Testing plays a vital role in any software or application development.
Functional testing is done to test features or functionality of an application or software. All the possibilities, including failure and boundary conditions are considered in functional testing.
Any functionality is tested by providing inputs, observing its output and comparing the actual results with the expected ones. Here are some effective procedures or best practices that may come handy while you perform functional testing:
1. Collect information required to perform testing
It is important to know what is to be tested and what the plan or procedure is, for testing. The development team has information about critical user commands and processes. Collect the information and test the critical things first.
It is important to be aware of market demands for product development. Document or matrix should be prepared to link the product to the requirement and to the test cases. Matrices should be modified as per the changes in requirement.
2. Make Test plan and test cases
Planning for what should be done to perform the testing, includes goals and scope of testing, number of people, hardware and software tools to be involved in the testing and schedule of testing, and number of test cases that should be written to perform testing. Test cases are nothing but input data based on the functionality’s specification. These test cases should be arranged and ranked as per priority to reduce delay and risk. The development team should review these test plans.
3. Execute the test
Test plans and actual functionality should match to execute the test correctly. Test cases should be written in such a way that it canbe modified if necessary with the changing needs of the product. For further analysis, problems faced and its solutions can be documented.
4. Consider the automated testing
Automated testing is done to improve quality of the product or software and also to save time. The tester has to decide about what should be automated.
Automated testing is slightly costlier in short span; but, in the long run it is more beneficial for the product. Avoid performing automation on things that can be cheaply and effectively done by manual testing.
5. Manage defects with data storage system
Many people working on same functionality may result in repetition of defect reports, incorrect order of issue solving, consideration of wrong defects and much more. To avoid this, acentralized data storage system should be managed which can be referred by everyone.
The system includes standard templates for defect reporting and verifying, ranking of defects as per priority and information about the assignment of tasks. This helps in solving problemsone by one.
6. Reporting of test results
A test result report is presented in a specific format which includes summary of all test cases executed and the time taken at each stage for each feature with its status and progress. It also provides details of any new defect found during testing.
Overall, test result report should be presented in a clear and simple way for understanding of the development team.
7. Analysis
Problems and options in both testing and development can be detected during analysis. It helps in improving procedures followed in product development. Analysis is helpful to make product success.
Category: Process
6 Factors You Should Consider When Choosing a Software Testing Services Company
There are a variety of quality assurance companies cropping up around the world. You have plenty of available options to test your mobile app or other software. So, you might be naturally confused to make a choice for your project. Here are a few tips to help you out.
Specialization
First of all, see if the software testing services company you are looking at is a specialized team of testers with both experienced and skilled testers. There are lots of companies which do testing as a make-shift business. Their developers might double up as testers. Which is not an ideal scenario.
You can look at the client list and see if the agency has worked with businesses similar to yours. A specialized QA company will have a bankable clientele who can vouch for them. So, if possible, try to contact couple of their previous clients.
Such companies would also incorporate a variety of testing options with both manual and automation methods
Read Also : 4 Smart Ideas to Get the Best from Your Software Testing Service Team
Testing Platform
It is quite important that you understand which testing platform quality assurance recruitment agencies employ. Some agencies vary their testing platforms according to your application requirements. There are also a number of services that make use of cloud environment to ensure secure and easily accessible testing environment.
Early Release Testing Options
In certain cases, testers get used to the software they test so much that they do not see a number of defects any longer. In such cases, beta testing or other early release testing options on the web would ensure that your consumers get the best software. Employing beta users to report on bugs is also a low-cost method of testing for testing services companies
Communication
Whichever business you are working in, communication is significantly important. Clear, on-time communication means they get a clear idea of your test objectives. One easy way to identify such companies is by looking at their clientele. If they have numerous long-term clients, they are clearly good at communication. Also, they are definitely providing good testing service.
