The Test Process Part 2

leaving off from last post I wrote that Test activities can be divided into 5 phases of the testing process:


1. Planning and control
2. Analysis and design
3. Implementation and Execution
4. Evaluating exit criteria and reporting
5. Test closure activities.


I covered the first 3 so now I'll finish the list.


For evaluating exit criteria this is the point in testing when the tester takes what was done in test execution and assesses it against the defined objectives. ISTQB suggests that this should be done for each test level, so we can know when we have done enough testing and can move on to the next level. Also in order to assess the risks of deeming a component, activity or level is complete and can move on we need to come up with a series of exit criteria. Exit criteria should be set and evaluated for each test level. According to ISTQB evaluating exit criteria has the following major tasks:
• Check test logs against the exit criteria specified in test planning
• Assess if more tests are needed or if the exit criteria specified should be changed
• Write a test summary report for stakeholders
The last on the list of test activities is the test closure activities.
During test closure activities, the testers gather up the data from finished test activities from each of the testers involved, this includes checking and filing test ware, and analyzing facts and numbers. We may need to do this when software is delivered. There are a number of reasons why a testing team would close testing, these include the testers getting all the info they needed from testing, the project could be cancelled at anytime, a particular milestone is achieved where we no longer need to continue testing after, or when a maintenance release or update is done. Test closure activities include the following major tasks:
• Check which planned deliverables we actually delivered and ensure all incident reports have been resolved through defect repair or deferral.
• Finalize and archive test ware, such as scripts, the test environment, and any other test infrastructure, for later reuse. This can save time later if the testers have to test a new version of the same software later.
• Hand over testware to the maintenance organization who will support the software and make any bug fixes or maintenance changes, for use in con firmation testing and regression testing. This group may be a separate group to the people who build and test the software; the maintenance testers are one of the customers of the development testers; they will use the library of tests.
• Evaluate how the testing went and analyze lessons learned for future releases and projects. This might include process improvements for the soft ware development life cycle as a whole and also improvement of the test processes.