep distributing that variety. Nonetheless, much of the time, a testing round will rouse new ideas to be sought after through further testing.

Need for Quality Assurance Initiatives in Automation Testing

Posted on October 10, 2017 by tbsupadminnxtbackendacc

Automation testing is the process in which an automation tool is used to test a particular product for its functionality and other features. This process of testing is preferred over manual testing due to a number of reasons like it is cost-effective, less time consuming, easy to conduct testing on multi-lingual sites, does not require human intervention as well as increases test coverage.
However, automation testing aims to increase the test efficiency and software’s value, implementing this process also involves a number of risks. Some of these include high starting cost, limited features that can be set for automated testing, requires one to have good understanding of programming, etc. Therefore, it is important for the person conducting automation testing to be sure about the choice he/she makes of the software to conduct this test and also be vigilant of all the risks involved.

Since, testing is the process that is carried out before launching a product in the market and in fact, even after that. Therefore, it becomes important to maintain highest quality standards and take some quality assurance initiatives so as to ensure that the product delivered is flawless and best in terms of quality.
Need of Quality Assurance Initiatives
Quality assurance is a planned and organized set of activities that are carried out to ensure that the product delivered is highest in quality as well as conform to the set requirements, procedures and standards. This is not a one stage process but a regular initiative that needs to be taken during the entire software development life cycle (SDLC).
Almost every company follows this practice and ensures that the product delivered by it has been delivered in compliance with pre-determined requirements and standards. Ensuring the best quality in its product is one of the simplest yet most effective way to retain customers for long and make sure that the product manufactured is used by the intended audience.
Quality Assurance Initiatives in Automation Testing
Like every testing process, it is also important in case of automation testing to ensure that the utmost level of quality is maintained. It is the responsibility of the testing team and other members of the project to ensure that the necessary quality assurance initiatives are taken. This is to ensure that testing a product using automation testing tools does not degrade its quality.
Apart from this, there are a number of other reasons that make it essential for the companies to take quality assurance initiatives in automation testing. Some of these include:

Maximize performance:

Testing a product using automation testing does not imply that all the bugs would be easily identified and fixed. It is important to understand that automation testing does the majority of testing job but manual intervention is important to ensure that there are no errors or flaws that might act as a hurdle in the product’s performance.
Setting high quality standards ensures that the product delivered in the market after testing is free from flaws and hence, can be used to maximize performance and output.

Value Customers’ time:

Companies should understand that it is extremely crucial and important to value the time of their customers. It is easy to simply develop and launch a product in the market. But, this might turn out to be a major loss causing decision ever taken by the company.
Launching the product without rigorous testing and ensuring quality even in the testing process might lead to a delivery of poor performing product. This, in turn, might end up wasting a lot of customers’ precious time as well as their trust in the company.

Increased Business:

Delivering a high-performing and reliable product in the market help ensure higher retention rate of the company. Retention rate implies the rate at which a company is able to hold back its customers or increase their loyalty towards the company.
A product without a flaw is sure to gather higher attention and more users. This, in turn, helps the company to win more customers and hence, attain more positive publicity.

Optimum Quality:

Taking quality assurance initiatives in automation testing is not just about bug fixing, it is also about fulfilling promises made to the customers. Whether the demand for the product was raised by the customer or it is a company owned product, taking some extra initiatives pays back in long run.
Higher product quality implies that the customer would be able to trust the company as well as its products easily.

Ends Scope of Error:

While it is true that testing in itself is the process that helps ensure the delivery of best quality products in the market, taking extra caution can be an added advantage. A product might have been developed by the best team of developers but this does not end the scope of errors and flaws. This, in turn, proves that a product without proper testing is very likely to fail.

If a product is under automation testing process and one still opts to take quality assurance initiatives, this is sure to ensure the product delivered will be without any sort of flaws and complications.
Quality assurance initiatives in automation testing is not about doubting the proficiency of the team or the process. It is just about being extra careful and making sure that the company is able to win a happy and satisfied clientele. Also, taking quality assurance initiatives in automation testing is not about lengthening the process, it is actually more about improving the results for the company in long run.

