ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Crash Course Part-28 This is Part 28 of 35 containing 5 Questions (Q. 136 to 140) with detailed explanation as expected in ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Latest Syllabus updated in 2011 Deep study of these 175 questions shall be of great help in getting success in ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Q. 136: What are the different test-control activities? We have referred above to the collection and reporting of progress data. Test control uses this information to decide on a course of action to ensure control of the test activities is maintained and exit criteria are met.…

ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Crash Course Part-27 This is Part 27 of 35 containing 5 Questions (Q. 131 to 135) with detailed explanation as expected in ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Latest Syllabus updated in 2011 Deep study of these 175 questions shall be of great help in getting success in ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Q. 131: What is Expert-Based Approach of Test Estimation? This approach uses the experience of owners of the relevant tasks or experts to derive an estimate (this is also known as the Wide Band Delphi approach). In this context �experts� could be: 1) Business experts. 2)…

ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Crash Course Part-26 This is Part 26 of 35 containing 5 Questions (Q. 126 to 130) with detailed explanation as expected in ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Latest Syllabus updated in 2011 Deep study of these 175 questions shall be of great help in getting success in ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Q. 126: What is the short cut method to remember all 16 sections of a test plan as described in IEEE 829? A useful revision aid to help remember the 16 sections of the IEEE 829 test plan is the acronym �SPACEDIRT�. Here each letter refers…

ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Crash Course Part-25 This is Part 25 of 35 containing 5 Questions (Q. 121 to 125) with detailed explanation as expected in ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Latest Syllabus updated in 2011 Deep study of these 175 questions shall be of great help in getting success in ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Q. 121: What is a test approach & what is the right time to formulate the test approach? A test approach is the implementation of a test strategy on a particular project. The test approach defines how testing will be implemented. A test approach can reflect…

ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Crash Course Part-24 This is Part 24 of 35 containing 5 Questions (Q. 116 to 120) with detailed explanation as expected in ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Latest Syllabus updated in 2011 Deep study of these 175 questions shall be of great help in getting success in ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Q. 116: What are the various Pros & Cons of Implementing Independent Testing? Independence in the implementation of testing has some key benefits and drawbacks, as described in the following table. Sr.   Benefits   Drawbacks 1 The tester sees other and different defects to the…

ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Crash Course Part-23 This is Part 23 of 35 containing 5 Questions (Q. 111 to 115) with detailed explanation as expected in ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Latest Syllabus updated in 2011 Deep study of these 175 questions shall be of great help in getting success in ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Q. 111: What are the different types of Project Risks? While managing the testing project a test leader will use project risks to manage the capability to deliver. Project risks include: 1) Supplier issues: a) Failure of a third party to deliver on time or at…

ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Crash Course Part-22 This is Part 22 of 35 containing 5 Questions (Q. 106 to 110) with detailed explanation as expected in ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Latest Syllabus updated in 2011 Deep study of these 175 questions shall be of great help in getting success in ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Q. 106: What is the purpose of using Monitoring Tools? Monitoring tools are used to check whether whole systems or specific system resources are available and whether their performance is acceptable. Such tools are mainly used in live rather than test environments and are therefore not…

ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Crash Course Part-21 This is Part 21 of 35 containing 5 Questions (Q. 101 to 105) with detailed explanation as expected in ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Latest Syllabus updated in 2011 Deep study of these 175 questions shall be of great help in getting success in ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Q. 101: What is the purpose of using Coverage Measurement Tools? Coverage measurement tools measure the percentage of the code structure covered across white-box measurement techniques such as statement coverage and branch or decision coverage. In addition, they can also be used to measure coverage of…

ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Crash Course Part-20 This is Part 20 of 35 containing 5 Questions (Q. 96 to 100) with detailed explanation as expected in ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Latest Syllabus updated in 2011 Deep study of these 175 questions shall be of great help in getting success in ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Q. 96: What is Data-driven testing? Robust test scripts that deal with various inputs can be converted into data-driven tests. This is where hard-coded inputs in the test script are replaced with variables that point to data in a data-table. Data-tables are usually spreadsheets with one…

ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Crash Course Part-19 This is Part 19 of 35 containing 5 Questions (Q. 91 to 95) with detailed explanation as expected in ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Latest Syllabus updated in 2011 Deep study of these 175 questions shall be of great help in getting success in ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Q. 91: What is the purpose of using Modeling Tools? Modeling tools are used primarily by developers during the analysis and design stages of the development life cycle. The reason modeling tools are included here is because they are very cost-effective at finding defects early in…

ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Crash Course Part-18 This is Part 18 of 35 containing 5 Questions (Q. 86 to 90) with detailed explanation as expected in ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Latest Syllabus updated in 2011 Deep study of these 175 questions shall be of great help in getting success in ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Q. 86: What is the purpose of using Configuration Management Tools? Configuration management tools are designed primarily for managing: the versions of different software and hardware components that comprise a complete build of the system; and various complete builds of systems that exist for various software…

ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Crash Course Part-17 This is Part 17 of 35 containing 5 Questions (Q. 81 to 85) with detailed explanation as expected in ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Latest Syllabus updated in 2011 Deep study of these 175 questions shall be of great help in getting success in ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Q. 81: What are the key benefits of using testing tools? The main benefit of using test tools is similar to the main benefit of automating any process. That is, the amount of time and effort spent performing routine, mundane, repetitive tasks is greatly reduced. This…

ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Crash Course Part-16 This is Part 16 of 35 containing 5 Questions (Q. 76 to 80) with detailed explanation as expected in ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Latest Syllabus updated in 2011 Deep study of these 175 questions shall be of great help in getting success in ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Q. 76: What is done during Test Implementation and Execution stage during the fundamental testing process? The test implementation and execution activity involves running tests, and this will include where necessary any set-up/tear-down activities for the testing. It will also involve checking the test environment before…

ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Crash Course Part-15 This is Part 15 of 35 containing 5 Questions (Q. 71 to 75) with detailed explanation as expected in ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Latest Syllabus updated in 2011 Deep study of these 175 questions shall be of great help in getting success in ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Q. 71: Is it helpful to execute the same set of tests continually? Running the same set of tests continually will not continue to find new defects. Developers know that the test team always tests the boundaries of conditions, for example, so they will test these…

ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Crash Course Part-14 This is Part 14 of 35 containing 5 Questions (Q. 66 to 70) with detailed explanation as expected in ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Latest Syllabus updated in 2011 Deep study of these 175 questions shall be of great help in getting success in ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Q. 66: How much testing is enough, and how do we decide when to stop testing? We know that we cannot test everything, even if we would wish to. We also know that every system is subject to risk of one kind or another and that…

ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Crash Course Part-13 This is Part 13 of 35 containing 5 Questions (Q. 61 to 65) with detailed explanation as expected in ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Latest Syllabus updated in 2011 Deep study of these 175 questions shall be of great help in getting success in ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Q. 61: How do we take a decision of which experience based test technique to use? It is not a simple task to decide in favor of any particular technique. However following factors are helpful 1) Type of system 2) Regulatory standards 3) Customer or contractual…

ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Crash Course Part-12 This is Part 12 of 35 containing 5 Questions (Q. 56 to 60) with detailed explanation as expected in ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Latest Syllabus updated in 2011 Deep study of these 175 questions shall be of great help in getting success in ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Q. 56: What is the purpose of Statement Testing and Coverage? Statement testing is testing aimed at exercising programming statements. If we aim to test every executable statement we call this full or 100 per cent statement coverage. If we exercise half the executable statements this…

ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Crash Course Part-11 This is Part 11 of 35 containing 5 Questions (Q. 51 to 55) with detailed explanation as expected in ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Latest Syllabus updated in 2011 Deep study of these 175 questions shall be of great help in getting success in ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Q. 51: What is the general program structure of a pseudo code? Code can be of two types, executable and non-executable. Executable code instructs the computer to take some action; non-executable code is used to prepare the computer to do its calculations but it does not…

ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Crash Course Part-10 This is Part 10 of 35 containing 5 Questions (Q. 46 to 50) with detailed explanation as expected in ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Latest Syllabus updated in 2011 Deep study of these 175 questions shall be of great help in getting success in ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Q. 46: Describe some example of Decision Tables A supermarket has a loyalty scheme that is offered to all customers. Loyalty cardholders enjoy the benefits of either additional discounts on all purchases (rule 3) or the acquisition of loyalty points (rule 4), which can be converted…

ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Crash Course Part-9 This is Part 9 of 35 containing 5 Questions (Q. 41 to 45) with detailed explanation as expected in ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Latest Syllabus updated in 2011 Deep study of these 175 questions shall be of great help in getting success in ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Q. 41: What is the purpose of Equivalence partitioning the specification-based test case design technique Equivalence partitioning is based on a very simple idea: it is that in many cases the inputs to a program can be �chunked� into groups of similar inputs. For example, a…

ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Crash Course Part-8 This is Part 8 of 35 containing 5 Questions (Q. 36 to 40) with detailed explanation as expected in ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Latest Syllabus updated in 2011 Deep study of these 175 questions shall be of great help in getting success in ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Q. 36: What are the main steps involved in the design of tests? The design of tests comprises of three main steps: 1) Identify test conditions: Decide on a test condition, which would typically be a small section of the specification for our software under test. Going…

ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Crash Course Part-7 This is Part 7 of 35 containing 5 Questions (Q. 31 to 35) with detailed explanation as expected in ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Latest Syllabus updated in 2011 Deep study of these 175 questions shall be of great help in getting success in ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Q. 31: What are the factors on which the success of reviews mainly depend? When measuring the success of a particular review the following suggested success factors should be considered: 1) Each review should have a clearly predefined and agreed objective and the right people should…

ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Crash Course Part-6 This is Part 6 of 35 containing 5 Questions (Q. 26 to 30) with detailed explanation as expected in ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Latest Syllabus updated in 2011 Deep study of these 175 questions shall be of great help in getting success in ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Q. 26: What are the different objectives of reviews? Reviews have different objectives, where the term �review objective� identifies the main focus for a review. Typical review objectives are: 1) Finding defects. 2) Gaining understanding. 3) Generating discussion. 4) Decision making by consensus. The way a…

ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Crash Course Part-5 This is Part 5 of 35 containing 5 Questions (Q. 21 to 25) with detailed explanation as expected in ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Latest Syllabus updated in 2011 Deep study of these 175 questions shall be of great help in getting success in ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Q. 21: What is the use of static testing techniques? Static testing techniques are those techniques that test software without executing the code. This includes both the testing of work-products other than code, typically requirements or specification documents, and the testing of code without actually executing…

ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Crash Course Part-4 This is Part 4 of 35 containing 5 Questions (Q. 16 to 20) with detailed explanation as expected in ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Latest Syllabus updated in 2011 Deep study of these 175 questions shall be of great help in getting success in ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Q. 16: What is Acceptance Testing? The step after the system testing is usually acceptance testing. The purpose of acceptance testing is to provide the end users with confidence that the system will function according to their expectations. Referring once more to the V-model, acceptance testing…

ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Crash Course Part-3 This is Part 3 of 35 containing 5 Questions (Q. 11 to 15) with detailed explanation as expected in ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Latest Syllabus updated in 2011 Deep study of these 175 questions shall be of great help in getting success in ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Q. 11: What is Unit or Component Testing? Before testing of the code can start, clearly the code has to be written. This is shown at the bottom of the V-model. Generally, the code is written in component parts, or units. The units are usually constructed in…

ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Crash Course Part-2 This is Part 2 of 35 containing 5 Questions (Q. 6 to 10) with detailed explanation as expected in ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Latest Syllabus updated in 2011 Deep study of these 175 questions shall be of great help in getting success in ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Q. 6: How would you explain the different branches of a typical V-model for software development? Refer following figure explaining a typical V-model   A) Left Side Branch: As for the waterfall model, the left-hand side of the model focuses on elaborating the initial requirements, providing successively…

ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Crash Course Part-1 This is Part 1 of 35 containing 5 Questions (Q. 1 to 5) with detailed explanation as expected in ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Latest Syllabus updated in 2011 Deep study of these 175 questions shall be of great help in getting success in ISTQB Foundation Level Exam Q. 1: How to differentiate between work-products and products? A work-product is an intermediate deliverable required to create the final product. Work-products can be documentation or code. The code and associated documentation will become the product when the system is declared ready for release. In software development,…

Quick Start to preparation for ISTQB Foundation Level Exam You want to shape up your career in testing? & Aspiring to appear in ISTQB Foundation level exam? & Do not wish to undergo a formal expensive training course? If Yes !!! Come on & read further. A) Important Facts you must know 1) ISTQB Foundation Certificate (Certified Tester Foundation Level) is an entry qualification for the ISTQB Advanced Certificate exam. 2) The ISTQB Certified Tester Foundation Level Syllabus has been updated in 2010. Following quick start tips are based upon the latest syllabus. 3) ISTQB Foundation Level exam is intended to…

How Project Managers conduct Code Reviews as a Testing Activity? Expert managers carry out several types of code reviews that include informal walkthroughs, formal inspections, and paired programming being popular these days. The paired programming involves participation of two developers in a combined development effort at one workstation. For example, one creates a unit test for a class while the other one thinks of the design and implementation of the class that will pass the test. These partners switch their roles too frequently sometimes at least once a day. Irrespective of the approach used, the objective of the code review…

Different Software Quality Metrics used by Expert Test Managers Article by: Kushal Kar & Swastika Nandi – Guest Publishers of the article. Software Metric is a generic name for the measure of Quality of the Software Product. Software Metric can be a reflection on the status under software development cycle or some results etc. A good project manager is the one who applies the principles of metrics to plan, organize & control the project deliverables in quantifiable / measurable terms. Some of the software metrics extensively used by ISTQB certified expert testing managers are described below. Sr. Description of Metric How to Measure…

Techniques of Managing Software Requirements adopted by the Expert Managers Requirements describe the capabilities or features that need to be implemented in order for the software to achieve its purpose (solve a business problem, satisfy user needs, etc.). Gathering requirements is one of the most challenging tasks in the software development process. This is due to the size and complexity of modern software products, coupled with the difficulty customers may have when trying to define and then communicate requirements. Requirements are generally divided into several subcategories, such as business requirements, user requirements, system requirements, performance requirements, deployment requirements, upgrade requirements,…

What Successful Testers say about the Quality of this Website We are sharing following inspiring thoughts from many tester friends who got great success in their career by preparing from the quality stuff posted on SoftwareTestingGenius Most Recent Comment Comments from Tester Friends who got ISTQB Certifications: 53) Mr. Dhrubojit Goswami – Test Analyst shared on 10th Nov 13: I have cleared ISTQB-CTFL with 80%, I would like to thank Software Testing Genius for the Quality material provided. I am really impressed by the Quality of Questions.For all those preparing ISTQB, My frank suggestion is Go through the syllabus and practice…

Understanding the ABC of Software Product Quality Assurance It is not possible to test quality into a product when the development is close to being finished. As asserted by many renowned QA Experts & Test Managers, the quality assurance activities must start early and become an integrated part of the entire development project and the mindset of all stakeholders. Quality assurance comprises following four activities: 1) Definition of quality criteria 2) Validation 3) Verification 4) Quality reporting It may be borne in mind that the validation is not necesarily performed before the verification; in many organizations it is the other…

Approaches to Reliability Testing & Setting of Reliability Test Objectives If the project context demands different types of reliability testing, the approach to reliability testing is governed by a following three factors: 1) Identified risks, in particular those relating to safety-critical systems 2) Applicable standards 3) Available resources When planning an approach to reliability tests it is worth bearing in mind that some tests will be defined with one aspect of reliability in focus but which might also be applicable to other reliability aspects. If we decide, for example, to evaluate the recoverability of a system, we may first need…

20 Tips for Testing Managers to guard the morale of their staff If you are a Testing Manager or a Testing Team Lead or aspiring to assume the role of such positions in near future, this article is truly meant for you. According to Napoleon, “Morale is to the physical as three is to one.” Staffs who believe that their work is important, that they can accomplish their tasks if they apply themselves, and that their accomplishments will be valued, can make remarkable accomplishments. As their manager, you’re the most important guardian of your software testing staff’s morale. Hence following tips…

Importance of Maintainability to a Good Software & Role of Maintenance Testing Before going into the details of high sounding terms like maintainability etc, let us firstly understand the meaning of maintenance testing extensively used by experienced test managers in software testing parlance. What Is Maintenance Testing? Maintenance testing is the type of software testing that refers to testing the changes to an operational system or the impact of a changed environment to an operational system. In other words, it’s about keeping (maintaining) the achieved levels of quality across the entire life cycle of the software application. Quality here can…

How a Good Bug Hunter Prioritizes his Bug Hunting Activities in Software Testing Let us firstly understand as to what is a bug hunter? A bug hunter is an experienced & enthusiastic exploratory tester. Good bug hunters usually do the following: 1) Do initial exploratory testing of a suspect area, to develop ideas for more detailed attacks that can be performed by less experienced testers. 2) Explore an area that is allegedly low risk – can he quickly find bugs that would lead to reassessment of the risk? 3) Troubleshoot key areas that seem prone to irreproducible bugs. 4) Find…

Importance of Failover Testing during Test Planning of Safety Critical Systems Failover software testing is viewed as an essential component in our reliability test planning when the risks associated with the failure of an application or system are assessed as unacceptably high. Ensuring that failover mechanisms are implemented to address the risks that are primarily the concern of system architects. An important element of our reliability testing approach should therefore include technical reviews of the architectural documents that describe the proposed failover measures to be taken. The technical reviews should focus on how the hardware and the software architecture ensure…

