An

Introduction
to Testing
Life Cycle
Process

Contents

Testing Life Cycle Overview

Test Strategy
Test Planning
Test Case Design
Test Execution
Testing Types
Testing Tools Overview

Testing Life Cycle Overview

Testing Life Cycle Overview

Test Strategy
Test Planning
Test Case Design
Test Execution
Testing Types
Testing Tools Overview

Testing Life Cycle Overview

Normally, testing of any Large Systems will be in TWO
parts. The functional verification and validation against
the Requirement Spec and Performance evaluation
against the indicated requirements
Testing activity is involved right from the beginning of the
project
V&V Process model to successfully deliver a project on
time
This model is followed for a complete project life cycle
model

Testing
Life Cycle
Overview
Test
Strategy
Test
Planning
Test Case
Designing
Test
Execution
Testing
Types
Testing
Tools
Overview

Testing Life Cycle - V&V

Process Model
Business
Business
requirements,
requirements,
Solution
Solution
Architecture
Architecture

Release

Master Test Strategy

Project Planning

HLD/LLD for each

application
involved
Interface design

Test Planning

Strategy for
individual
applications, Test
case design

Solution
Mapping/
Development/
Customization

Integrated
Solution

Application
Integration

System Testing
(Application level
Testing)

Acceptance Tests
&
Certification

Performance
Testing,
Business Cycle
testing

Incremental
Integration Testing

Testing
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Test
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Designing
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Types
Testing
Tools
Overview

Testing Life Cycle - V&V

Process Concept
The "V &V " concept relates the build components of
development to the test components that occur during
that build phase.
Testing related activities during Requirement phase
Creation and finalization of testing templates
Creation of over-all Test Plan and Test Strategy
Capturing Acceptance criteria and preparation of Acceptance
Test Plan
Capturing Performance criteria of the software requirements

Testing
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Designing
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Types
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Testing Life Cycle - V&V

Process Concept
Testing activities in System Testing phase
System test is done for validating the product with respect to client
requirements
Testing can be in multiple rounds
Defect found during system test should be logged into Defect
Tracking System for the purpose of tracking.
Test logs and defects are captured and maintained.
Testing
Life Cycle
Review of all the test documents
Overview
Test
Strategy
Test
Planning
Test Case
Designing
Test
Execution
Testing
Types
Testing
Tools
Overview

Testing Life Cycle - V&V

Process Concept
Testing activities in Design phase
Develop Test cases to ensure that product is on par with
Requirement Specification document.
Verify Test Cases & test scripts by peer reviews.
Preparation of traceability matrix from system requirements
Testing
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Testing Life Cycle - V&V

Process Concept
Testing activities in Integration Testing Phase
This testing is conducted in parallel with integration of various
applications (or components)
Testing the product with its external and internal interfaces
without using drivers and stubs.
Incremental approach while integrating the interfaces.
Testing
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Strategy
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Test Case
Designing
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Execution
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Types
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Tools
Overview

Testing Life Cycle - V&V

Process Concept
Performance Testing This is done to validate the
performance criteria of the product / application.
This is non-functional testing
Business Cycle testing this refers to end to end
testing of real life-like business scenarios.
Testing activities during Release phase
Acceptance testing is conducted at the customer location.
Resolves all defects reported by the customer during
Acceptance Testing
Conduct Root Cause Analysis (RCA) for those defects
reported by customer during acceptance testing

Testing
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Types
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Testing Life Cycle - Team

Structure
An effective testing team includes a
mixture of members who has
Testing expertise
Tools expertise
Database expertise
Domain/Technology expertise

Testing
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Testing Life Cycle - Team

Structure (Contd)
The testing team must be properly structured,
with defined roles and responsibilities that allow
the testers to perform their functions with
minimal overlap.
There should not be any uncertainty regarding
which team member should perform which
duties.
The test manager will be facilitating any
resources required for the testing team.

