Abstract:
With continuous advancement in the sophisticated applications being used, there is a constant demand for a better output from the customers. This sophistication brings with it, complicity as well as need to have up-to-date marketable features in the applications. This desire to have the latest features, burdens the project with changes. In addition, there may be changes or addition of new requirements from various stakeholders. These continue till the design phase or sometime even till the implementation phase. Thus affecting the schedules, budgets, and stake holders etc greatly.
Though testing is an important task, it often does not get its importance due to many factors. This is even more challenging when the requirements keep changing while the implementation is in progress. This creates lots of rework which is includes lot of effort, cost and schedule variance.
Thus, instead of performing testing as a routine task of test case execution to be performed only at the completion of the implementation, it needs to be incorporated from the very beginning of the development cycle. This not only reduces the cost and effort of the bugs to be fixed but also confirms that the requirements are being met. Having the quality assurance in the development life cycle helps by including testing from the very initial phases i.e. from requirement stage. This mechanism not helps in building the quality product but also helps in managing the changes and having traceability for future enhancements.
Managing of changing requirements though a difficult task, can be controlled if performed using some effective ways. The requirements gathered should base lined and the same should be testable. The models like state diagrams, finite state machines etc helps in testing the requirements at the very gathering phase. These models not only aid in testing of requirements, but also help in creation of test cases which can be applied to the fully implemented application.
This paper deals with techniques for controlling the changes in the requirements and testing using these models/model checkers .The creation of test cases using some basic testing models which are the benefits would be mentioned along with metrics collection mechanisms.
The topic can be considered as intermediate and is aimed for test leads/ test managers/quality analysts who are involved with the quality assurance projects. This would enable the audience to use these concepts by implementing the project in a cost effective way.
Authors & Presenters Profiles:
Narendra Kumar Nagaram
 Has been associated for past six years and eight months with Satyam Computer Services Ltd., a SEI-CMM level 5 company, which occupies a significant position in top ten IT companies in India with fortune 500 customers as its clients. Have experience of working in varied technologies at different phases of the software development life cycle. After completing the graduation in B.E (Computer Science) from Osmania University, had pursued a master’s degree in Software Engineering from BITS, Pilani. Participated in QAI conference during 2004 and 2006.
Ashok Pantham
 Has been working for over three years with Satyam Computer Services limited, a SEI-CMM level 5 company, which occupies a significant position in top ten IT companies in India with fortune 500 customers as its clients. A CSTE certified professional with diverse experience in the Software Testing Industry. He has worked extensively in all the phases of Software Testing and on Test Automation and Frameworks. Holds a master’s degree in computer applications and is an active participant in many of the internal conferences conducted by Satyam.
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