Exploratory Testing an Indispensable Nonsystematic Software Testing Technique Going by the versions of ISTQB certified experts like “Advanced Test Managers” & “Technical Test Analysts”, we can say that systematic testing is not enough always! Since faults are sly we have to attack them in unpredictable ways. This is where the nonsystematic testing techniques come in as a valuable supplement to systematic testing techniques. The great Testing Guru – Cem Kaner drafted the term “Exploratory Testing” being a type of nonsystematic testing techniques more than two decades ago, to elaborate a methodology of performing skilled activities that were quite common in the Silicon Valley.…

Six Major Components of a Test Automation Framework A test automation infrastructure, or framework, consists of test tools, equipment, test scripts, procedures, and people needed to make test automation efficient and effective. The creation and maintenance of a test automation framework are key to the success of any test automation project within an organization. The implementation of an automation framework generally requires an automation test group. The responsibility of this group is to develop test automation infrastructure, test libraries, and tests tools. The idea behind an automation infrastructure is to ensure the following: a) Different test tools and equipment are coordinated…

Experts view on different Activities on Testing The testing is anything that involves at least following four activities: 1) Configure: Prepare the product for the test. Put it into the right starting state. Otherwise, your test results may be tainted by rogue variables. 2) Operate: Feed the product data. Give it commands. Interact with it in some way. Otherwise, it just sits here, and what you’re doing is reviewing, not testing. 3) Observe: Collect information about how the product behaves, output data, the state of the system as a whole, interactions with other products, and so on. You can’t observe everything, but anything you…

White-Box Unit testing – A Bottom-Up Approach of Software Testing Unlike black box software testing, white box unit testing is a strategy that requires knowledge of the internal structure of a program to design test cases. Based on this structure, white box software testing also called glass box testing, exercises statements, branches, paths, loops, and data flows in order to expose construction defects and security vulnerabilities. Because of the level of detail required to implement and verify its results, traditionally this type of testing has been performed for relatively small code elements. However, with the use of the modern technology…

Analysis of defects found during software testing & action plan to prevent them ISTQB certified experts like “Technical Test Analysts” perform comprehensive root cause analysis of defects uncovered during software testing. Such root cause analysis leads to the formation of the customized best practices that prevent those defects from recurring in subsequent iterations of software development. When testers uncover defects during integration, system, and acceptance testing, they assess defect severity and report severe defects in the problem tracking system. Defects should be considered severe if they cause intermittent or long-term system failures, or produce incorrect outputs, or if frequency of occurrence warrants…

Four Best Policies for Regression Testing as Suggested by Software Testing Experts The regression testing system is a part of an intermediate or expanded infrastructure. It consists of a suite of tests, developed gradually as the white and black box tests pass. Once in place, the regression software testing suites verify that implemented functionality continues to work properly after each new code addition to the application. The following policies are formulated to ensure that the regression system is used effectively to identify all code regressions immediately on getting diagnosed and that the timely removal of regression defects is properly facilitated.…

Download Link for your Favorite Presentation is at the End of this Page ************************************************************************************** Why Software Testing Experts use Test Execution Tools for Automation? This type of software testing tools are known by different names like – test execution tools, or test running tools, or capture and replay tools, and is probably the most commonly known category of software testing tools. These tools are primarily used for automation of regression testing. They can execute test scripts much faster and more reliably than human beings, and they can therefore reduce test execution time when tests are repeated and/or allow more tests to…

Integration Testing a Key Software Testing activity – Why, Who & How? After the test progression criteria for units, sub-modules, and modules have been met, it is necessary to verify that these elements work correctly together. The role of integration testing is to conduct such a verification by an orderly progression of testing in which all the individually tested software parts are combined and tested together until the entire system has been integrated. Let us firstly try to gather the answers of Why, How & Who related to Integration Tests Q. 1: Why do we need to carry out Integration…

Dynamics of Reporting System of Software Testing Progress & its Completion Test managers play an active role in managing the entire process of testing & plan concrete strategies for an effective reporting of completion of the testing effort. A discussion is being presented here to explain the system of test progress management & subsequent reporting on completion. Test execution, recording, control, re-testing, and regression testing must be continued until we believe that the exit criteria have been achieved. The purpose of the test progress and completion reporting is to stay in control of the testing and deliver the results of…

Product Functionality Testing Managed by ISTQB Experts like Test Analysts Before we discuss the functionality attributes in detail let us quickly understand different types of Quality attributes. What are the quality attributes of a product? Quality attributes represent a way of structuring and expressing the expectations for a product. Experts like “Test Analysts” Or “Technical Test Analysts” contribute to the quality of a product in a number of ways from the very start of the development life cycle. The ISO 9126 standard provides a model for product quality & prescribes following quality attributes 1) Functionality 2) Usability 3) Reliability 4) Efficiency 5) Maintainability 6)…

A Simplistic Approach to Writing Test Cases – The Black Box way Article by: Swastika Nandi – a guest publisher of the article. Before gathering knowledge on how to write test case methods, we have to know what basically a test case is! Have you ever noticed that every one of us is a tester in one way or the other? So task to write test cases becomes all the simpler, as we all know what to test and how to test. The following discussion depicts simple pointers on test case writing methods. Here are some points on writing test cases and test…

Difference between Change Related Software Testing like Confirmation Testing & Regression Testing During software testing we get failures. In most cases the underlying defects are corrected and the corrected test object is handed over to the testers for confirmation. This is the situation where we iterate in the test process and go back to the test execution process. We go back to perform confirmation testing and regression testing. Confirmation testing and regression testing are important activities in test execution. They can appear in all the test levels from component testing to (one hopes rarely) acceptance testing and even during maintenance…

Understanding the utility of Keyword-Driven Test Automation Tools Keyword-driven test is a way to execute test scripts at a higher level of abstraction. The idea is similar to that of a service or subroutine in programming where the same code may be executed with different values. Keywords are defined to represent a script, and a tool can then act as a link between the keywords and the tool executing the corresponding test script. Values may be assigned for parameters associated with the keywords. The tools make it possible to use parameter-driven test scripts without having to change the (often complicated)…