Testing
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Testing Life Cycle - Roles and

Responsibilities
Clear Communication protocol should be
defined with in the testing team to ensure
proper understanding of roles and
responsibilities.
The roles chart should contain both on-site
and off-shore team members.

Testing
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Testing Life Cycle - Roles and

Responsibilities
Test Manager
Single point contact between onsite and
offshore team
Prepare the project plan
Test Management
Test Planning
Interact with onsite lead, Client QA manager
Team management
Work allocation to the team
Test coverage analysis

Testing
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Testing Life Cycle - Roles and

Responsibilities
Test Manager cont..
Co-ordination with onsite for issue resolution.
Monitoring the deliverables
Verify readiness of the product for release through release
review
Obtain customer acceptance on the deliverables
Performing risk analysis when required
Reviews and status reporting
Authorize intermediate deliverables and patch releases to
customer.

Testing
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Testing Life Cycle - Roles and

Responsibilities
Test Lead

Resolves technical issues for the product group

Provides direction to the team members
Performs activities for the respective product group
Review and Approve of Test Plan / Test cases
Review Test Script / Code
Approve completion of Integration testing
Conduct System / Regression tests
Ensure tests are conducted as per plan
Reports status to the Offshore Test Manager

Testing
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Testing Life Cycle - Roles and

Responsibilities
Test Engineer

Development of Test cases and Scripts

Test Execution
Result capturing and analysing
Defect Reporting and Status reporting
Testing
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Testing Life Cycle - Term

Definitions
Testing: It is a process of executing software in a
controlled manner, in order to answer the question
Does the software behave as specified?
Verification: Says Are we building the product
right? All QC activities throughout the life cycle that
ensure that interim deliverables meet their input
specification.
Validation: Says Are we building the right product?
The test phase of the life cycle which assures that the
end product meets the users needs.
Test Case: An input operation and the corresponding
expected output in order to test a small unit of work.
Test Script: A logical group of test cases which, when
taken together, test a particular function or unit of a
system

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Testing Life Cycle - Term

Definitions (Contd.)

Test Bed: A group of test scripts which, when taken

together, test all functions of an entire system
Audit: An inspection/assessment activity that verifies
compliance with plans, policies and procedures
Baseline: A quantitative measure of the current level of
performance
Bug: A catch all term for all software defects or errors
Certification: Acceptance of a software by an
authorized agent or its validity been demonstrated to an
authorized agent
Cost of Quality (COQ): Money spent above and beyond
expected production costs, this involves prevention,
appraisal, internal & external failure costs
Cyclomatic Complexity: The number of decision
statements plus one.

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Testing Life Cycle - Term

Definitions (Contd.)

Defect: It is A deviation from specification or

standard or Any thing that causes customer
dissatisfaction.
Desk Check: Verification technique conducted by the
author of the artifact to verify the completeness
Dynamic Assertion: A dynamic analysis technique that
inserts into the program code assertions about the
relationship between program variables
Force field Analysis: A group technique used to
identify both driving and restraining forces that
influence a current situation
Inspection: A formal assessment of a work product
conducted by one or more qualified independent
reviewers to detect defects, violation of development
standards, etc. Inspection identifies defects but does
not attempt to correct them.

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Testing Life Cycle - Term

Definitions (Contd.)

Instrumentation: The insertion of the additional code

into a program to collect information about a
program behavior during program execution.
Life Cycle Testing: The process of verifying the
consistency, completeness and correctness of software
at each phases of the development life cycle.
Phase Containment: Method of control put in place
within each stage of the development process to
promote error identification and resolution so that
defects are not propagated downstream to subsequent
stages of the development process
Productivity: The ratio of the output of a process to
the input

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Testing Life Cycle - Term

Definitions (Contd.)

