A Test Plan, Essay Example

Introduction

Within the concept of systems development,  for the implementation of software, the test plan forms a vital components.  This is examined from the perspective of quality management and quality metrics; hence how to validate the functional requirements.

Quality Objectives And Metrics

Quality Assurance 

The QA function is normally performed as an internal task by a management team. This usually comprises three roles: (1) Use Assurance (2) Technical Assurance and (3) Business Assurance that consider the testing phase from three separate perspectives.  The User is looking at end delivery to ensure the functional requirements are what is required from a user specification viewpoint. The Technical person examines this from the perspective of Information Technology in order to ensure the specifications meet acceptable IT standards.  The business person takes the holistic perspective that the specifications are satisfying the organizational requirements. (Office of Government Commerce, 2009)

The Test Plan Stage

System testing is normally split out into three distinct tasks.  (1) Unit or Module Testing that tests the individual software code (2) User Acceptance Testing, performed by an actual user to ensure that the system performs operationally by meeting the user requirements and (3) Integration Testing – Conducted by an IT department representative who ensures that the system being developed correctly integrates with the other suite of software and database applications. (Ould, M.A. 1986)

Unit Testing

This is the Programmers View that examines the module specification with the coded units. From the quality perspective we determine how the functionality of each module meets the system design specification. Hoe the modules of coding  meet the design specifications.

Acceptance Testing

This is the user’s view of the system. The emphasis from the quality perspective is that the system meets the user’s requirements. This is a check against the systems analysis to ensure the system maps to an exact specification of the user’s requirements.  This acknowledges that the system is ready for the end users.

Integration Testing

The integration testing stage is concerned with checking out the assemblages of the system i.e. the input modules that have been checked by module testing and how these aggregate out when integrating into the entire software components.  The nearest analogy being a jigsaw piece that is being applied to the puzzle.  It has to be a sensible integrated component that works in harmony with the other system modules.  Metrics  are used to determine how well the system design component has been integrated and interpreted.  This will look at items like systems response times, couplings, coding integrity, simulation tests to determine performance upon migration into the operational environment.

Quality metrics may include McCabe’s Cyclomatic number or really a simple examination of lines of code for measuring complexity.  Other considerations will include use of sub routines, systems integration,  adherence to the IT department’s quality metrics and standards in order to ensure consistency of coding applications. (Kshirasagar Naik, 2008)

References

Kshirasagar Naik, P. T. (2008). Software testing and quality assurance: theory and practice. Hoboken NJ: Wiley.

Office of Government Commerce. (2009). Managing successful projects with PRINCE 2. In O. o. Commerce, Managing successful projects with PRINCE 2 (p. 47). London: The Stationery Office.

Ould, M. U. (1986). Testing in Software Development. Cambridge: British Computer Society.