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Status of Software Testing

Printed From: One Stop Testing
Category: Quality Assurance @ OneStopTesting
Forum Name: Quality Methodologies / Streams @ OneStopTesting
Forum Discription: Any Good Testing Engineer must know about All the Quality Certifications & Methodologies like ISO, IEEE, CMM, PCCM, CMMMi, XP, Agile and many more.
URL: http://forum.onestoptesting.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=2830
Printed Date: 06Dec2024 at 9:00pm


Topic: Status of Software Testing
Posted By: tanushree
Subject: Status of Software Testing
Date Posted: 15Oct2007 at 3:00am
Status of Software Testing

The Quality Assurance Institute conducts a software testing survey annually at its International Conference on Software Testing. This survey provides testers with the current status of software testing. Many of the survey results remain relatively constant from year to year. The results are described below:
Participants were asked if their organizations have documented and maintained test standards/procedures. Seventy-one percent responded positively.

Approximately two-thirds of those not maintaining standards and procedures indicated their organizations have included this work activity in their plans.

Survey respondents were asked whether their organizations were planning to implement or enhance their software testing processes in the next year or two. Eighty-eight percent answered affirmatively
.
Establishing metrics and process improvement have remained the most planned improvements since the 1995 survey. “Other” included risk management, configuration management, and training.


TEST FUNCTION
Survey participants were asked, “On what hardware platform(s) does your organization normally perform testing?” Since 1995, client/server has equaled or surpassed mainframe. PCs have overtaken mainframe from previous years.
The “Other” includes AS 400, UNIX, and Tandem



Survey participants were asked, “What best describes your specific testing activity?” Forty-one percent said project test team, 28% individual test group, 21% other, 12% end user, and 2% programmer. The other category included management and supervising activities. This year project test team has surpassed independent test group by 12%.



Sixty-three percent of the participants said their organizations trained testers. Types of training included QAI seminars and conferences, internal formal classes, tool vendor training, and hands-on workshops. Some respondents indicated mentoring programs, OJT, and buddy systems.




TEST PROCESS


Survey participants were asked, “What test products (inputs) are developed for use in your testing processes?” Over 80% said they use detail test plans, test cases, test environments, and test data. When asked, “To what degree are the test products maintained and reused?” 33% said always, 59% sometimes, and 8% never



Respondents were asked, “What type of static testing does your organization perform?” Sixty-one percent indicated End-User/Customer Reviews. Other responses were Project Reviews 56%, Structured Walkthroughs 43%, Formal Inspections 30%, and Other 5%.



Participants were asked to indicate all levels of dynamic testing (executing program code) their organizations perform on application software. Eighty-six percent perform System Testing, 80% Unit/Module, 77% Acceptance, 75% Integration/Linkage, 60% Stress/Volume, 46% Pilot, and 9% Other. 1998 survey results indicated there is a trend among organizations to perform more types of testing.



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