Reasons of Slow Death of Automated Regression Tests The biggest problem facing automated regression tests is decay and premature death. You design regression tests to detect problems in features you’ve already tested – problems due to programmers’ mistakes when fixing bugs or adding new features. Regression tests die over time due to following reasons: Change of the user interface or output formats: These changes are the major cause of decay. Because of them, a large set of tests that used to pass will fail even though nothing obvious has been done to affect the features that the tests are aimed at.…

Anatomy of Various Types of Experience-Based Testing Techniques Experience-based techniques are based on the tester’s experience with testing, development, similar applications, the same application in previous releases, and the domain itself. The tester brings all their knowledge to bear when designing the test cases. ISTQB certified experts like “Test Analyst” and “Technical Test Analyst” are qualified to carry out experience-based testing because of the following: 1) They greatly understand when and why to use experience-based techniques. 2) They have ability to explain the specification, execution, and reporting of exploratory tests. 3) They have ability to specify tests using software fault attacks that target specific…

An overview & Insight to Software Configuration Management Article by: Swastika Nandi – A Guest Publisher of the article. Following four obvious questions come to the mind of every software professional Q 1. Can a software build be tested without knowing the build version? Q 2. Can a software build be released into production without a build release note? Q 3. Can a change in software system be implemented directly into production? Q 4. Can a requirement specification document be circulated to stakeholders without base-lining it? Questions like these are answered via Software Configuration Management or SCM. This article tries to give…

Common Testing Thumb Rules Recommended by Testing Experts Experts create rules of thumb to make an educated guess during their decision making process. Such thumb rules are also called “Heuristics”. The word heuristic had originated from Greek, with a meaning “Serving to Discover.” Experienced testers collect and share testing heuristics that improve the quality of their guesses. A good set of heuristics helps us generate tests very quickly. Following are few examples of thumb rules that are quite helpful to the testers: 1) Test at the boundaries: Boundaries are more likely to reveal ambiguities in the specification. 2) Test every error…

Metrics to judge the Quality & Reliability of our Testing During testing the software under test is executed with a set of test cases. As the quality of delivered software depends substantially on the quality of testing, following two fundamental questions arise in the minds of “Technical Test Analysts” while testing: Q 1: How good is the testing that has been done? Q 2: What is the quality or reliability of software after testing is completed? During testing, the primary purpose of metrics is to try to answer these and other related questions. Three important metrics or the areas of interest for…

Simple explanation of Hierarchy of Testing levels Testing is usually relied upon to detect the faults remaining from earlier stages, in addition to the faults introduced during coding itself. Due to this, different levels of testing are used in the testing process; each level of testing aims to test different aspects of the system. Different hierarchical levels of testing are 1) Unit testing, 2) Integration testing, 3) System testing, and 4) Acceptance testing These different levels of testing attempt to detect different types of faults. The relation of the faults introduced in different phases, and the different levels of testing…

Is it wise to Automate All Our Testing – How do we decide? Usually ISTQB certified CTAL experts like “Technical Test Analysts” come across a typical situation where they need to take a trade-off decision in favor of manual testing or automation based upon time, money, and capability. It is a known fact that not everything can be automated. Some types of testing do not lend themselves to automation, particularly those requiring a human assessment as in usability testing. We have to determine the efficiency of automating. It will likely be a waste of time to automate software that is rapidly changing…

Data Driven & Keyword Driven Test Automation managed by ISTQB Certified CTAL Experts Data-driven automation: This utilizes the skills of the Test Analyst and the Technical Test Analyst. These automation techniques are used to reduce maintenance costs in the automation code and to allow the test analysts to create the actual test scenarios using the test scripts developed by the automator (usually a Technical Test Analyst). Data-driven automation consists of two main parts, the data and the automation script that will use it. The data is usually maintained in tables or files that the automation script reads. The automation usually cycles…

Understanding the different elements of Final System Test Report During the test execution cycles test reports are generated and distributed. A final summary report is created after completion of all the test cycles. The structure of the final report is outlined as under 1) Introduction to the test project: The introduction to the test project section of the test report summarizes the purpose of the report according to the test plan. This section includes the following information: a) Name of the project b) Name of the software image c) Revision history of this document d) Terminology and definitions e) Testing staff…

Four categories of thinking done by the Testers All kinds of thinking figure into the practice of testing. But experts believe four major categories of thinking are worth highlighting: 1) Technical thinking: The ability to model technology and understand causes and effects. This includes things like knowledge of relevant technical facts and the ability to use tools and predict the behavior f systems. 2) Creative thinking: The ability to generate ideas and see possibilities. You will test only in ways that you can imagine testing. You will look only for problems that you imagine can exist. 3) Critical thinking: The ability to evaluate…

What is the meaning of complete testing? Some testers who agree they can’t know they’ve found all the bugs in a product still talk loosely about what it means to be finished testing. Saying “it will take me five days to test that” can be interpreted to mean that you think you will have completely tested that part of the product in five calendar days. And that might be taken to mean you will find every bug in five days. Completeness is more often implied than stated. Either way, it’s a concept you must treat with great care. Think about…

ISTQB Advanced Level Test Analyst & Technical Test Analyst Exam – Sample Paper: Q. 21 to 30 Deep study of this set of 80 questions shall be of great help in getting success in ISTQB CTAL Advanced Level Test Analyst & Technical Test Analyst Exam. All these questions are based upon ISTQB Certified Tester Advanced Level Syllabus V 2007. Set of 10 Questions (Q. 21 to 30) Correct Answers of earlier Q. 11 to 20 are at the end of this page: Q. 21: Which of the statements are true about Test Strategy approaches? I. Company can use analytical strategy…

