Software Testing Questions

Risk analysis is a method to determine how much risk is involved in something. In testing, it can be used to determine when to test something or whether to test something at all. Items with higher risk values should be tested early and often. Items with lower risk value can be tested later, or not at all. It can also be used with defects. Severity tells us how bad a defect is: "how much damage can it cause?" Priority tells us how soon it is desired to fix the defect: "should we fix this and if so, by when?"

Defects with High Severity and Priority are tested first.

Software testing is verifying if a software meets the customer's requirements; if it has high quality; if it is bug free and if it is fit for use. Testing is important because it ensures that the product delivered is defect free which in turn emphasizes higher quality and proves to be cost effective.

Integration testing is done at module level when various modules are integrated with each other to form a system or sub-system. Its main purpose is to ensure that interfaces between various modules are working properly; i.e. modules which are working individually are also working correctly together.

System testing is done on a complete, integrated system to evaluate the system’s compliance with its specified requirements. It validates that the system meets its functional and non-functional requirements.

From these definitions, it is clear that the purpose of Integration and purpose of System Testing are different. Therefore, Integration test cases focus more on the interfaces between modules (interface integrity) - the data transfer and their interaction with each other. System test cases focus on testing the product as a whole; i.e. whether the functional, non-functional requirements of the System are met or not. Since System Testing is the final phase before delivery of the product, System test cases should pinpoint configuration related errors along with testing for performance, security, reliability etc.

Quality Assurance Manager (QA Manager) defines the process to be followed at each phase of SDLC. He defines the standards to be followed, the documents to be maintained and sets the standard for the product.

Where as it is the Project Manager’s responsibility to ensure that the things defined by QA manager are being implemented. He develops the product from start to finish with his team and ensures that the product which is to be rolled out is Defect free and it reaches the standards and views defined by QA Manager.

QA managers can audit the process for certain time periods which are being handled by the Project Manager.

The parameters of Quality Cost are:

Speed
Accuracy
Efficiency
Performance
Customer Satisfaction