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What is documentation testing in software testing?Definition Test Documentation

Definition Test Documentation

Test documentation includes all files that contain information on the testing team’s strategy, progress, metrics, and achieved results. The combination of all available data serves to measure the testing effort, control test coverage, and track future project requirements.

Why is documentation important?

Proper documentation is important as it is the key thing that will make testing more precise. A documenting of the project can make the testing procedures simple and organized, along with help in saving the company money, effort and time that has been spent on any particular project. Reviewing the software process becomes easy because of proper documentation. For giant brands like Microsoft, Apple, Oracle, TCS, etc.., the product can be successfully released if there is proper documentation which can make it easy to understand the software for any user.

What are the Test Documentation Types?

Test documentation serves two main purposes. First, it provides testers with reliable data to plan and execute. Secondly, it updates connected project participants (the development team, designers, marketing) and product owners on the progress. To serve these two key purposes, test documentation comprises both internal and external files.

Internal software testing Documentation

According to PracticeTest’s research, the most popular testing documentation files are test reports, plans, and checklists. These documents are used to outline the team’s workload and keep track of the process. Let’s take a look at the key requirements for these files and see how they contribute to the process.

Test strategy- An outline of the full approach to product testing. As the project moves along, developers, designers, product owners can come back to the document and see if the actual performance corresponds to the planned activities.

Test data- The data that testers enter into the software to verify certain features and their outputs. Examples of such data can be fake user profiles, statistics, media content, similar to files that would be uploaded by an end-user in a ready solution.

Test plans- A file that describes the strategy, resources, environment, limitations, and schedule of the testing process. It’s the fullest testing document, essential for informed planning. Such a document is distributed between team members and shared with all stakeholders.

Test scenarios-  In scenarios, testers break down the product’s functionality and interface by modules and provide real-time status updates at all testing stages. A module can be described by a single statement, or require hundreds of statuses, depending on its size and scope.

Test cases- If the test scenario describes the object of testing (what), a scenario describes a procedure (how). These files cover step-by-step guidance, detailed conditions, and current inputs of a testing task. Test cases have their own kinds that depend on the type of testing — functional, UI, physical, logical cases, etc. Test cases compare available resources and current conditions with desired outcomes and determine if the functionality can be released or not.

Traceability matrix- This software testing documentation maps test cases and their requirements. All entries have their custom IDs — team members and stakeholders can track the progress of any tasks by simply entering its ID to the search.

External testing documentation

External documentation gets information from inner documentation but also emphasizes on providing visual data representation like graphs, diagrams, etc.

External reports- these documents receive information on test results and can describe an entire project or a particular piece of functionality.

Test summary report- the file with final test results and findings, presented to stakeholders.

Bug reports - such files keep track of newly encountered bugs and their fixes. We prefer to keep our bug documentation numbered, so it’s easier to mention them in further documentation. Reports are concise and focus on offering tangible solutions. Sometimes, bug reports can only include issue description, if the team hasn’t yet found the best approach to fixing the problem.

Advantages of Testing Documentation

The main reason behind creating test documentation is to either reduce or remove any uncertainties about the testing activities. It helps you to remove ambiguity which often arises when it comes to the allocation of tasks.

Documentation not only offers a systematic approach to software testing, but it also acts as training material to freshers in the software testing process.

It is also a good marketing & sales strategy to showcase Test Documentation to exhibit a mature testing process.

Test documentation helps you to offer a quality product to the client within specific time limits.

In Software Engineering, Test Documentation also helps to configure or set-up the program through the configuration document and operator manuals.

Test documentation helps you to improve transparency with the client.

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Internet Of Things (IoT) Testing: Types, Challenges and Examples

The Internet of Things is on its way to becoming the biggest software development and testing opportunity of all time. IoT brings many new things to the table in terms of testing requirements , including quite a few unusual device types like home appliances, watch sensors etc. With such an wide-range mix of products in the IoT ecosystem, it becomes imperative for the QA team to come with an effective test strategy to meet the quality of these diverse products.

What is Internet of Things (IoT)?

IoT testing is a type of testing to check IoT devices. Today there is an increasing need to deliver better and faster services. There is a huge demand to access, create, use and share data from any device. The thrust is to provide greater insight and control, over various interconnected IoT devices. Hence, IoT testing framework is important.

Some of the examples of IoT in real life implementation are as follows:

1) In wearable tech:

Wearable gadgets such as Fitbit bands and Apple watches synchronize easily with the mobile devices.

These help in capturing necessary information such as health, heart rate monitoring, sleeping activity etc. These also help in displaying data, notifications from the mobile devices onto them.