Recommended Read : 10 Must-have Tools for Software Testing Services
Business Aspects
What are the types of business models your vendor offers and does any of them suit your work requirements? Also, see if the company capable of managing sudden and dynamic technology changes. If they require team resizing, can your QA company handle it efficiently?
And above all, check if their management style suits your working style. If they are a company with CMMI Level 5 certification, and your company is not, there is a high probability of frequent communication issues.
Information Security
Your business software or app might have unique features that make it special. So, you should be protected against the leakage of protected data with proper documents. There should be essential non-disclosure agreements signed-off between you and the software testing services company.
Having highly secure premises are an added advantage as it will provide additional security to your valuable data.
4 Smart Ideas to Get the Best from Your Software Testing Service Team
As you might know, a business analyst, a toolsmith, a few technical investigators and probably a manager usually constitute a software testing service team.
Let’s take the technical investigating team as an example. It’s quite natural that one of the guys in the team may be interested in mobile, another one in API’s.
A clever manager can easily understand the situation and is able to assign the right task to the right person. This will probably raise some questions.
Can he do this all the time? Suppose there is heavy workload and an experienced mobile professional goes on leave, or imagine a situation if the team members feel that they are “pigeonholed”.
What all things an efficient manager can do? Let’s have a look
- Discovering your “Testing Types”
When it comes to fix the testing team, we usually seek suggestions from our team members. Like a casual conversation, we ask “Should we keep a proportion for testers per programmer?”
Obviously, several opinions may arise. Some members suggest you’ve to provide only one tester to ten developers, as it‘s economic. Some say “No, if you want to ensure quality performance of apps, better keep a ratio of one tester per programmer”, and the conversation goes on like that.
Finally, the discussion settles with Agile testing ratio for the likes of many. We get maybe a couple of testers, perhaps zero, for every small group of programmers.
Having more than one slot allows you to deal an organizational problem much easier. For instance, for a couple of years back, when we had two open spaces, we choose a person who knows the basics of technical skills and another guy with a proficient knowledge of testing. More than that we attempt to get whatever number alternate viewpoints and perspectives as could reasonably be expected.
Many testers like to specialize; interestingly, some have genuine technical slashes and assume the role of a toolsmith making code that is beneficial for any production platform. Some others spend their time finding out about estimation, problem solving, and how individuals think and work, as they are interested in the origins of testing in philosophy and social science. In addition to this there are specialists in the business field and experts as well in making projects successful. So, everyone possesses special talents and it’s a challenge to fit them into teams.
One strategy you can do in this circumstance is to concentrate on your strengths.
Suppose you have to include a toolsmith in a small development team. The toolsmith can assist developers in programming automated checks in tune with the new features. The toolsmith is stubbing tests and creating the framework, while the new features are being developed.
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- Blending skills
A decent long haul tactic may look similar to that, with some ability change blended in for both the tester and developer.
When we work with fresh teams it is really difficult to devise strategies in creating beneficial codes.
Pairing quite often makes a difference. With front-end designers, we stroll through javascript and discuss how information is being purified by cutting off driving or trailing white space (or not) before being passed to the database.
Being engaged in Javascript for some time is a decent approach to stay aware of the new libraries that are turning out what appears like consistently. It likewise taught us how to depict issues in a way that would help them detect the code error quickly.
It’s obvious that most developers won’t transform into specialists and most testers likely won’t get to the point of writing production code. Unless you have a pleasant long professional career, there sufficiently isn’t time in the day. But, there is nothing wrong with making things a bit better.
- Learn, train and grow
A few teams have swung similarly as they can run and wound up with not very many, if any committed testers on their team.
It’s difficult to pick a spot to begin fixing testers on teams when you have much a greater number of teams than testers. You could attempt to have that exhausted tester jump between teams, dependably on the losing end of the stream of work, and attempt to work each aspect as it requires. On the other hand, you could begin from the flip side of the condition.
We are bringing you one of the experiences shared by a tester while he was an employee of a software testing company which had many development teams.
