Testing/QA-FAQ

Bug Triage Meeting – Severity & Priority

Siva — Fri, 20 Aug 2004 02:02:00 GMT

"Triage" is a medical term. It refers to dividing wounded or sick people into three categories: those who will die no matter what you do, those who will recover even if unaided, and those who will recover only if aided. In a situation where there's too much to do, you must concentrate on the third group.

Bug Triage Meetings (sometimes called Bug Councils) are project meetings in which open bugs are divided into categories. The most important distinction is between bugs that will not be fixed in this release and those that will be

There are three categories for the medical usage, software also three categories - bugs to fix now, bugs to fix later, and bugs we'll never fix

Triaging a bug involves:

Making sure the bug has enough information for the developers and makes sense

Making sure the bug is filed in the correct place

Making sure the bug has sensible "Severity" and "Priority" fields

Let us see what Priority and Severity means

Priority is Business;

Severity is Technical

In Triages, team will give the Priority of the fix based on the business perspective. They will check “How important is it to the business that we fix the bug?” In most of the times high Severity bug is becomes high Priority bug, but it is not always. There are some cases where high Severity bugs will be low Priority and low Severity bugs will be high Priority.

In most of the projects I worked, if schedule drawn closer to the release, even if the bug severity is more based on technical perspective, the Priority is given as low because the functionality mentioned in the bug is not critical to business.

Priority and Severity gives the excellent metrics to identify overall health of the Project. Severity is customer-focused while priority is business-focused. Assigning Severity for a bug is straightforward. Using some general guidelines about the project, testers will assign Severity but while assigning a priority is much more juggling act. Severity of the bug is one of the factors for assigning priority for a bug. Other considerations are might be how much time left for schedule, possibly ‘who is available for fix’, how important is it to the business to fix the bug, what is the impact of the bug, what are the probability of occurrence and degree of side effects are to be considered.

Read the excellent article Arguing Apples and Oranges

This article clearly explains the how Priority and Severity of the bug given.

Some of the above points taken from this article

Many organizations mandate that bugs of certain severity should be at least certain priority. Example: Crashes must be P1; Data loss must be P1, etc. A severe bug that crashes the system only once and not always reproducible will not be P1, where as an error condition that results re-entry a portion of input for every user will be P1

Microsoft uses a four-point scale to describe severity of bugs and three-point scale for Priority of the bug. They are as follows

Severity

---------------

1. Bug causes system crash or data loss.

2. Bug causes major functionality or other severe problems; product crashes in obscure cases.

3. Bug causes minor functionality problems, may affect "fit anf finish".

4. Bug contains typos, unclear wording or error messages in low visibility fields.

Priority

---------------

1. Must fix as soon as possible. Bug is blocking further progress in this area.

2. Should fix soon, before product release.

3. Fix if time; somewhat trivial. May be postponed.

Comments and your experience in giving Severity & Priority for bug are welcome.

What's the difference between load and stress testing ?

Siva — Thu, 29 Jul 2004 00:25:00 GMT

Boris Beizer says:

One of the most common, but unfortunate misuse of terminology is treating "load testing" and "stress testing" as synonymous. The consequence of this ignorant semantic abuse is usually that the system is neither properly "load tested" nor subjected to a meaningful stress test.

1. Stress testing is subjecting a system to an unreasonable load while denying it the resources (e.g., RAM, disc, mips, interrupts, etc.) needed to process that load. The idea is to stress a system to the breaking point in order to find bugs that will make that break potentially harmful. The system is not expected to process the overload without adequate resources, but to behave (e.g., fail) in a decent manner (e.g., not corrupting or losing data). Bugs and failure modes discovered under stress testing may or may not be repaired depending on the application, the failure mode, consequences, etc. The load (incoming transaction stream) in stress testing is often deliberately distorted so as to force the system into resource depletion.