Silk Test Interview Questions: Q. 71 to 80 Set of 10 Questions Q. 71: Need to use the relative paths in my SilkTest Project. How to change the absolute paths to relative paths? Say you have following organization of files C:TestScriptScript.t C:TestWDecWDec.inc Now in Scrpt.t file to include WDec.inc, code following 1. use ” C:TestWDecWDec.inc” –> Absolute OR 2. use “..WDecWDec.inc” –> Relative [Move one level up from Script folder, then go to WDec folder] <<<<<< =================== >>>>>> Q. 72: We are testing a login feature for web application. In the first window login will be successful, in the second…

Silk Test Interview Questions: Q. 61 to 70 Set of 10 Questions Q. 61: What .OPT file is used for? .opt file is used to set the options……. Say in your script you set the option Agent.SetOption (OPT_WINDOW_TIMEOUT, 5) Agent.SetOption (OPT_WINDOW_RETRY, 0.06) Agent.SetOption (OPT_KEYBOARD_DELAY, 0.3) For few options you can set in your script. If you are going to set more number of options, it is better to set in an .opt file and use that .opt file. The above example is for Agent option. There are other options e.g. General, Runtime etc which you have to set in the .opt…

Silk Test Interview Questions: Q. 51 to 60 Set of 10 Questions Q. 51: How to run a test case from a testplan file? If a testcase is linked to a testplan, you can run it from the testplan: Open the testplan. Select the test description line which has the testcase linked. Click Run/Testcase menu. The Run Testcase dialog box shows up. Click the Run button. SilkTest starts to run the test case. Do not touch mouse or keyboard, to avoid interrupting the test case execution. SilkTest finishes executing the testcase. The Restuls window shows up with the execution result.…

Silk Test Interview Questions: Q. 41 to 50 Set of 10 Questions Q. 41: What is a test frame? A test frame is a file that contains information about the application you are testing. Information stored in a test frame will be used as references when SilkTest records and executes testcases. A test frame is stored in an include file with file extension .inc. <<<<<< =================== >>>>>> Q. 42: How DOM browser extension identify a Web application UI object? A Web application UI object is identified in two parts: Identify the Web browser window where the Web application is running. For…

Silk Test Interview Questions: Q. 31 to 40 Set of 10 Questions Q. 31: How to run a test case from a test script file? A test script file can store multiple test cases. You can run a testcase from a test script file: Open the test script file. Select the test case in the test file. Click Run/Testcase menu. The Run Testcase dialog box shows up. Click the Run button. SilkTest starts to run the test case. Do not touch mouse or keyboard, to avoid interrupting the test case execution. SilkTest finishes executing the testcase. The Restuls window shows…

Silk Test Interview Questions: Q. 21 to 30 Set of 10 Questions Q. 21: What is stored in a test frame? A test frame is a text file, which records the following types of information for a Web application: 1) Comment: Commentary information. 2) wMainWindow: A string constant to identify your application’s home page. 3) Home page window: An object of class BrowserChild window that holds application home page.4) sLocation: The URL of the your application’s home apge. 5) sUserName and dPassword: User name and password if needed to login to your Web application. 6) BrowserSize: A pair of values to indicate the size of the…

Silk Test Interview Questions: Q. 11 to 20 Set of 10 Questions Q. 11: What is a SilkTest Testplan? The SilkTest testplan is an outline that provides a framework for the software testing process and serves as the point of control for organizing and managing your test requirements. A testplan consists of two distinct parts: an outline, which is a formatted description of the test requirements, and statements, which are used to connect the testplan to SilkTest scripts and testcases that implement the test requirements. <<<<<< =================== >>>>>> Q. 12: What’s the best way to create a new test script?…

Silk Test Interview Questions: Q. 1 to 10 Set of 10 Questions Q. 1: What is SilkTest? SilkTest is a software testing automation tool developed by Segue Software, Inc. <<<<<< =================== >>>>>> Q. 2: What is the Segue Testing Methodology? Segue testing methodology is a six-phase testing process: 1) Plan: Determine the testing strategy and define specific test requirements. 2) Capture: Classify the GUI objects in your application and build a framework for running your tests. 3) Create: Create automated, reusable tests. Use recording and/ or programming to build test scripts written in Segue’s 4Test language. 4) Run: Select specific tests and execute them…

Checklist for Conducting Code Review Following list of questions remains quite helpful to the code reviewer. If needed, reviewer may like to get clarifications from the code writer.   Sr.   　Code Review Questions 1. Does the code do what has been specified in the design specification? 2. Does the procedure used in the module solve the problem correctly? 3. Does a software module duplicate another existing module, which could be reused? 4. If library modules are being used, are the right libraries and the right versions of the libraries being used? 5. Does each module have a single entry…

Checklist for Specifying Software Confidentiality and Availability Acceptance Criteria The confidentiality acceptance criteria refer to the requirement that the data must be protected from unauthorized disclosure and the availability acceptance criteria to the requirement that the data must be protected from a “Denial Of Service” (DoS) to authorized users. Different types of possible confidentiality and availability acceptance criteria are as follows:     Sr.   　Check Point   Yes/No 1. No unauthorized access to the system is permitted, that is, user authentication is performed. 2. Files and other data are protected from unauthorized access. 3. The system is protected against…

Checklist for Specifying the Software System Robustness Acceptance Criteria The robustness of a system is defined as its ability to recover from errors, continue to operate under worst conditions, and operate reliably for an extended period of time. The following questions must be addressed in specifying the robustness acceptance criteria:     Sr.   　Check Point   Yes/No 1. What are the types of errors from which the system is expected to recover? 2. What are the causes, or sources, of the errors so that these can be simulated in a test environment? 3. How are the errors initiated, or…

Checklist for Software Reliability and Availability Acceptance Criteria Software reliability is defined as the probability that the software executes without failure for a specified amount of time in a specified environment. The longer a system runs without failure, the more reliable it is. A large number of reliability models are available to predict the reliability of software. A software reliability model provides a family of growth curves that describe the decline of failure rate as defects are submitted and closed during the system-testing phase. The failure rate is often calculated in terms of MTBF. A growth model can answer the…