The company had a handful of developers and just two testers to go around. He was the one and the other guy was very junior. They worked in tandem and did the features as they came.
They got too many tasks daily, so sometimes they neglected one or two tasks. In fact, his plan was to slowly sow testing thoughts in the development team during lunch breaks and learns, showing issues and clarifying how he discovered them, and for the most part looking at testing.
Therefore, the quality of the code enhanced before they saw it and they could test less, and have less back and forth, while as yet keeping up trust in the work.
Everything went there like “tester as a trainer” model. Everyone is basically a developer at pivotal, however a few people are testing experts and share their expertise. Testers mingled with teams and train them via games and pairing on testing problems.
As a result, the developers have turned out to be all the more in fact, technically competent and they could also improve testing.
Read Also: 10 Must-have Tools for Software Testing Services
- Manage terrible fits
This way of sorting out teams is intense; it requires individuals that are devoted to change all around, and willing to manage change over long periods of time. That won’t work for everybody, and some may be a terrible fit in spite of being great individuals. Here are a couple of tactics to consider.
- The Shuffle: Suppose a tester doesn’t fit into the requirements of one team, possibly they will work out with another. Assume, your team is looking for someone who can help you with test- driven development (TDD), unfortunately he is unable to pick it up even after a couple of weeks. He might fit for another team which is not that focused on automation tests. A person without much technical knowledge can contribute to that team. Perhaps they can even work on such rusty technical skills when required.
- Entire team testing: The well-known saying ‘anybody can test’ is valid, yet you better ensure you have the right team members. Getting sorted out is essential, even when there is no test team.Usuallly product managers are experts in finding the right clients, the right business area and are capable to identify work progress and business related issues. For instance, if you need to identify problems with core part of the products, sales people are your best choice, as they demo those products regularly.
- Testability: This is the way we discuss how simple, or hard your product is to test. Do you have great logging? Do you have reliable methods for individuals to test their product without a client interface? Is it simple to make sense of how to get around and utilize the product? Making it simpler to get data about your product will help testers identify their quality.
The size of our software testing service team reduced, as we have a small team of developers and only so several slots for testing professionals. Fitting the professionals in the right group, or making sense of how to develop an expertise set will reward you in the long run.
5 Most Common Software Testing Methodologies
Software testing services offer a number of testing models. But for you to choose the right testing model, you need to be aware of the capabilities and shortcomings of each model. In this blog, we help you to choose the testing methodologies that best suits your software testing needs.
Various approaches are used by software testers in software development processes. A software development process is also called a Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC). Here we will discuss 5 of the most frequently used testing methodologies and the advantages and disadvantages of using them in a Software Development Life Cycle.
1. Waterfall Model
Developed by Winston Royce in the early 1970s, it is one of the most basic life cycle models. It was the first successful process model with a sequential development phase. The process flows progressively like that of a waterfall through multiple phases and hence the name waterfall model. The model as such is divided in into the following phases:
- Requirement Gathering and Analysis phase
- Software Design
- Implementation and Testing
- Maintenance
All the phases are sequential and each step is dependent on the previous one. This means that for a particular phase to begin, all the defined set of objectives and goals belonging to the previous step needs to be completed. This can sometimes become a disadvantage, but the simplicity in implementation and ease of maintenance is what fuels the popularity of this model.
The amount of resources required is minimal when compared to other models. A document is created after every phase of the model which helps to better understand and design the system. Creating deadlines for each stage helps to develop the system within a predetermined time frame. This model is rigid and lacks flexibility. It is impossible to make changes in the development of the system.
Advantage
- Simple and easy
- Since the model is rigid, it’s easy to manage
- Clearly defined
- Minimum client intervention
- The only completion can lead to the next phase
Disadvantage
- Can’t be used for a complex project
- Highly risky
- Not meant for big projects
- Changes in the project are not possible
2. V-Model
To overcome the disadvantages of the Waterfall Model, an alternative called V Model was introduced. It enables testing at each phase of SDLC, while the Waterfall Model supports testing only in the end phase. This helped testers to find issues at the earlier stages rather than at the end.
