Soft audit practice・Audit day 9: Points for checking test technology
- 1. Testing technology audits with attention to the quantity, quality and control of tests
- 2. The test checklist checks the quantity and quality of tests and test management in order
- 3. First of all, know the test system of the other company from the name and definition of the test
- 4. Precautions when checking with the test checklist
- 5. Next to the test technology is the confirmation of the design and implementation technology.
Testing technology audits with attention to the quantity, quality and control of tests
In this article, following the previous article, I will introduce the points when auditing using the checklist for the test , which is the third of the four checklists for software development auditing . As with the development process checklist, each check item is introduced in the article Soft Audit Practice / Checklist # 14: Development Technology / Test (Test Management / First Half) , so I am interested in specific items. If you have one, please see that article first.
Below is an example of the checklist, so please read the article while also looking at it.
Test checklist
(click to open pdf)
The test checklist checks the quantity and quality of tests and test management in order
The third soft audit checklist is a test checklist that collects confirmation items related to testing . Testing is the most important task in ensuring the quality of software. Whether or not the development contractor provides high-quality software is greatly influenced by the content of the development contractor’s test. Since it is the amount of testing and the quality of the test further test management By check the status of, you Oshihakari the quality of workmanship on the test of the destination of the organization.
By the way, what and how can you check your testing skills? In a word, testing has various technical fields and various viewpoints like software development, so it is not possible to judge whether it is good or bad. However, there are certainly good and bad test skills, so I don’t want to outsource development to a company with poor test skills.
In addition, in software development audits, it is necessary to judge whether the development contractor has sufficient testing skills in a short time of half a day to one day . In some cases, we may need guidance to improve your testing skills to the level we require. There is a slight lack of accuracy, but Father Gutara confirms the test from two perspectives: ( 1) test management and ( 2) test content , and judges the test skill of the partner company in the confirmation work. was doing.
First of all, know the test system of the other company from the name and definition of the test
By the way, Gutara’s father has something to do every time before confirming the test in the software development audit. It is a confirmation of the name of the test conducted by the outsourced company and its definition . Why do you do that?
In fact, even if you use common technical terms such as unit tests and integration tests, the definitions vary considerably from company to company. Therefore, it is possible that the discussions will not be intertwined unless the definition is confirmed first. For example, taking a unit test as an example, some companies use a debugger to test the path of all executable code and branch code, while others use a unit test to check the operation of unit functions of modules and functions. Some companies have.
By the way, what name test does your company have? The names of software tests are generally unit tests, integration tests, system tests, and so on. In English, it would be unit test, integration test, system test. This is the name used when calling a test in development stages. You may have heard the names of tests such as functional tests, performance tests, anomalous recovery tests, and high-load tests that divide the tests for that purpose. There are also test names such as full test, partial test, and regression test. The reality is that not all companies in the world use the same test name .
It would be nice if there was a clear definition for software test names that was common throughout the world, but unfortunately there is no such definition. Therefore, before we start talking about tests, we must first check the names and definitions of the tests that the company is conducting , or the discussion may get out of hand. So, Father Gutara first checked the name and definition of the test.
Precautions when checking with the test checklist
After confirming the name of the test used by the partner organization and its definition, it is finally time to use the checklist to (1) manage the test and (2) check the content of the test.
The management of the test in ( 1) overlaps with the items in the process checklist, but it is a little more specific confirmation. Mainly to check the quality of the test , 16 kinds of test categories are presented, which category of test is performed and how much, and which organization is performing the test of each category. , What are the metrics (management indicators) used to manage the test , etc.
This test category is a purpose-specific classification of the tests in the book The Art Of Software Testing, which Father Gutara used as a bible to organize his thinking about testing . The test category is introduced in a little more detail in another article , so if you are interested, please see that article as well.
This test category is originally used at the time of test design, but by using the test category to check the planning and implementation status of the audited test, you can concretely think about the test of the audited organization. I was able to grasp it and it helped me to guess the good or bad of the test management situation. Well, to put it simply, in addition to checking the functions , I carefully checked what kind of test was being carried out by what kind of organization, and what kind of means was used to manage the progress of the test and bugs.
In the content of the test in ( 2), check the items that go a little deeper into the content of the test, such as memory and resource leaks, double release, and flash ROM access tests that often occur as potential bugs in embedded software. I will continue to do it. While checking each of these items, know how much the development leaders and test leaders of the audited organization are aware of the importance of each problem, and how much knowledge they have about how to deal with them. We will estimate the test skill of the other party, paying attention to how it is used for development projects.
Next to the test technology is the confirmation of the design and implementation technology.
These are the points that Gutara’s father was careful about when auditing for test fake technology. The software development audit work confirms the specific rules and actual work one by one according to the software audit checklist, and summarizes what viewpoints were taken into consideration when proceeding with the confirmation work. We hope that it will be helpful when you evaluate software development contractors.
In the next article, I will introduce the points to note when auditing design and implementation technologies in software development audits.