2) Infrastructure and development:

With the use of an application such as CitySense, it is easier to get the real time outdoor lighting data and based on these, the street lights are switched on or off. There are also various applications so as to control traffic signals and parking availability in a sophisticated city layout.

3) Healthcare:

There are numerous applications of IoT so as to monitor the health conditions of the patients. Based on the benchmarked data, the services control the dosage of medicine at different times in a day. like:

Remote Patient Monitoring- Remote patient monitoring can be possible with the collaboration of IoT. Wearable devices with embedded sensors can monitor patient condition whole day long and can notify the doctor.

Ingestible Sensors- many people are working around the hospital, and obviously, it is a crowded, busy place. Stealing medical equipment is a crime that can cost a life. Sometimes doctors are so busy that they don’t have that opportunity to observe multiple patients simultaneously. Internets of Things in healthcare applications accumulate all the problems and bring the solution.

Challenges of IoT testing:

You need to check both the network and internal communication

Security is a big concern in IoT platform as all the tasks are operated using via Internet.

The complexity of the software and system may hide bug present in the IoT technology

Resource considerations such as limitations in memory, processing power, bandwidth, battery life, etc.

Types of Testing in IoT

Testing for IoT devices broadly revolves around Security, Analytics, Device, Networks, Processors, Operating Systems, Platforms and Standards.

Broadly, IoT testing scenarios are categorized into six types:

Performance Testing:

This covers real-time and far more cumbersome aspects, such as load testing, streaming analytics, time-bound outputs, and timing analysis, to validate and ensure consistent performance of data reading, writing, and data retrieval.

Usability Testing:

There are so many devices of different shapes and form factors that are used by the users. Moreover, the perception also varies from one user to other. That’s why checking usability of the system is very important in IoT testing.

Compatibility Testing:

There are lots of devices which can be connected through IoT system. These devices have varied software and hardware configuration. Therefore, the possible combination are huge. As a result, checking the compatibility in IoT system is important.

Security testing:

In the IoT environment, there are many users accessing a massive amount of data. Thus, it is important to validate users via authentication, have data privacy controls as part of security testing.

Reliability and Scalability Testing:

Reliability and Scalability is important for building an IoT test environment which involves simulation of sensors by utilizing virtualization tools and technologies.

Regulatory Testing:

This testing determines the compliance of IoT applications with privacy regulations.

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Things About System Testing You Should Know

System Testing:

System Testing (ST) is a black box testing technique performed to evaluate the complete system the system's compliance against specified requirements. In System testing, the functionalities of the system are tested from an end-to-end perspective.

System Testing is usually carried out by a team that is independent of the development team in order to measure the quality of the system unbiased. It includes both functional and Non-Functional testing.

Reasons for Performing System Testing:

System testing is performed by professional or individual testers for various reasons. From evaluating the system to ensuring its compliance with the specified requirements, this type of testing offers great aid to the testing team as well as the other stakeholders of the project. Few of the other reasons for performing this testing are:

It is the first level of software testing where the software / application is tested as a whole.

It is done to verify and validate the technical, business, functional and non-functional requirements of the software. It also includes the verification & validation of software application architecture.

System testing is done on a staging environment that closely resembles the production environment where the final software will be deployed.

Seven steps of System Testing:

Creation of System Test Plan

Creation of system test cases

Selection / creation of test data for system testing

Software Test Automation of execution of automated test cases (if required)

Execution of test cases

Bug fixing and regression testing

Repeat the software test cycle (if required on multiple environments)  

Types of System Testing:

Like software testing, system testing is also an amalgamation of multifarious testing techniques, which allow the team to validate the overall performance and functionality of the product. Each of these testing techniques are focused on different aspects of the product and cater to various requirements of the client/user. These types of system testing are:

Installation Testing:- It is used to check desired functioning of the software, after its successful installation, along with, all necessary requirements

Functionality Testing:- A type of black-box testing, that enables to assess and evaluate the proper functioning of the software, according to its pre-defined requirements.

Recoverability Testing:- It is achieved by, deliberate failure or crash of the software, to assess its ability of getting recovered, quickly.

Interoperability Testing:- It ensures the ability of software to get compatible and interact with other software or system and their components.

Performance Testing:- It is done, to examine the response, stability, scalability, reliability and other quality metrics of the software, under different workloads.

Scalability Testing:- Software should be scalable, along with the increase in load, number of concurrent users, data size, etc. This raises the need for scalability testing, which is conducted to take care of scalability related issues, with the software.

Reliability Testing:- This testing assesses the degree of the software, between two failures, and the time it takes to repair.

Regression Testing:- It guarantees the original functionality of the software, after each modification in it.

Documentation Testing:- This involves, evaluation of documentation artifacts, prepared before and during the testing phase, in order to assess the testing requirements, covers under documentation testing.