Checklist for System Maintainability and Serviceability Acceptance Criteria The maintainability of a system is its ability to undergo repair and evolution. One way to characterize maintainability is to measure the MTTR, which reflects the time it takes to analyze a corrective defect, design a modification, implement the change, test it, and distribute it. The important factors, from a customer�s perspective, are the responsiveness of the service rather than the internal technical maintainability of the system. The following are useful acceptance criteria from a customer’s perspective:     Sr.   　Check Point   Yes/No 1. The customer is the final arbiter…

Checklist for System Scalability Acceptance Criteria The scalability of a system is defined as its ability to effectively provide acceptable performance as the following quantities increase: a) Geographic area of coverage of a system, b) System size in terms of the number of elements in the system, c) Number of users, and d) Volume of workload per unit time. A system may work as expected in limited-use scenarios but may not scale up very well. The following questions must be addressed in specifying the scalability acceptance criteria:   Sr.   　Check Point   Yes/No 1. How many concurrent users is…

Checklist for System Installability and Upgradability Acceptance Criteria Installability and Upgradability The purpose of system installability and upgradability is to ensure that the system can be correctly installed and upgraded in the customer environment. If for some reason the customer wants to uninstall or downgrade the system software, it is required to be done smoothly. Installation and upgradation of a system is planned by identifying the major milestones and contingency steps. The system installation and upgradation process document must be available with specific steps. The acceptance criteria of system installation and upgradation are as under:   Sr.   　Check Point…

Checklist for Backup and Recoverability Acceptance Criteria Backup and recovery of data are default functionalities of large, complex systems. This is because, though systems are not expected to crash, in reality, a system crash is not uncommon. The backup and recovery acceptance criteria specify the durability and recoverability levels of the software in each hardware platform. The aim of the recovery acceptance test criteria is to outline the extent to which data can be recovered after a system crash. Following questions must be answered in specifying the recoverability acceptance criteria:   Sr.   　Check Point Yes/No GoogleAd336] 1. How much…

Checklist for Competitive Analysis Report Acceptance Criteria The system must provide a distinct advantage over existing methods and competing products through innovative features. An analysis of the competitiveness of the product is provided to the buyer. This document contains a comparative study of the system with products available in the market from other vendors. A competitive analysis is conducted by the systems engineering group of the marketing organization. The following questions need to be answered in specifying the competitive analysis report acceptance criteria:     Sr.   　Check Point   Yes/No 1. What are the nearest direct competitors of the…

Checklist for Conformance of Acceptance Criteria for Usability While defining acceptance criteria for usability the question arises � as to how easy it is to use the system and how easy it is to learn? The goal of usability acceptance criteria is to ensure that the system is flexible, it is easy to configure and customize the system, on-line help is available, work-around is available, and user interface is friendly. The following questions need to be addressed in specifying the usability acceptance criteria:     Sr.    Check Point   Yes/No 1. How will the system help the user in…

Acceptance Test Report and its Sample Template The acceptance team prepares a test report, which forms the basis of discussion at the review meeting before they meet for a review. Download Acceptance Test Report Template (MS Word Format) for your own use Preview of the Generic Acceptance Test Report Template   Download Many More Testing Templates Download Several Checklists for Testers & Developers  Download Many More Checklists for QA Managers & Team Leads

Seven Excellent Basic Principles of the Context-Driven Testing I remember following Seven Parables for Context-Driven testing read from an excellent book on Software Testing needing no formal introduction.. Principle -1: The value of any practice depends on its context. Principle -2: There are good practices in context, but there are no best practices. Principle -3: People, working together, are the most important part of any project’s context. Principle -4: Projects unfold over time in ways that are often not predictable. Principle -5: The product is a solution. If the problem isn’t solved, the product doesn’t work. Principle -6: Good software testing is a challenging intellectual process. Principle…

How do the experts like Test Analysts handle the software defects? ISTQB advanced certified experts like “Test Analyst” as well as “Technical Test Analyst” remain interested in precisely recording issues detected in their areas of operations. A “Test Analyst” tries to approach the problem from the user’s perspective e.g.  # What would this mean to the user? # What would he do when he encounters this situation? A “Technical Test Analyst” concentrates more on the technical aspects of the problem e.g. # Why did it occur? # On what platforms is it visible? # Is it affected by environmental factors?…

A Load and Performance Test Plan and its Sample Template A load & performance test plan is the primary document providing the basis for doing performance testing in an organized manner. It is extremely important document for the Testing Managers, using which they are able to ensure the performance related aspects of the software product when subjected to stressful conditions.If load & performance a test plan is intelligently drawn, it helps in smooth sailing for the performance test execution and analysis activities.The load & performance test plan acts as a dynamic document, especially in the constantly changing spiral environments. It…

Checklist for Testing a Website Prior to Hosting According to Wikipedia, web testing is the name given to software testing that focuses on web applications. Complete testing of a web-based system before going live can help address issues before the system is revealed to the public. Web testing checklist is a very powerful fact-gathering tool deployed to ensure that our new web application behaves as expected when launched before the public. How to use the following checklist: 1) We record the conditions or observed results by marking a checkmark in either of the 2 – data columns against various check…

Checklist for Checking Performance Test Environment for Web Applications Performance test environment testing checklist is a very powerful fact-gathering tool deployed to ensure that our new web application behaves as expected from performance test environment related considerations.   Sr.   　Check Point   Yes/No   Check Points related to Performance Test Environment 1. Does the test environment exist? 2. Is the environment self-contained? 3. Can one iteration of testing be performed in production? 4. Is a copy of production data available for testing? 5. Are end-users available for testing and analysis? 6. Will the test use virtual users? 7. Does the test…

Checklist for Screen Validation Testing of Web Applications Screen Validation testing checklist is a very powerful fact-gathering tool deployed to ensure that our new web application behaves as expected from screen validation related considerations.     Sr.   　Check Point   Yes/No   Screen Validation Check Points related to Aesthetic Conditions 1. Is the general screen background the correct color? 2. Are the field prompts the correct color? 3. Are the field backgrounds the correct color? 4. In read-only mode, are the field prompts the correct color? 5. In read-only mode, are the field backgrounds the correct color? 6. Are…