Quality Assurance: The set of activities (including

facilitation, training, measurement, and analysis)
needed to provide adequate confidence that process are
established continuously improved to produce
products that meet specifications and are fit for use.
Quality Control: The process by which product quality
is compared and detected w.r.t requirements and other
relevant specifications, focus is in detection and
removal
Test Driver: A program that directs the execution of
another program against a collection of test data sets
Test item: A software item that is an object of testing
User: The customer that actually uses the product
received

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Test Strategy

Testing Life Cycle Overview

Test Strategy
Test Planning
Test Case Designing
Test Execution
Testing Types
Testing Tools Overview

Test Strategy
Test strategy is statement of overall approach of
testing to meet the business and test objectives.
It is a plan level document and has to be prepared
in the requirement stage of the project.
It identifies the methods, techniques and tools to be
used for testing .
It can be a project or an organization specific.
Developing a test strategy which effectively meets
the needs of the organization/project is critical to
the success of the software development
An effective strategy has to meet the project and
business objectives
Defining the strategy upfront before the actual
testing helps in planning the test activities

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Elements of Test Strategy

A test strategy will typically cover the following
aspects

Definition of test objective

Strategy to meet the specified objective
Overall testing approach
Test Environment
Test Automation requirements
Metric Plan
Risk Identification, Mitigation and Contingency plan
Details of Tools usage
Specific Document templates used in testing

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Test Strategy - Project/Business

Objectives
All the business and test objectives are
identified and test strategy shall be defined
in order to meet those objectives.
As far as possible all the test objectives to
be met are defined in quantitative terms in
the test strategy.
Examples of test objectives can be like 90
% of code coverage, finding at least a
minimum of 100 defects etc.

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Test Strategy - Test Approach

Test approach will be based on the objectives
set for testing
Test approach will detail the way the testing to
be carried out
Types of testing to be done viz Unit,
Integration and system testing
The method of testing viz Blackbox, Whitebox etc.,
Details of any automated testing to be done

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Test Strategy - Test Environment

All the Hardware and Software requirements
for carrying out testing shall be identified in
detail.
Any specific tools required for testing will also
be identified
If the testing is going to be done remotely, then it
has to be considered during estimation

Testing
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Test Strategy - Metric Plan

Metric plan will contain the measures that will
indicate the effectiveness of testing .
All the metrics to be tracked for testing like
defect density ,residual defect density ,code
coverage etc are identified in test strategy .
The objectives set for testing are also measured
in the metric plan.

Note: More details are covered in Test Execution section

Testing
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Test Strategy - Risks

Risk analysis should carried out for testing phase
The risk identification will be accomplished by
identifying causes-and-effects or effects-and-causes
The identified Risks are classified into to Internal and
External Risks. The internal risks are things that the
test team can control or influence. The external risks
are things beyond the control or influence of the test
team
Once Risks are identified and classified, the following
activities will be carried out

Identify the probability of occurrence

Identify the impact areas if the risk were to occur
Risk mitigation plan how avoid this risk?
Risk contingency plan if the risk were to occur what do we
do?

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Test Strategy - Tools Usage

Tools required in the project and rationale to use
that particular tool(s) should be documented.
Automation requirements should be identified
and analyzed
Which phases need to be automated
How much of testing needs to be automated

Based on the automation requirements, tools

strategy should be prepared.

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Test Strategy - Templates

Any specific templates to be used for testing apart
from the normal templates based on client or project
requirements are identified in the test strategy.
In some case client provides the templates and well
use that.

S ample S trategy
doc

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Test Strategy - Acceptance criteria

Acceptance test plan can be prepared either by
us or by the customer, as agreed.
Customer will be involved in preparation, review
and approval of acceptance test cases
This plan specifies the criteria for client
acceptance of the final tested product including
Features/functionalities to be tested and
traceability information.