Before the start of actual testing, the testing team works on various activities like preparing the Test Strategy, Test Planning, Creation of Test cases and Test Scripts. These work in parallel with the development activity, helping to get the test completed on time. It is also called the verification or validation model.
In this process, the “Do-Procedure” is handled by the developer team whereas the “Check-Procedure” is followed by the testing team to meet the requirements. The V-model typically consists of the following phases:
1. Unit Testing: Preparation of Unit Test Cases
2. Integration Testing: Preparation of Integration Test Cases
3. System Testing: Preparation of System test cases
4. Acceptance Testing: Preparation of Acceptance Test Cases
Advantage
- Systematic progress
- Extensive functional area coverage
- Works for small projects
- High usage of resources
- Detailed information about the problem with the software
Disadvantage
- The process comes to an abrupt end when the project is finished, in short, re-usability is less
- Not suitable for big projects
- Risk management and risk mitigation is not possible
- Not suitable if there is frequent change in requirement
3. Agile Model
The agile development model is a type of incremental model where the software is developed in incremental, rapid cycles. This produces small incremental releases with each release building on previous functionality. These releases are thoroughly tested to ensure software equality and the model is commonly used for time-critical applications.
It helps in the rapid and continuous delivery of useful software which ensures customer satisfaction. This model promotes constant interaction between customers, developers, and testers, and even facilitates face-to-face conversation.
Such a model demands a clear cut idea about the output or else the project can easily be taken off track. It is difficult for a newbie programmer and constantly requires the services of an experienced hand.
Agile welcomes changes that need to be implemented. This can be done at an affordable cost because of frequent increments that are produced. Unlike the waterfall model, the agile model requires very limited planning to get started with the project.
Advantage
- Rapid continuous delivery
- Changes in requirement will not be an issue
- Concentration on the process
- More focus on customer satisfaction
Disadvantage
- Lengthy documentation
- Cannot be used for small projects
- If the customer is not sure about the project it can derail
- Only experienced testers can be a part of the process
4. Spiral Model
It is similar to the incremental model but gives more emphasis on risk analysis. The spiral model has four phases:
- Planning
- Risk Analysis
- Engineering
- Evaluation.
A software project repeatedly goes through these phases in iterations and in the baseline spiral, starting in the planning phase, requirements are gathered and risk is analyzed. Each subsequent spiral builds on the baseline spiral.
There is a high amount of risk analysis taking place which helps to better avoid them. Additional functionalities can be added at a later stage of development. In spite of the advantages, this is a costly model to use and also the process of risk analysis requires highly specific expertise.
This model is widely used when costs and risk evaluation is of prime importance, especially in those medium to high-risk projects. For users who are unsure of what they need, this model can be quite helpful.
Advantages
- Scope for extensive risk analysis
- High documentation control
- Accurate capturing of requirement
- User can see the system clearly
Disadvantages
- So complex
- End of the project will not be known early
- Only experts can do risk management
- Objectives are hard to define
- Can’t be practiced for small projects
5. RUP
It is an object-oriented and web-enabled program development methodology and is like an online mentor that provides guidelines, templates, and examples for all aspects and stages of program development. RUP is a comprehensive software engineering tool that combines the procedural aspects of development with other components of development within a unifying framework.
Advantage
- An iterative process which is better than the waterfall model in many processes
- Accurate documentation
- Integration requires less time
Disadvantage
- Relies heavily on experts
- Complicated model
- Since the process welcomes integration, it can lead to confusions
RUP establishes four phases of development:
· Inception phase: Developers define the scope of the project and its business.
· Elaboration phase: Developers analyze the project’s needs in greater detail and define its architectural foundation.
· Construction phase: Developers create the application design and source code.
· Transition phase: Developers deliver the system to users.