Checklist for checking correctness of Environment and Functionality of Web Applications Environment & Functionality testing checklist is a very powerful fact-gathering tool deployed to ensure that our new web application behaves as expected from environment & functionality related considerations.   Sr.   　Check Point Yes/No     Check Points related to Correctness of Environment 1. Are user sessions terminated properly? 2. Is response time adequate based upon specifications? 3. Is a complete software requirement specification available? 4. Are requirements bounded? 5. Have equivalence classes been defined to exercise input? 6. Have boundary tests been derived to exercise the software at its boundaries?…

Checklist for Testing of Operational Security of Web Applications Security testing checklist is a very powerful fact-gathering tool deployed to ensure that our new web application behaves as expected from operational security related considerations.     Sr.   　Check Point   Yes/No   Check Points related to Privacy 1. Is sensitive data restricted to be viewed by unauthorized users? 2. Is proprietary content copyrighted? 3. Is information about company employees limited on public web site? 4. Is the privacy policy communicated to users and customers? 5. Is there adequate legal support and accountability of privacy practices?   Check Points related…

Checklist for Testing Risks and Hardware for Web Applications Risks & Hardware testing checklist is a very powerful fact-gathering tool deployed to ensure that our new web application behaves as expected from risks & hardware related considerations.     Sr.   　Check Point   Yes/No   Check Points related to Risk 1. Has the risk tolerance been assessed to identify the vital few platforms to test?   Check Points related to Hardware 1. Is the test hardware compatible with all screen types, sizes, resolution of the audience? 2. Is the test hardware compatible with all means of access, modems, etc…

Checklist for Testing Data Security and Recovery of Web Applications Security testing checklist is a very powerful fact-gathering tool deployed to ensure that our new web application behaves as expected from security related considerations.   Sr.   　Check Point   Yes/No   Check Points related to Data Security 1. Are data inputs adequately filtered? 2. Are data access privileges identified? (e.g., read, write, update and query) 3. Are data access privileges enforced? 4. Have data backup and restore processes been defined? 5. Have data backup and restore processes been tested? 6. Have file permissions been established? 7. Have file permissions…

Checklist for Website GUI Checking of Different Data Fields GUI checking checklist is a very powerful fact-gathering tool deployed to ensure that our new web application behaves as expected from several GUI considerations related to various types of data fields.     Sr.   　Check Point   Yes/No   Check Points related to checking of Date Fields 1. Assure that leap years are validated correctly & do not cause errors / miscalculations. 2. Assure that month code 00 and 13 are validated correctly & do not cause errors/miscalculations. 3. Assure that 00 and 13 are reported as errors. 4. Assure…

Checklist for Website GUI Checking for General Considerations GUI checking checklist is a very powerful fact-gathering tool deployed to ensure that our new web application behaves as expected from several GUI related considerations.   Sr.   　Check Point   Yes/No   Check Points related to Navigation 1. Assure the existence of the “Help” menu. 2. Assure that the proper commands and options are in each menu. 3. Assure that all buttons on all tool bars have a corresponding key commands. 4. Assure that each menu command has an alternative (hot-key) key sequence, which will invoke it where appropriate. 5. In…

Checklist for Checking of Performance Considerations of Websites Performance checking checklist is a very powerful fact-gathering tool deployed to ensure that our new web application behaves as expected from several performances related considerations.     Sr.   　Check Point   Yes/No   Check Points related to Navigation 1. Navigation supports user scenarios gathered in the User Task Assessment phase (prior to design). 2. Users can see all levels of navigation leading to any page. 3. Breadcrumb navigation is present (for larger and some smaller sites). 4. Site uses DHTML pop-up to show alternative destinations for that navigation level. 5. Navigation…

Checklist for Checking of Design considerations of Websites General design checking checklist is a very powerful fact-gathering tool deployed to ensure that our new web application behaves as expected from several design considerations.     Sr.   　Check Point   Yes/No   Check Points related to Home Page & Inner Pages 1. Home page logo is larger and more centrally placed than on other pages. 2. Home page includes navigation, summary of news/promotions, and a search feature. 3. Home page answers: Where am I; What does this site do; How do I find what I want? 4. Larger navigation space…

Checklist for Checking of General considerations of Web Applications General testing checklist is a very powerful fact-gathering tool deployed to ensure that our new web application behaves as expected from several general considerations.     Sr.   　Check Point   Yes/No   Check Points related to Statutory requirements 1. Is the application compatible with standards and conventions of the audience? 2. Is the application compatible with copyright laws and licenses?   Check Points related to General Appearance 1. Are fonts consistent within functionality? 2. Are the company display standards followed? – Logos – Font size – Colors – Scrolling –…

Checklist for Testing the Compatibility and Portability of Web Applications Compatibility and Portability testing checklist is a very powerful fact-gathering tool deployed to ensure that our new web application behaves as expected from Compatibility and Portability considerations.     Sr.   　Check Point   Yes/No   Check Points related to Compatibility and Portability – Audience 1. Has the audience been defined? 2. Is there a process for identifying the audience? 3. Is the process for identifying the audience current? 4. Is the process reviewed periodically? 5. Is there appropriate use of audience segmentation? 6. Is the application compatible with the…

Checklist for Testing the usability of Web Applications Usability testing checklist is a very powerful fact-gathering tool deployed to ensure that our new web application behaves as expected from usability considerations.     Sr.   　Check Point   Yes/No   Check Points related to Navigation 1. Is terminology consistent? 2. Are navigation buttons consistently located? 3. Is navigation to the correct/intended destination? 4. Is the flow to destination (page to page) logical? 5. Is the flow to destination the page top-bottom left to right? 6. Is there a logical way to return? 7. Are the business steps within the process…