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Test Strategy - Summary

Test strategy is a high level document which
states in detail way testing is to be carried out.
It is done in line to meet the test and business
objectives
Tools ,Methods ,and techniques to be used are
stated in the test strategy.
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Test Planning

Testing Life Cycle Overview

Test Strategy
Test Planning
Test Case Designing
Test Execution
Testing Types
Testing Tools Overview

Test Planning - Documenting

assumptions
If any assumptions are there, it needs to be
documented to avoid any confusions
Testers has understanding of V&V-process model or any
SDLC model
Testers are aware of test phases of the project
A good understanding of the Domain
Standard naming conventions are followed in
documentation

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Test Planning -Traceability

Requirements tracing is the process of
documenting the links between the user
requirements for the system you are building and
the work products developed to implement and
verify those requirements.
Work products include software requirements,
design specifications, software code, test plans and
other artifacts of the systems development process

Traceability Matrix

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Test Planning -Traceability

Traceability is documenting of
the dependencies and logical links between individual
requirements and other system elements
traceability to greatly facilitate change impact
analysis.
traceability is that it can help identify the
propagation of change that can result when a specific
requirement is deleted or modified.
specific requirements mapped into tasks in a workbreakdown structure, you know those tasks that will
be affected if and when a requirement is changed or
deleted.

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Test Planning - Schedule/

Milestones
Test plan captures the details about different
milestones of the project and the schedule
details.
Define the schedule for each event for offshore
and onsite. Events may include familiarization,
training, test case preparation, test scripting,
test execution etc.,
Completion criteria for each milestone should
be identified and documented

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Test Planning - Resources

Staffing:
Check what types of personnel should be
considered for inclusion on the test team
Check for the skills of the tester
Ensure a good ratio of testers to developers.
Steps to form the best team:
Identify potential test team members
Recruit test team members and develop
tentative test assignments
Define individual work assignments

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Test Planning - Test run plan

The execution order of test
cases depends on many
factors and is shown as
below:
Impacted
Functionality
Unstable
functionality

TC priority

Execution
Order

Customer
Priority

Complexity

Execution
rate

Functionality
Dependency

TC Interdependency

Execution
Order

Test
Execution
Run Plan

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Test Planning - Change

management
Version control - Versioning test cases before
and after release to customer
Change control - Authority to approve and
prioritize changes
Configuration auditing - Ensure changes made
properly
Reporting
Addition/Updating of test cases/plans because of
bugs which are identified by the customer and
that are not available in test plans

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Test Planning Suspension and

Resumption criteria

Deadlines (release/testing deadlines etc.) are

met and quality of the product is as per the
agreed norms.
Test cases completed with certain percentage
passed
Test budget depleted
Coverage of code/functionality/requirements
reaches specified point
Beta or Alpha testing period ends

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Test Planning Suspension and

Resumption criteria

Determination of Test Completion criteria

Most popular method of establishing a test
phase completion criteria is by detecting a predefined number of bugs or when a pre-defined
time elapses
E.g.: Unit testing of a unit is not deemed
complete unless at least 5 errors are detected
Testing completion criteria could be detection
and fixing of 30 bugs, or elapsed time of 30
days, whichever is later.

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Test Planning Suspension and

Resumption criteria

Estimation of number of errors

How to determine the number of errors to be

detected?
An estimate of total number of errors in the
program.
An estimate of what percentage of these errors can
be feasibly found through testing.
Estimates of what fraction of errors originated in a
particular phase, during what testing phases these
are likely to be detected.

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Test Planning Suspension and

Resumption criteria

Methods of estimation

Rough estimate of total number of errors can be obtained

by previous experience on similar programs.
Error-seeding techniques involves intention introduction
(seeding) of error in the code. After some period of testing
time, the product of the number on non-seeded errors
found during testing and the ratio of total seeded errors to
the number of seeded errors detected during testing, gives
an estimate of the number of non-seeded errors remaining
in the program.