2. Load testing is subjecting a system to a statistically representative (usually) load. The two main reasons for using such loads is in support of software reliability testing and in performance testing. The term "load testing" by itself is too vague and imprecise to warrant use. For example, do you mean representative load," "overload," "high load," etc. In performance testing, load is varied from a minimum (zero) to the maximum level the system can sustain without running out of resources or having, transactions suffer (application-specific) excessive delay.

3. A third use of the term is as a test whose objective is to determine the maximum sustainable load the system can handle. In this usage, "load testing" is merely testing at the highest transaction arrival rate in performance testing.

Glossary of Software Testing/QA Terms

Siva — Wed, 02 Jun 2004 03:55:00 GMT

Source: The following definitions are taken from GLOSSARY OF COMPUTERIZED SYSTEM AND SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT TERMINOLOGY

audit. (1) (IEEE) An independent examination of a work product or set of work products to assess compliance with specifications, standards, contractual agreements, or other criteria. See: functional configuration audit, physical configuration audit. (2) (ANSI) To conduct an independent review and examination of system records and activities in order to test the adequacy and effectiveness of data security and data integrity procedures, to ensure compliance with established policy and operational procedures, and to recommend any necessary changes. See: computer system audit, software audit.

boundary value. (1) (IEEE) A data value that corresponds to a minimum or maximum input, internal, or output value specified for a system or component. (2) A value which lies at, or just inside or just outside a specified range of valid input and output values.

boundary value analysis. (NBS) A selection technique in which test data are chosen to lie along "boundaries" of the input domain [or output range] classes, data structures, procedure parameters, etc. Choices often include maximum, minimum, and trivial values or parameters. This technique is often called stress testing. See: testing, boundary value.

branch coverage. (NBS) A test coverage criteria which requires that for each decision point each possible branch be executed at least once. Syn: decision coverage. Contrast with condition coverage, multiple condition coverage, path coverage, statement coverage. See: testing, branch.

bug. A fault in a program which causes the program to perform in an unintended or unanticipated manner. See: anomaly, defect, error, exception, fault.

cause effect graph. (Myers) A Boolean graph linking causes and effects. The graph is actually a digital-logic circuit (a combinatorial logic network) using a simpler notation than standard electronics notation.

cause effect graphing. (1) (NBS) Test data selection technique. The input and output domains are partitioned into classes and analysis is performed to determine which input classes cause which effect. A minimal set of inputs is chosen which will cover the entire effect set. (2) (Myers) A systematic method of generating test cases representing combinations of conditions. See: testing, functional.

code inspection. (Myers/NBS) A manual [formal] testing [error detection] technique where the programmer reads source code, statement by statement, to a group who ask questions analyzing the program logic, analyzing the code with respect to a checklist of historically common programming errors, and analyzing its compliance with coding standards. Contrast with code audit, code review, code walkthrough. This technique can also be applied to other software and configuration items. Syn: Fagan Inspection. See: static analysis.

code review. (IEEE) A meeting at which software code is presented to project personnel, managers, users, customers, or other interested parties for comment or approval. Contrast with code audit, code inspection, code walkthrough.

code walkthrough. (Myers/NBS) A manual testing [error detection] technique where program [source code] logic [structure] is traced manually [mentally] by a group with a small set of test cases, while the state of program variables is manually monitored, to analyze the programmer's logic and assumptions. Contrast with code audit, code inspection, code review. See: static analysis.

coverage analysis. (NIST) Determining and assessing measures associated with the invocation of program structural elements to determine the adequacy of a test run. Coverage analysis is useful when attempting to execute each statement, branch, path, or iterative structure in a program. Tools that capture this data and provide reports summarizing relevant information have this feature. See: testing, branch; testing, path; testing, statement.

crash. (IEEE) The sudden and complete failure of a computer system or component.

criticality. (IEEE) The degree of impact that a requirement, module, error, fault, failure, or other item has on the development or operation of a system. Syn: severity.

cyclomatic complexity. (1) (McCabe) The number of independent paths through a program. (2) (NBS) The cyclomatic complexity of a program is equivalent to the number of decision statements plus 1.

