Software Testing Techniques for User Acceptance and Systems Integration Testing

• Confusing terminology
• Software testing popular myths and incorrect beliefs
• The testing “gap”
• Product vs. project life cycles
• Views of software quality
  • Measure of “excellence”
  • Fit for intended purpose
  • Conform to specification
  • Absence of defects and other quality goals
  • Provides value
• Summarising views of quality in the quality triangle
• Aligning software testing objectives with views of quality
  • Validating that software is fit for its intended purpose
  • Verifying that software conforms to its specification
  • Identifying defects
  • Measuring product attributes
  • Building confidence

Exercises and Practice

• A short quiz based on the concepts learnt in this section

• The need for a multidimensional view of software testing
• Levels of software testing
  • Unit and component testing level
  • Integration testing level
    • Understanding multiple levels of integration
    • Vertical vs. horizontal integration
  • System testing level
  • The “recursive” nature of test levels
• Identifying test items and their relationship to test levels
• Selecting a test basis
  • Requirements as a test basis
  • Program code as a test basis
  • Variations on requirements and code
  • Models as a test basis
  • Experience as a test basis
• Designing test cases
  • What is a test case?
  • Test to pass or “positive” test cases
  • Test to fail or “negative” test cases
  • Overview of test case design techniques
• Who executes the tests?
• Automating test execution

Exercises and Practice

• Apply the software testing framework to describing the UAT and SIT strategies that are currently in place at the participant’s organisation

• Applying the software testing framework
  • The standard User Acceptance Testing (UAT) strategy
  • The standard System Integration Testing (SIT) strategy
  • Customising UAT and SIT strategies
• Risk-based testing
  • Product risks
  • Project risks
• Developing UAT and SIT Test Plans
  • Identifying test activities
  • Estimating test effort
  • Assigning resources
  • Developing a test schedule
  • Test environment and tools

Exercises and Practice

• Identify the key elements of a customised UAT Test Plan based on the details of a case study

• What are features?
• Features vs. components
• What is feature testing?
  • Testing features in isolation
  • Testing vertical integration
• When is feature testing performed?
  • The role of feature testing during SIT
  • The role of feature testing during UAT
• Modelling features
  • Why model features?
  • How to model features
• Developing a feature test specification
• Feature testing tools and test automation
• Planning and managing feature testing

Exercises and Practice

• Develop a consolidated model of software features based on the details of a case study

• What is end-to-end testing?
• Business object life cycles and scenarios
• What is end-to-end testing?
  • Testing features in a specific sequence
  • Testing horizontal integration
• When is end-to-end testing performed?
  • The role of end-to-end testing during SIT
  • The role of end-to-end testing during UAT
• Modelling business object life cycles
  • Business object states
  • External and internal events that trigger changes of state
  • Grouping states
  • Conditions and actions
  • Modelling decisions
• Generating test scenarios
  • Basing test scenarios on the life cycle of a business object
  • Prioritising test scenarios based on risk
• Developing an end-to-end test specification
• End-to-end testing tools and test automation
• Planning and managing end-to-end testing

Exercises and Practice

• Develop a state model that describes the life cycle of some core business objects based on the details of a case study
• Use the life cycle model to generate a set of business scenarios suitable for end-to-end testing

• What is date-based testing?
• When is date-based testing performed?
  • Date-based testing and feature testing
  • Date-based testing and end-to-end testing
• Date-based events
  • Relative and absolute dates
  • Anniversaries and time periods
  • Adding date-based events to the life cycle models
• System clocks
  • Real time clocks
  • Proxy clocks
• Date-Based testing combined with feature and end-to-end testing
• Developing a date-based test specification
• Date-based testing tools and test automation
• Planning and managing date-based testing

Exercises and Practice

• Identify date-based events based on the details of a case study and incorporate them into a life cycle model
• Develop a test calendar for the date-based events and a schedule of date changes together with a suitable strategy for changing the system clock during the testing effort

• What is exploratory testing?
• When is exploratory testing performed?
  • Exploratory testing and feature testing
  • Exploratory testing and end-to-end testing
  • Exploratory testing and date-based testing
• Skills required for exploratory testing
• Test specifications vs. checklists
• Exploratory testing tools and test automation
• Planning and managing exploratory testing

Exercises and Practice

• View some videos describing the principles of exploratory testing
• Discuss strategies for developing and sharing checklists

• Managing issues
  • The importance of bug “triage”
  • Bug tracking
  • Requirements and change management
• Tracking progress
  • Using “burn down” charts to track test execution progress
  • Using the rate of finding bugs to track product quality
  • Using the gap between finding and fixing bugs to track product readiness
• Finding a voice for product confidence

Exercises and Practice

• Draw some conclusions about the measured software quality by viewing a number of charts that describe progress of an imaginary test effort
• Discuss strategies for encouraging all involved to share their level of confidence in the software under test