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Test Planning Suspension and

Resumption criteria

Estimation of errors in a particular phase - Example

Existing data reveals that in large programs, 40% of errors

are coding and logic-design mistakes and the rest are
generated in earlier phases.
Example to illustrate estimation of total number of errors
We have a 10,000 statement program, and the number of
errors remaining in the program after code review is 5 per
100 statements. Our objective is to find 98% of coding and
logic design errors and 95% design errors. Therefore

Total number of estimated errors = 500

Coding and Logic design errors = 200 (40% of 500)
Design errors = 300.
We need to find at least:
196 Coding and Logic Design errors
285 Design errors.

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Test Planning Suspension and

Resumption criteria
Estimation of error distribution in different phases
Coding & Logic
Design errors

Design Errors

Unit Test

65%

0%

Module
Integration Test

30%

60%

System Test

3%

35%

Total

98%

95%

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Test Planning Suspension and

Resumption criteria

Establishment of completion criteria

Exit Criteria for Unit testing would be detection and
correction of 130 errors (65% of estimated 130
coding and design logic errors)
Exit Criteria for Module Integration testing would
be detection and correction of 240 errors (30% of
200 plus 60% of 300) or elapse of one month; which
ever is later.
Exit Criteria for System Testing is when 111 errors
are detected or when 2 months elapses; which ever is
later.
Assumption: We have established one month for Integration
Testing and 2 months for System Testing.

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Test Planning Suspension and

Resumption criteria

Resolution in case of over estimation of defects

In the previous example, let us say that 240
errors could not be detected even after one
month of integration testing is completed. Then
the project manager should take the following
action
With the help of the appropriate tool, he/she should
analyze the test cases and decide whether
There are inadequate Test cases, or
Excellent Test cases, but lack of errors to detect

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Determination of completion criteria through a graphical representation

A graph is plotted using number of errors found per unit time during a
testing phase. By examining the shape of the curve, one can determine
whether to continue the test phase or end it.
Assume a program is being Integration tested, and the number of errors
per day is plotted. Lets say on the 7h day the graph looks as follows:

Number of errors

Test Planning Suspension and

Resumption criteria

AT the end of 7th day, even

if the number of errors
detected has crossed the
criteria mark, it would be
wise to continue Integration
Testing. This is because, the
error rate is still very high.
No. of days

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Test Planning Suspension and

Resumption criteria

Number of errors

Determination of completion criteria through a graphical

representation
On the hand if the graph looks as shown, then this shows that
error rate has decreased, and that testing can be stopped.

No. of days

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Test Planning Document

templates
Typical Test Plan

Test Plan identifier

Introduction
Test items
Features to be tested
Features not to be tested
Approach
Testing strategy
Item pass/fail criteria
Suspension criteria and resumption criteria
Test deliverable
Automation scope
Testing tasks
Effort estimation
Environmental needs
Roles and Responsibilities

tes tplan template

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Test Case Design

Testing Life Cycle Overview

Test Strategy
Test Planning
Test Case Design
Test Execution
Testing Types
Testing Tools Overview

Test Case Design (Contd)

Development Of Test Objectives:
At very First stage of testing , you need to set the
goals and objectives of what you need to achieve.
This Simplifies the limits or borders of testing
process.
Test Objectives will be contain the list of tasks you
are going to do and the achievements.
Test Case Writing:
A specific set of steps and data along with expected
results for a particular test objective. A test case
should only test one limited subset of a feature or
functionality.

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Test Case Design (Contd)

A typical test case sheet contains these fields
Test Case ID: It is unique number given to test case in
order to be identified.
Test description: The description if test case you are
going to test.
Revision history: Each test case has to have its revision
history in order to know when and by whom it is created
or modified.
Function to be tested: The name of function to be tested.
Priority/Build/time: The priority of the Test Case, Build
version of the test case and the Minimum time-toexecute the test case is also mentioned.