5 Major Steps to Test Automation Assessment

Posted on October 6, 2017 by tbsupadminnxtbackendacc

Gone are the days when the companies used to hire several employees to conduct manual testing on its products. A majority of companies these days rely on the invaluable process of test automation. Being a cost and time-saving process, it is important to make the best possible utilization of the process. In order to do so, it is important for the companies to assess the actual value of the process and try to obtain maximum benefit from the same.
It is important to run these processes on an automation assessment tool so as to identify if there are any sort of loopholes present and fix them so that, the maximum benefit is obtained out of these. It is also beneficial to run these tests because it helps an organization determine whether it is ready to implement the test automation process or not.
The key areas where this assessment focuses are automation framework in which reusable function libraries, test object maps, etc are detailed; integration in which test and defect managed is detailed; and the process’ fitment that includes details about existing/target automation coverage, test prioritization etc. in the software development life cycle (SDLC).
Test automation assessment can be implemented in five simple steps as mentioned below:

Understanding the Existing System

At this stage, an understanding of the existing system, technology and processes is developed to check the present quality standards as well as testing processes that are followed. It is also good to develop a thorough understanding of the objectives, their technology stack, user flow as well as manual test cases if any.

Assessment

A thorough assessment in terms of the tools usage and the extent to which they are ready to be automated is determined. This is done by preparing a requirement traceability matrix breakdown that contains the complete details of the extent of test cases, the exact business requirements, details of the exact functional requirements as well as the areas where there are chances of quality improvement.
Apart from these, the feasibility of a particular tool, its confirmation as well as an analysis report on automation ROI (return on investment) is also done. Some of the most business-critical test cases are also identified at this step.

Conduct a Proof of Concept (POC)

The POC is implemented to identify the type of test cases that are feasible for a particular product. In other words, it includes the process in which a few selected test cases are implemented to conduct POC and determining the exact need of a complete automation.

Recommendation & Implementation

On the basis of these tests and their results, necessary recommendations are made so as to improve the product quality, its performance and deliverability.

Implementation

The recommendations made are, then, implemented at this stage. Apart from this, certain specific test automation tools, feasibility, and its approach is also defined clearly at this stage. The best and appropriate automation strategies are executed at this stage so that it helps in enhancing the testing quality as well as reducing the required testing effort and time.

The outcome of a perfect test automation assessment process comes from following the right automation strategy and helps in enhancing test quality, reduce testing efforts, on-time delivery and get return in investments. Assessing test automation is not only beneficial in terms of improving the testing process but it is also advantageous for the companies, who plan to deliver the best and most advanced products to the market.

5 Latest Software Testing Standards

Posted on October 4, 2017 by tbsupadminnxtbackendacc

Software testing standards are a set of rules or standards that are expected to be met in a particular product or service offered by a company. Compliance to these set of rules is important for a company as it defines the extent to which a company is performing it duty legally and is not engaged in any sort of malpractice. Moreover, doing so also ensures the delivery of high quality products.

While there are several software testing standards like ISO and IEEE standards already in place, another ISO has been recently added to the list in order to match with the pace of global technological advancements and it is ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119.

IEEE Standards Association

According to the IEEE standards association, the latest software testing standards are permitted to be used within a software development life cycle (SDLC) or in any particular organization that is involved in software development and testing.
Implementing these standards is an excellent way for the companies to adhere to the only internationally recognized and agreed standards for software testing as well as find a supreme quality approach towards quality assurance.
Introduced and developed by a group known as “Working Group 26” in May 2007, the new software testing standards have been developed as a series that when executed ensures maximum quality and performance of the product.