Security Testing:- To assess, the security features of the software, so as to ensure, protection, authenticity, confidentiality and integrity of the information and data.

Usability Testing:- Ensures software's user-friendliness feature and prevents end-users from issues or problems, while using and handling the software product.

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Manual Testing and Stages of Manual Testing

What is Manual Testing?

Manual Testing is a process of finding out the defects or bugs in a software program. In this method, the tester plays an important role of end-user and verifies that all the features of the application are working correctly.

The observed behavior of the system is always cross-checked against the expected or desired system behavior. If there is a difference in both, the tester raises the issue and reports it as a bug. A tester can employ several manual software testing techniques to test every aspect of the software – be it functional or non-functional.

What are the stages of Manual Testing?

There are many different testing levels which help to check behavior and performance for software testing. Firstly, each testable unit of software is tested by the developers, then individual units are integrated together and eventually the entire system is placed together. At this stage, system testing is performed to make sure that the entire system is behaving as per requirements.

After the software product passes software system testing, the product is handed over to the users. The users perform User Acceptance Testing before the product is finally approved or rejected.

These testing stages provide value to the software development lifecycle. There are mainly four testing stages which are stated below:

Unit Testing-

This kind of testing is performed by developers. Unit testing offers several benefits. It makes your code reusable as you need to use a modular approach for coding, if you intend to do unit testing. It also makes debugging a lot easier.

A Unit is a smallest testable portion of system or application which can be compiled, liked, loaded, and executed. This kind of testing helps to test each module separately. The aim is to test each part of the software by separating it. It checks that components are fulfilling functionalities or not.

Integration Testing-

Integration testing is performed after unit testing. Integration testing is performed when different units, components and modules of the software are integrated together. The purpose of integration testing is to verify the functionality, stability and reliability of the modules.

The main focus for integration testing are the functional areas which are directly or indirectly affected with integration such as the features which take information from one module and produces output in the other module.

System Testing-

System testing is performed on a complete, integrated system. It allows checking system's compliance as per the requirements. It tests the overall interaction of components. It involves load, performance, reliability and security testing.

System testing most often the final test to verify that the system meets the specification. It evaluates both functional and non-functional need for the testing.

Acceptance Testing-

Acceptance testing is a test conducted to find if the requirements of a specification or contract are met as per its delivery. Acceptance testing is basically done by the user or customer. However, other stockholders can be involved in this process.

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Configuration Testing - Software and Application

What is Configuration Testing?

Configuration testing is a method of testing a system under development on multiple machines that have different combinations or configurations of hardware and software. The performance of the system or an application is tested against each of the supported hardware & software configurations.

Here, the different configurations of hardware and software means the multiple operating system versions, various browsers, various supported drivers, distinct memory sizes, different hard drive types, various types of CPU etc.

Usually, Configuration Testing is a time-consuming process; since usually sets of software and hardware forming the system have many variables which result in a large number of combinations, also installing and uninstalling software and hardware can be a very time-consuming task. That’s why planning is usually an essential phase of the Configuration Testing process.

Why Configuration Testing is Important?

Configuration testing is used to determine the optimal configurations under which a system or an application can work properly without any bugs, issues or flaws in performance. So, the most effective configuration that will deliver the required performance characteristics is spotted with the help of this testing.

The second very important reason for this testing is to confirm the system’s compatibility with any other software or equipment signified in the software requirement specification (SRS).

Types of Configuration Testing

We can have two different types of divisions for this testing.On the first type, it can be classified into two following parts:

Software Configuration Testing:

Software configuration testing is done over the Application Under Test with multiple operating system and browser versions etc. It is a time consuming testing as it consumes a huge time to install and uninstall the various software which are to be used for testing. When the build is released, software configuration begins after passing through the unit test and integration test.

Hardware Configuration Testing:

Hardware configuration testing is usually performed in labs where physical machines are used with multiple hardware connected to them. Everytime, When a build is released, the software is installed in all the physical machines to which the hardware is attached and the test is carried out on each and every machine to confirm that the application is working fine. While doing a hardware configuration test, we spell out the kind of hardware to be tested, and there are numerous computer hardware and peripherals which make it next to impossible to execute all the tests.

On the second type, it can also be classified into two following parts:

Client level Testing:

It is associated with usability and functionality testing. This testing is done from the point of view of its direct interest of the user’s interest.

Server level Testing:

Server level testing is carried out to determine the interaction between the software and the external environment when it is planned to be integrated after the release.

Conclusion

Configuration testing is an important testing approach that shouldn’t be ignored as it helps in defining the conditions under which the system can provide optimal performance with the least flaws or problems.