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Test Case Design (Contd)

Environment: It tells in which environment you are
testing.
Test Setup: Anything you need to set up outside of your
application for example printers, network etc.,
Test Execution: It is detailed description of every step
of execution.
Expected Results: The description of what you expect
the function to do.
Actual Results: Pass /Failed.
If pass What actually happens when you run the test
If failed - Description of what you've observed.

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Test Case Design (Contd)

Characteristics of a Good Test:
Tests are likely to catch bugs
No redundancy
Not too simple or too complex.
TIP: Test case is going to be complex if you have
more than one expected results.

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Test Case Design (Contd)

Test Data Inputs:
Before testing, the tester should plan what
kind of data he is giving for test.
Give data inputs as functional, boundary,
stress, performance, usability values etc.
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Test Case Design (Contd)

Test Scripts:
A test script is the executable form of a test.
It defines the set of actions to carry out in order to
conduct a test and it defines the expected outcomes
and results that are used to identify any deviance
in the actual behavior of the program from the
logical behavior in the script (errors during the
course of that test).
In essence it is a program written for a human
computer (tester) to execute.

Tes tCas e Template

Tes tCas e S tatus

Template

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Test Execution

Testing Life Cycle Overview

Test Strategy
Test Planning
Test Case Design
Test Execution
Testing Types
Testing Tools Overview

Test Execution
Test execution is culmination of testing
activities which involves executing the
planned test cases and conducting of the
tests.
Test execution phase broadly involves
execution and reporting.
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Test Execution - Activities

Test execution consists of following activities
to be performed

Creation of test setup or Test bed

Execution of test cases on the setup
Test Methodology used
Collection of Metrics
Defect Tracking and Reporting

Regression Testing

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Test Execution Cycle

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Test Execution - Testing

Only exhaustive testing can show a program that it is
defect free ,but exhaustive testing is impossible
Tests should exercise the systems capabilities fully
Testing typical situations is more important than
boundary value conditions
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Test Execution -Test Data and

Test Cases

Test Cases: Inputs to test the system and predicted

output from the system are detailed, further will
contain the expected result and test topology
Test Data: Inputs which are to exercise the system
under test.

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Test Execution -Types of Testing

and Methodologies

There are three major types of testing and

methods used are based on the testing type
Unit testing
Integration testing
System testing

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Test Execution - Unit Testing

Unit testing is typically done as white box testing.
Unit testing is done at module level.
Derivation of Test cases are based on the program
structure .Knowledge of the program is used to
identify the test cases .
Objective is to exercise all parts of the program .
Test coverage measurements are done to verify that
all program parts are exercised
Drivers are used to feed the data to the program to
test it, wherever required.
Test stubs are used to stub for the functions which
are outside the module

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Test Execution - Integration

Testing

Tests partial systems composed of integrated

components
Integration testing is black box testing
Main difficulty in integration testing is
localizing errors
There two approaches to integration testing
Top-down approach
Bottom - up approach

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Integration testing- Top Down

approach
Start from the top level module and integrate
individual components and stub the rest of the
system

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Integration testing - Bottom

Up approach
Integrate individual components from lower
level module until whole system is integrated .

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Test Execution - System

Testing

System testing is typically Black Box testing

where the system is taken as black box and
tested based only on its functionality
Test cases are based on the system specification
It is critical part of the testing process as the
system is verified as a whole
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Test Execution - Regression

Testing

Regression testing is done after fixing all the

defects.
It is re-testing after fixing the bugs found
during testing and also when there is change in
the test environment.
The impacted portions of the code after fixing
the bug is re-tested.
Automation of testing helps in faster regression
testing.

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Test Execution - Defect

Tracking and Reporting

All the defects/bugs found during testing is

logged and they are classified based on the
severity and priority.
They are assigned to developers for fixing.
Each defect found is logged and tracked to
closure.
Test summary report shall be prepared
containing the details like numbers of test cases
passed/failed ,number of cycles of testing.
Generally test defect logging and tracking tools
are used for this purpose.