error. (ISO) A discrepancy between a computed, observed, or measured value or condition and the true, specified, or theoretically correct value or condition. See: anomaly, bug, defect, exception, and fault

error guessing. (NBS) Test data selection technique. The selection criterion is to pick values that seem likely to cause errors. See: special test data; testing, special case.

error seeding. (IEEE) The process of intentionally adding known faults to those already in a computer program for the purpose of monitoring the rate of detection and removal, and estimating the number of faults remaining in the program. Contrast with mutation analysis.

exception. (IEEE) An event that causes suspension of normal program execution. Types include addressing exception, data exception, operation exception, overflow exception, protection exception, and underflow exception.

failure. (IEEE) The inability of a system or component to perform its required functions within specified performance requirements. See: bug, crash, exception, fault.

fault. An incorrect step, process, or data definition in a computer program which causes the program to perform in an unintended or unanticipated manner. See: bug, defect, error, exception.

quality assurance. (1) (ISO) The planned systematic activities necessary to ensure that a component, module, or system conforms to established technical requirements. (2) All actions that are taken to ensure that a development organization delivers products that meet performance requirements and adhere to standards and procedures. (3) The policy, procedures, and systematic actions established in an enterprise for the purpose of providing and maintaining some degree of confidence in data integrity and accuracy throughout the life cycle of the data, which includes input, update, manipulation, and output. (4) (QA) The actions, planned and performed, to provide confidence that all systems and components that influence the quality of the product are working as expected individually and collectively.

quality assurance, software. (IEEE) (1) A planned and systematic pattern of all actions necessary to provide adequate confidence that an item or product conforms to established technical requirements. (2) A set of activities designed to evaluate the process by which products are developed or manufactured.

quality control. The operational techniques and procedures used to achieve quality requirements.

review. (IEEE) A process or meeting during which a work product or set of work products, is presented to project personnel, managers, users, customers, or other interested parties for comment or approval. Types include code review, design review, formal qualification review, requirements review, test readiness review. Contrast with audit, inspection. See: static analysis.

risk. (IEEE) A measure of the probability and severity of undesired effects. Often taken as the simple product of probability and consequence.

risk assessment. (DOD) A comprehensive evaluation of the risk and its associated impact.

software review. (IEEE) An evaluation of software elements to ascertain discrepancies from planned results and to recommend improvement. This evaluation follows a formal process. Syn: software audit. See: code audit, code inspection, code review, code walkthrough, design review, specification analysis, static analysis

static analysis. (1) (NBS) Analysis of a program that is performed without executing the program. (2) (IEEE) The process of evaluating a system or component based on its form, structure, content, documentation. Contrast with dynamic analysis. See: code audit, code inspection, code review, code walk-through, design review, symbolic execution.

test. (IEEE) An activity in which a system or component is executed under specified conditions, the results are observed or recorded and an evaluation is made of some aspect of the system or component.

testability. (IEEE) (1) The degree to which a system or component facilitates the establishment of test criteria and the performance of tests to determine whether those criteria have been met. (2) The degree to which a requirement is stated in terms that permit establishment of test criteria and performance of tests to determine whether those criteria have been met.

test case. (IEEE) Documentation specifying inputs, predicted results, and a set of execution conditions for a test item. Syn: test case specification. See: test procedure.

test case generator. (IEEE) A software tool that accepts as input source code, test criteria, specifications, or data structure definitions; uses these inputs to generate test input data; and, sometimes, determines expected results. Syn: test data generator, test generator.

test design. (IEEE) Documentation specifying the details of the test approach for a software feature or combination of software features and identifying the associated tests. See: testing functional; cause effect graphing; boundary value analysis; equivalence class partitioning; error guessing; testing, structural; branch analysis; path analysis; statement coverage; condition coverage; decision coverage; multiple-condition coverage.

test documentation. (IEEE) Documentation describing plans for, or results of, the testing of a system or component, Types include test case specification, test incident report, test log, test plan, test procedure, test report.