Standards of ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119

Divided into five different sections, each section of this testing standard has a different purpose and need to serve as mentioned below:
1. ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119-1
This software testing standard focuses on definitions and concepts of all other standards in the 29119 series of quality standards. It helps user understand the vocabulary on which the other standards in the series are built as well as provides relevant examples to show the way in which each concept works in practice.
A complete knowledge bank, the 29119-1 can also be considered to be the foundation of IEEE software testing standards. Some of the topics that are included in this series are introduction to software testing, testing processes in SDLC, risk-based testing, common test practices, defect management, etc.
2. ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119-2
This standard has been designed with an aim to develop a generic process model that can be used for conducting testing in any SDLC.
As per this standard, the testing process will work on a three-layer process that would include organizational test specifications such as organizational test policy and test strategy, test management and dynamic testing.
Laying a special emphasis on alleviation of risks, this standard allows the process of testing to focus on product’s key features and attributes under test.
3. ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119-3
With a special focus on documentation, this standard provides standardized templates that are designed in a way that covers the entire SDLC. However, these templates can also be customized as per each organization’s unique requirements.
Designed in alignment with the process defined in the ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119-2, this software testing standard is likely to surpass the IEEE 829 standard.
4. ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119-4
With a focus on software test design techniques developed for organizations and SDLC models, the techniques present in this standard can be an effective way to develop test cases that can be used to present evidence that each requirement mentioned under test have been successfully met or there are certain defects that need to be rectified.
Designed on the basis of BS-7925-2 component testing standard, this standard covers a number of dynamic software testing techniques such as equivalence partitioning, classification tree method and boundary value analysis.
5. ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119-5
This standard supports those techniques and approaches that support keyword driven testing, a technique that involves describing test cases on the basis of predefined set of keywords.
These keywords are based on a set of actions that are required to be performed using specific steps in a test case. Writing keywords in a natural language helps one gain an easy understanding of these test cases.
Implementing these standards may enable companies to deliver better products in the market, a lot of these are encouraging to follow authentic and reliable software techniques and approaches as a whole.
Conclusion
Software testing standards are a must as it serves a validation for customers as well as the owner the testing company in ensuring that software testing is meeting certain standards.

It doesn’t matter what kind of standards or regulatory rule your company is complying. Ultimately these standards will make sure that customer is happy and the testing company is getting good reviews. A win win situation for everybody.

7 Essentials For Successful Software Testing Projects

Posted on October 3, 2017 by tbsupadminnxtbackendacc

Testing, the process ensures that the software is designed in such a way that it fulfills its business and technical requirements. This also helps in determining that the software is designed following the client’s as well as end-users requirements. The process helps in identifying the defects or flaw that may later cause financial and reputation damage to the organization.

Here we are sharing software testing essentials that would help tester is ensuring that the software testing process is done in a proper way. It is helpful to think about software testing in terms of seven essential elements that are discussed below:
Test Strategy: The purpose of testing is to point out the defects that are not apparent. When we talk about test strategy, it is about the type of testing, which will be implemented to detect the flaws of the product. The strategy is decided on the basis or requirements and information that help on finding customer’s focus. Choosing a right test strategy helps in saving time and money. It is suggested to start working on test strategy in the middle of the design phase.
Testing Plan: As the name says, testing plan deals with the testing task. This software testing essential includes all the details such as who will do which tasks, when to start, ending when, how much effort it will demand. A list is prepared that covers all the things that need to be performed for testing. The testing plan helps in identifying the dependencies among the tasks. The tester can start filling the details of the testing plan as soon as the test strategy is completed. Test strategy and testing plan keep changing with the advancement of project.
Test Cases: The development of a test case is determined on the basis of prioritizing requirement. A tester has to keep in mind the customer’s approach as well as quality dimensions that need to be delivered. Apart from ad hoc testing, all test cases must be prepared before starting the testing. The test case development occurs parallel to software development task.
Creating a test case is as challenging as software programming!! To create a perfect test case, one must possess sound knowledge of requirements and business rules, all these information help the tester in predicting the expected result. It is the expected result that works as a benchmark in deciding whether the test will pass or fail. A good test case is designed in such a way that it finds out all the visible and hidden defects.
Test Data: Now your test case is ready and to execute the test case one require a test data. The test data can be anything like names, addresses, product orders, or whatever other information the system uses. Test data development is usually done simultaneously with test case development.
Test Environment: Test environment refer the place where testing is done and for that one may require a set of equipment as well. One may require a couple of machines to create a proper test environment. When we talk about test environment, we try to create a mini-environment that reflects the environment where the software will actually run in the future. Tips to set up a test environment are the part of the test planning process and it should be completed before starting the testing.
Testing tools: Testing tools are another important aspect of software testing essentials. There are a variety of tools available in the market, the smart implementation of such tools ensure that nothing remains unnoticed from the eyes of the tester.

Tester’s Experience: All the theoretical part and tools can infer result only when it is used by someone who has the knowledge to use it. It is very important to work with a skilled and experienced tester to make the most of the available sources.
Conclusion:
For a better and precise software testing, it is important to ensure that above mentioned 7 elements are taken into consideration. Testers often complain about the lack of resources and lack of involvement in the development process at the initial stage, but focusing on these 7 software testing essentials to ensure better testing.