Test report
template

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Test Execution - Start / Stop

Criteria

Testing is done in rounds. Software passes

though several rounds before it gets released.
Testing is stopped when there are many major
bugs and critical system errors, when further
testing is not feasible
Testing is stopped when the system becomes
un stable during test.
When those critical errors are fixed and
system is stable, the next round of testing is
started .
The test cases are executed all over again in
each round.

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Test Execution - Metrics

Metrics are important to collect for any project as it
helps in monitoring the health of project /product
/application under test.
Metrics are collected during testing depending on the
objective of testing.
There are different kinds of metrics which can be
used in testing.
For example LOC (Lines of Code) is a metric for Unit
testing. i.e., Code related metrics comes in the category of
Unit testing.

Test case related metrics can be used for all kinds of

testing types, since for every type of test, we will
write test cases.
Normally source of errors/defects is requirements,
design or Implementation. Testing can not be the
source of errors/defects.

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Test Execution - Metrics

Typical testing metrics

No of LOC tested per day

No of test cases executed per day
Number of test cases failed
Number of bugs reported
Number of rejects of bugs reported
Number of persons working on the test plan during
the month
Total Effort spent on test execution in person hours
Number of simulations made during the month
Number of out of norms per month
Average time taken to find a problem categorized by
priority
Defect density
Review efficiency

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Test Execution - Metrics

Having a complete Metrics data helps in
building the Trustworthy, Capable, Reliable
and Predictable Product or Application.

Productivity Increase
Field error rate Decrease
Customer Overhead reduces
Improvement release on release
On time delivery
Risks in Program identified and proactively intimated
Decrease in Cost of Quality
Decrease in Re-work
Helps in identifying the area which needs focus in the
project/organization for improvement
Helps in arriving at better estimates for the project

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Test Execution Good test

engineer?

What makes a good test engineer?

A good test engineer has a 'test to break' attitude.

An ability to take the point of view of the customer
A strong desire for quality, and an attention to detail.
Tact and diplomacy for maintaining a cooperative relationship with
developers.
An ability to communicate with both technical (developers) and nontechnical (customers, management) people.
Previous software development experience can be helpful, gives the
tester an appreciation from the developers' point of view, and reduce
the learning curve in automated test tool programming.
Judgment skills are needed to assess high-risk areas of an application
on which to focus testing efforts when time is limited.
Notice little things that others miss/ignore (See symptom not bug)
Good testers use files, Databases and all the other accoutrements of
an organized mind
Testers are fundamentally honest and incorruptible
Last but not the least is Patience

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Test Execution Testing Rules?

Software testing 10 rules?
Test early and test often.
Integrate the application development and testing life
cycles.
Formalize a testing methodology; you'll test everything the
same way and you'll get uniform results.
Develop a comprehensive test plan; it forms the basis for
the testing methodology.
Use both static and dynamic testing.
Define your expected results.
Understand the business reason behind the application.
You'll write a better application and better testing scripts.
Use multiple levels and types of testing (regression,
systems, integration, stress and load).
Review and inspect the work, it will lower costs.
Don't let your programmers check their own work; they'll
miss their own errors.
Source: SQAtester.com

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Test Execution - Summary

Test execution consists of preparing of test
bed/setup ,execution of planned test cases
,verification of results ,Test tracking and
reporting and metrics collection.
Apart from that ,it involves applying different
test methods like black box to system testing
,white box at unit testing level and top down and
bottom up in case of integration testing .

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Test Execution Summary

Contd..

Testing will involve several rounds based on the

stability and bugs found on the software and
start /stop criteria identified .
Regression testing will be carried out when ever
the new bugs are found and fixed in the tested
software to verify the impacted items.
Test execution will involve preparation of test
reports ,collection of different metrics and
meeting the test objectives .