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SECURITY TESTING AND ATTRIBUTES

Security Testing

Security testing is a technique that is performed with the intention of revealing flaws in security mechanisms and finding the weaknesses of software applications before software is purchased or deployed and before the flaws can be exploited. The main objective of this testing is to determine if an information system protects data and maintains functionality as intended. Security testing is more effective in identifying potential vulnerabilities when performed regularly.

There are six main types of security testing attributes which are explained as follows:

Authentication: In the authentication attribute, digital identification of a user is verified. For example when you login to your email, you need the right Username, Password and sometimes OTP . If you enter the right one, you are allowed to enter the inbox but if you entered information is  wrong, you will not be allowed to access your emails. It confirms that the user is authentic and validated to use the service.This is called authentication process.

Authorization: Authorization is the next step of Authentication.There is a slight difference between Authentication and Authorization. In this attribute, the user and its access rights are thoroughly checked. It ensures that the user or program is authorized to make any changes. For example, in your office PC, if you want to make changes or download something. You will need admin rights (username and password) but if you are not admin you will be not allowed to make any changes. When you are authorized to do modifications, you can do it.

Availability: This attribute makes sure the system is always up and running, that it is responding to resources and providing services whenever needed. Also, this includes the backup files which are readily available if any failure occurs.

Confidentiality: This verifies that the information and services are available to the authorized users and unauthorized users can not get access to this information. It is meant to check information protection at all stages of processing, storage, and display.

Non-repudiation: Non-repudiation is the assurance that someone cannot deny the validity of something. Non-repudiation is often used for digital contracts, signatures and email messages.

Integrity: This attribute ensures that information provided to the user is right and updated. The information may vary during transit or deliberately.

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Performance Testing ~ Software Testing Fundamentals

What is Performance Testing?

Performance testing is a type of software testing. It ensures that the technique of validating the speed, responsiveness and stability of a computer, network, software application or system under varying workload situations. Performance testing can contain quantitative tests performed in a lab, or occur in the production environment in limited scenarios.

This testing technique carried out to analyse system performance in terms of sensitivity, reactivity and stability under a particular workload.

Objective of Performance Testing:

The objective of performance testing is to eliminate performance congestion.

It uncovers what needs to be improved before the product is launched in the market.

The objective of performance testing is to make software rapid.

The objective of performance testing is to make software stable and reliable.

Types of Performance Testing:

Load Testing:

It verifies the product’s ability to perform under anticipated user loads. The aim is to identify performance congestion before the software product is launched.

Stress Testing:

It is required when a product under extreme workloads to check whether it holds high traffic or not. The aim is to identify the breaking point of a software product.

Spike Testing:

Spike Testing's goal is to determine the behaviour of the system or software application under sudden and extreme increase or decrease in the load generated by users

Volume Testing:

This testing is performed to check the data volume handled by the database. It is also named as flood testing. Volume testing objective is to analyze the system or software application performance by varying the volume of data in the database.

Soak Testing:

Soak Testing is also referred to as Endurance Testing. It is performed to ensure that the software can handle the expected load over a prolonged period of time.

Scalability Testing:

Scalability tests provide a way to simulate different scenarios to ensure that your application is ready for any kind of situation. Scalability testing can be performed at a hardware, software or database level.

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Geolocation testing | Why Geolocation testing is important

Geolocation Testing

Location is a key factor in determining how a product reaches a customer. Today, businesses are able to serve customers at the right time and place. Geolocation makes it possible, from any device (mobile/computer/tablet) connected to the Internet, to obtain all types of information in real-time and locate the user's actual physical location at a given point in time. Geolocation technology is the foundation for location positioning services and location-aware applications.

There are two types of data that can be collected—active user/device-based information and passive server-based lookup/data correlation—and after that cross-referenced against each other to create the most precise result.

There are many applications of geolocation testing, which are given below

Geotargeting

Geotargeting is a method of delivering content to a person according to his or her geographic location. This can be done on the state, city or zip code level via IP address or device ID, or on a more specific level through GPS signals.

Geofencing

Geofencing is a location-based service that businesses use to engage their audience by sending relevant messages, email alert and app notification to the users’ smartphones who enter or exit to a specific area.

Geotagging

Geotagging adds location data to a media file, such as photos, videos, websites and social posts, enabling users to find media and information based on its geotagged location. Geo-tags may also be applied to the digital output and communications such as tweets or status updates or Facebook check-ins.

Geoblocking

Geoblocking is used to apply restrictions of your website. This can be the result of a difference in laws between countries or distribution rights. Several online streaming companies such as Hulu, Netflix, HotStar and more make use of Geo-blocking to deliver rich-media content based on their country norms. So if you are having a website then you need to make sure that the photos and videos you display to your audience are adhering to the norms of the country that they reside