test driver. (IEEE) A software module used to invoke a module under test and, often, provide test inputs, control and monitor execution, and report test results. Syn: test harness.

test incident report. (IEEE) A document reporting on any event that occurs during testing that requires further investigation.

test item. (IEEE) A software item which is the object of testing.

test log. (IEEE) A chronological record of all relevant details about the execution of a test.

test phase. (IEEE) The period of time in the software life cycle in which the components of a software product are evaluated and integrated, and the software product is evaluated to determine whether or not requirements have been satisfied.

test plan. (IEEE) Documentation specifying the scope, approach, resources, and schedule of intended testing activities. It identifies test items, the features to be tested, the testing tasks, responsibilities, required, resources, and any risks requiring contingency planning. See: test design, validation protocol.

test procedure. (NIST) A formal document developed from a test plan that presents detailed instructions for the setup, operation, and evaluation of the results for each defined test. See: test case.

test report. (IEEE) A document describing the conduct and results of the testing carried out for a system or system component.

test result analyzer. A software tool used to test output data reduction, formatting, and printing.

testing. (IEEE) (1) The process of operating a system or component under specified conditions, observing or recording the results, and making an evaluation of some aspect of the system or component. (2) The process of analyzing a software item to detect the differences between existing and required conditions, i.e. bugs, and to evaluate the features of the software items. See: dynamic analysis, static analysis

testing, acceptance. (IEEE) Testing conducted to determine whether or not a system satisfies its acceptance criteria and to enable the customer to determine whether or not to accept the system. Contrast with testing, development; testing, operational.

testing, alpha []. (Pressman) Acceptance testing performed by the customer in a controlled environment at the developer's site. The software is used by the customer in a setting approximating the target environment with the developer observing and recording errors and usage problems.

testing, assertion. (NBS) A dynamic analysis technique which inserts assertions about the relationship between program variables into the program code. The truth of the assertions is determined as the program executes.

testing, beta []. (1) (Pressman) Acceptance testing performed by the customer in a live application of the software, at one or more end user sites, in an environment not controlled by the developer. (2) For medical device software such use may require an Investigational Device Exemption [IDE] or Institutional Review Board [IRB] approval.

testing, boundary value. A testing technique using input values at, just below, and just above, the defined limits of an input domain; and with input values causing outputs to be at, just below, and just above, the defined limits of an output domain. See: boundary value analysis; testing, stress.

testing, branch. (NBS) Testing technique to satisfy coverage criteria which require that for each decision point, each possible branch [outcome] be executed at least once. Contrast with testing, path; testing, statement. See: branch coverage.

testing, compatibility. The process of determining the ability of two or more systems to exchange information. In a situation where the developed software replaces an already working program, an investigation should be conducted to assess possible comparability problems between the new software and other programs or systems.

testing, exhaustive. (NBS) Executing the program with all possible combinations of values for program variables. Feasible only for small, simple programs.

testing, functional. (IEEE) (1) Testing that ignores the internal mechanism or structure of a system or component and focuses on the outputs generated in response to selected inputs and execution conditions. (2) Testing conducted to evaluate the compliance of a system or component with specified functional requirements and corresponding predicted results. Syn: black-box testing, input/output driven testing. Contrast with testing, structural.

testing, integration. (IEEE) An orderly progression of testing in which software elements, hardware elements, or both are combined and tested, to evaluate their interactions, until the entire system has been integrated.

testing, interface. (IEEE) Testing conducted to evaluate whether systems or components pass data and control correctly to one another. Contrast with testing, unit; testing, system. See: testing, integration.

testing, mutation. (IEEE) A testing methodology in which two or more program mutations are executed using the same test cases to evaluate the ability of the test cases to detect differences in the mutations.

testing, operational. (IEEE) Testing conducted to evaluate a system or component in its operational environment. Contrast with testing, development; testing, acceptance; See: testing, system.