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Testing Tools Overview

Testing Life Cycle Overview

Test Strategy
Test Planning
Test Case Design
Test Execution
Testing Types
Testing Tools Overview

Testing Tools Overview

(contd)

Testing tools are used to automate the testing

process.
These tools will have features like
Record and play back
Test Script generation
Virtual users
And so on

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Testing Tools Overview

(contd)

Different vendors released different testing

tools in the market. Some of them are

Functional / GUI Testing Tools:

Win Runner

Rational Robot

Visual Test

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Testing Tools Overview

(contd)
Performance Testing:
Rational Quantify
True time
Web Testing:
Silk Test
Astra Quick Test
eTest Suite

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Testing Tools Overview

(contd)
Java Testing Tools:

Jtest
JProbe
QStudio
Optimizeit
JStyle

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Appendix 1: Example for test life

cycle
To understand the different stages of testing, consider an
example in which you need to test a Webpage, say HRWEB>resume part.
To test this Webpage following activities needs to be done

Prepare Test Strategy for testing HRWEB->Resume section

Prepare Test Plan for testing HRWEB->Resume section
Develop Test Cases for testing HRWEB->Resume section
Execute the test cases and report the results, including bug
reporting, re-test and tracking.

Appendix 1: Example for test life

cycle cont..

Test strategy to test HRWEB->Resume page includes overview of

Document the test requirements

User Interface testing
Test for associated links
Error Handling and Exceptions
Functionality testing
Boundary conditions
Test for Load, Performance, Security issues
Deciding of tools and test set-up to test

Test Planning to test HRWEB->Resume includes

Resume page and all associated links will be tested

Specify how it will be tested - Test Cases
Identify resources for testing and finalize timeline
Specify Hardware, Software configuration requirement

Appendix 1: Example for test life

cycle cont..
Test Case Development
Several Test Cases will be generated as per the test strategy and plan
for User Interface, Functionality, Error Handling of Resume Section in
HRWEB
Integration and System Test cases will be generation to test for the
whole application including Resume Section.

Test report:
Test Cases will be executed and Test Results will be recorded and
tracked.
After bugs are fixed, the system is tested again to verify the same
The whole system is also tested to verify that new bugs have not been
introduced.

Appendix 1: Example for test life

cycle cont..

Sample User Interface Test Case for Resume Section

Perform the necessary steps to view the Resume Section on
TEDWEB
Verify that the menu TEDWEB Menu displays at the top and
the Resume Menu displays at the left of the screen
Verify the presence of the following buttons - Add Resume,
Modify Resume, Add project, Modify Project etc..
Sample Functionality Test Case for Resume Section
Click on Add Resume link
Verify a new screen appears to the right that allows the user
to add his resume details
Put the cursor in Educational Qualifications field and verify it
is enabled for user input
Put the cursor in Summary field and verify it is enabled for
user input.

Appendix 1: Example for test life

cycle cont..
Sample Error Handling Test Case for Resume Section
Click on Add Resume when the resume already exists.
Verify the message displayed is Profile Already Exists
Click on Modify Resume when no resume has been added.
Verify that a proper error message is displayed that no
resume exists.

Appendix 2: Testing Standards

IEEE Standard for Software Test Documentation
(ANSI/IEEE Standard 829-1983). This is a summary of the
ANSI/IEEE Standard 829-1983.
It describes a test plan as: A document describing the
scope, approach, resources, and schedule of intended testing
activities. It identifies test items, the features to be tested,
the testing tasks, who will do each task, and any risks
requiring contingency planning.

IEEE testplan
template

Appendix 3: Additional readings

Please go through the following documents, which are
available in Interops KM Page.

Inter101_002-Intro Software Testing

Inter101_003-Test Plan & Test Case
Inter101_004-SDLC&TLC
Inter101_005-Unit & Integration Testing
Inter101_006-Functional & Regression Testing
Inter101_007-General Testing Types
Inter101_008-Test Report Automation Tools
Inter101_009-Review & Walk thru
Inter101_010-Reliability terminology