What is Testing in Software Development?

Software has rapidly become a part of our modern lives, whether it is a business application for corporate needs or a consumer application. And as a result of this, anyone who has used technology probably has encountered a problem with programs not working properly.

Software that does not work correctly can lead to many problems, including loss of money, time, or business reputation, and even injury or death. 

One of the main preventive methods of preventing such problems is the process of software testing – a way to assess the quality of software to reduce the risks of software failure in operation. This process encompasses many different activities, and the statement that testing is just running tests and checking the results is a mistake.

Software testing consists of the following main activities:

Test planning, of the existing product or its requirements, test design, implementing tests, reporting about test progress, and evaluating the quality.

Typical testing objectives

The goal is the end result to which a certain process is directed, and the testing process should also provide for some result that we achieve in testing. Testing goals may vary depending on the context of the part of the functionality or the entire system under test, test levels, or the software development lifecycle model.

To prevent defects.

Assessment of existing artefacts for software products, such as functional requirements, design elements, and existing code.

Verification against requirements

It checks whether all the requirements for the system were met during development.

Meeting expectations for the system

It checks whether the software is complete and meets the expectations of users and stakeholders (works as the users and other stakeholders expect).

Finding defects and failures in the system

Finding defects or failures in the system to prevent the risk of inadequate software performance.

Assessing the quality level of the test object

Gathering and providing sufficient information about the quality of the software for stakeholders to make informed decisions about the project.

Types of tester documentation (QA)

The most common Software Testing documents:

• A software requirements specification –  is a document that lays out the basics of what will be implemented. In general, requirements describe a list of customer wishes and what the product should do.
• Terms of reference (TOR) – allows you to convey the essence of what the team should create. It helps to understand what kind of functionality the product should have, sometimes indicating the technologies used and methods of its implementation.
• Technical documentation – usually contains a complete description of the logic of a specific part of the product being developed and options, scenarios for using the subject of development by users.

Project documentation prepared by testers:

• Test Plan – a test plan describes the entire scope of work to be performed during testing.
• Check List –a complete list of what needs to be checked. It helps to plan the timing of the work completion.
• Test Scenario – test scenarios describe what part of the system will be tested and in what order.
• Test Case – is an artifact that describes a set of all the steps, conditions, and parameters required to verify the implementation of the function under test.
• Traceability Matrix — is a document in the form of a table that is used to determine the completeness of a relationship by correlating any two base documents by comparing the relationships.
• Bug Report – is a document that describes errors in the system and how to reproduce them.

– Test Plan – A test plan is a detailed document that describes the test strategy, objectives, schedule, evaluation, deliverables, and resources required to test a software product. A test plan helps us determine the effort required to verify the quality of the program under test. The test plan serves as a blueprint for conducting software testing activities as a defined process that is tracked and controlled minute by minute by the test manager.

– Check List — A checklist is a type of aid used in repetitive tasks to reduce errors by compensating for potential limitations of human memory and attention. Checklists are used both to ensure that preparations for safety-critical systems are completed completely and in the correct order, and in less critical applications to ensure that no step is left out of the procedure.

– A Test Scenario – is a set of actions that are performed on a system to check whether it meets the requirements and functions properly. The purpose of the test scenario is to determine whether all the necessary functions in the system are working correctly, as well as to confirm that the system meets all the necessary requirements, instructions and standards of the customer. 

– Test Cases –contain a set of steps, initial conditions, and input data that can be used to implement test scenarios. The main condition is to ensure that the program is working properly in terms of its functionality and other aspects. There are many types of test cases, such as functional, negative, bug, logical test cases, logical errors, cases from physical load or penetration tests, UX/UI test cases, etc. In addition, there are test cases to track the test coverage of the software. As a rule, there are no official templates that can be used when writing a test case.

Nevertheless, one should always include the following components in the verification of each test case:

1. test case identifier
2. product module
3. product version
4. history of the editorial office
5. initial conditions of the check
6. performing a step
7. the expected result
8. actual result
9. post-condition

Test Objects – are tests that are designed for a single test scenario. Different tests can also be created to test the same aspect of the software

It is convenient to display test cases in a table. Popular specialized tools for managing test cases are: Zephyr, Jira, Microsoft Azure, Redmine, Meliora, TestRail, Confluence, TFS, and many other test management system tools.

What is RTM?

RTM stands for Requirement Traceability Matrix. The RTM maps all requirements to test cases. Using this document, you can verify that the test cases cover all the functionality of the application according to the customer’s requirements.

     The main purpose of the requirements traceability matrix is to verify that all customer requirements are covered by the test cases developed by the testers.

     In simple words, you can say that this is a pen and pencil approach, i.e. analyzing two data, but here we just use an Excel spreadsheet to check the data in the requirements traceability matrix.

    – Software bug report – provides specific information about what is wrong and what needs to be fixed in the software or website. These comprehensive reports include queries or specifics for each software issue. This allows developers to understand what is wrong and how to fix it.

     A clear and concise software bug report can help developers quickly understand what issues a web application or software is facing. Clearly communicating issues through these reports will lead to the fastest possible bug fixes to ensure that users have a smooth experience.

At Swan Software Solutions, we are committed to high-quality software. To discover how we can help your team with a custom solution or quality assurance services, schedule a free assessment.