testing, parallel. (ISO) Testing a new or an altered data processing system with the same source data that is used in another system. The other system is considered as the standard of comparison. Syn: parallel run.

testing, path. (NBS) Testing to satisfy coverage criteria that each logical path through the program be tested. Often paths through the program are grouped into a finite set of classes. One path from each class is then tested. Syn: path coverage. Contrast with testing, branch; testing, statement; branch coverage; condition coverage; decision coverage; multiple condition coverage; statement coverage.

testing, performance. (IEEE) Functional testing conducted to evaluate the compliance of a system or component with specified performance requirements.

testing, qualification. (IEEE) Formal testing, usually conducted by the developer for the consumer, to demonstrate that the software meets its specified requirements. See: testing, acceptance; testing, system.

testing, regression. (NIST) Rerunning test cases which a program has previously executed correctly in order to detect errors spawned by changes or corrections made during software development and maintenance.

testing, statement. (NIST) Testing to satisfy the criterion that each statement in a program be executed at least once during program testing. Syn: statement coverage. Contrast with testing, branch; testing, path; branch coverage; condition coverage; decision coverage; multiple condition coverage; path coverage.

testing, storage. This is a determination of whether or not certain processing conditions use more storage [memory] than estimated.

testing, stress. (IEEE) Testing conducted to evaluate a system or component at or beyond the limits of its specified requirements. Syn: testing, boundary value.

testing, structural. (1) (IEEE) Testing that takes into account the internal mechanism [structure] of a system or component. Types include branch testing, path testing, statement testing. (2) Testing to insure each program statement is made to execute during testing and that each program statement performs its intended function. Contrast with functional testing. Syn: white-box testing, glass-box testing, logic driven testing.

testing, system. (IEEE) The process of testing an integrated hardware and software system to verify that the system meets its specified requirements. Such testing may be conducted in both the development environment and the target environment.

testing, unit. (1) (NIST) Testing of a module for typographic, syntactic, and logical errors, for correct implementation of its design, and for satisfaction of its requirements. (2) (IEEE) Testing conducted to verify the implementation of the design for one software element; e.g., a unit or module; or a collection of software elements. Syn: component testing.

testing, usability. Tests designed to evaluate the machine/user interface. Are the communication device(s) designed in a manner such that the information is displayed in a understandable fashion enabling the operator to correctly interact with the system?

testing, volume. Testing designed to challenge a system's ability to manage the maximum amount of data over a period of time. This type of testing also evaluates a system's ability to handle overload situations in an orderly fashion.

traceability matrix. (IEEE) A matrix that records the relationship between two or more products; e.g., a matrix that records the relationship between the requirements and the design of a given software component. See: traceability, traceability analysis.

usability. (IEEE) The ease with which a user can learn to operate, prepare inputs for, and interpret outputs of a system or component.

validation. (1) (FDA) Establishing documented evidence which provides a high degree of assurance that a specific process will consistently produce a product meeting its predetermined specifications and quality attributes. Contrast with data validation.

validation, verification, and testing. (NIST) Used as an entity to define a procedure of review, analysis, and testing throughout the software life cycle to discover errors, determine functionality, and ensure the production of quality software.

verification, software. (NBS) In general the demonstration of consistency, completeness, and correctness of the software at each stage and between each stage of the development life cycle. See: validation, software.

Effective Performance Testing

Siva — Mon, 17 May 2004 20:17:00 GMT

Here is a great place for Performance Testing

http://www.perftestplus.com/eval.htm

Software QA/Testing - Glossary and Technical FAQs

Siva — Thu, 20 Nov 2003 04:42:00 GMT

http://www.robdavispe.com/free2/

It is a great place for Software QA/Testing FAQ. Great work Rob

Three Questions About Each Bug You Find

Siva — Tue, 04 Nov 2003 01:54:00 GMT

1. Is this mistake somewhere else also?

2. What next bug is hidden behind this one?

3. What should I do to prevent bugs like this?