What's a 'test plan'?

A software project test plan is a document that describes the objectives, scope, approach, and
focus of a software testing effort. The process of preparing a test plan is a useful way to think
through the efforts needed to validate the acceptability of a software product. The completed
document will help people outside the test group understand the 'why' and 'how' of product
validation. It should be thorough enough to be useful but not so thorough that no one outside the
test group will read it. The following are some of the items that might be included in a test plan,
depending on the particular project:
• Title
• Identification of software including version/release numbers
• Revision history of document including authors, dates, approvals
• Table of Contents
• Purpose of document, intended audience
• Objective of testing effort
• Software product overview
• Relevant related document list, such as requirements, design documents, other test plans, etc.
• Relevant standards or legal requirements
• Traceability requirements
• Relevant naming conventions and identifier conventions
• Overall software project organization and personnel/contact-info/responsibilties
• Test organization and personnel/contact-info/responsibilities
• Assumptions and dependencies
• Project risk analysis
• Testing priorities and focus
• Scope and limitations of testing
• Test outline - a decomposition of the test approach by test type, feature, functionality, process,
system, module, etc. as applicable
• Outline of data input equivalence classes, boundary value analysis, error classes
• Test environment - hardware, operating systems, other required software, data configurations,
interfaces to other systems
• Test environment validity analysis - differences between the test and production systems and
their impact on test validity.
• Test environment setup and configuration issues
• Software migration processes
• Software CM processes
• Test data setup requirements
• Database setup requirements
• Outline of system-logging/error-logging/other capabilities, and tools such as screen capture
software, that will be used to help describe and report bugs
• Discussion of any specialized software or hardware tools that will be used by testers to help
track the cause or source of bugs
• Test automation - justification and overview
• Test tools to be used, including versions, patches, etc.
• Test script/test code maintenance processes and version control
• Problem tracking and resolution - tools and processes
• Project test metrics to be used
• Reporting requirements and testing deliverables
• Software entrance and exit criteria
• Initial sanity testing period and criteria
• Test suspension and restart criteria
• Personnel allocation
• Personnel pre-training needs
• Test site/location
• Outside test organizations to be utilized and their purpose, responsibilties, deliverables, contact
persons, and coordination issues
• Relevant proprietary, classified, security, and licensing issues.
• Open issues
• Appendix - glossary, acronyms, etc.

What's a 'test case'?

• A test case is a document that describes an input, action, or event and an expected response, to
determine if a feature of an application is working correctly. A test case should contain
particulars such as test case identifier, test case name, objective, test conditions/setup, input data
requirements, steps, and expected results.
• Note that the process of developing test cases can help find problems in the requirements or
design of an application, since it requires completely thinking through the operation of the
application. For this reason, it's useful to prepare test cases early in the development cycle if
possible.

What should be done after a bug is found?

The bug needs to be communicated and assigned to developers that can fix it. After the problem
is resolved, fixes should be re-tested, and determinations made regarding requirements for
regression testing to check that fixes didn't create problems elsewhere. If a problem-tracking
system is in place, it should encapsulate these processes. A variety of commercial problem-
tracking/management software tools are available (see the 'Tools' section for web resources with
listings of such tools). The following are items to consider in the tracking process:
• Complete information such that developers can understand the bug, get an idea of it's severity,
and reproduce it if necessary.
• Bug identifier (number, ID, etc.)
• Current bug status (e.g., 'Released for Retest', 'New', etc.)
• The application name or identifier and version
• The function, module, feature, object, screen, etc. where the bug occurred
• Environment specifics, system, platform, relevant hardware specifics
• Test case name/number/identifier
• One-line bug description
• Full bug description
• Description of steps needed to reproduce the bug if not covered by a test case or if the
developer doesn't have easy access to the test case/test script/test tool
• Names and/or descriptions of file/data/messages/etc. used in test
• File excerpts/error messages/log file excerpts/screen shots/test tool logs that would be helpful
in finding the cause of the problem
• Severity estimate (a 5-level range such as 1-5 or 'critical'-to-'low' is common)
• Was the bug reproducible?
• Tester name
• Test date
• Bug reporting date
• Name of developer/group/organization the problem is assigned to
• Description of problem cause
• Description of fix
• Code section/file/module/class/method that was fixed
• Date of fix
• Application version that contains the fix
• Tester responsible for retest
• Retest date
• Retest results
• Regression testing requirements
• Tester responsible for regression tests
• Regression testing results
A reporting or tracking process should enable notification of appropriate personnel at various
stages. For instance, testers need to know when retesting is needed, developers need to know
when bugs are found and how to get the needed information, and reporting/summary capabilities
are needed for managers.

What makes a good test engineer?

A good test engineer has a 'test to break' attitude, an ability to take the point of view of the
customer, a strong desire for quality, and an attention to detail. Tact and diplomacy are useful in
maintaining a cooperative relationship with developers, and an ability to communicate with both
technical (developers) and non-technical (customers, management) people is useful. Previous
software development experience can be helpful as it provides a deeper understanding of the
software development process, gives the tester an appreciation for the developers' point of view,
and reduce the learning curve in automated test tool programming. Judgment skills are needed to
assess high-risk areas of an application on which to focus testing efforts when time is limited.

What makes a good Software QA engineer?

The same qualities a good tester has are useful for a QA engineer. Additionally, they must be
able to understand the entire software development process and how it can fit into the business
approach and goals of the organization. Communication skills and the ability to understand
various sides of issues are important. In organizations in the early stages of implementing QA
processes, patience and diplomacy are especially needed. An ability to find problems as well as
to see 'what's missing' is important for inspections and reviews.

What makes a good QA or Test manager?

A good QA, test, or QA/Test(combined) manager should:
• be familiar with the software development process
• be able to maintain enthusiasm of their team and promote a positive atmosphere, despite
• what is a somewhat 'negative' process (e.g., looking for or preventing problems)
• be able to promote teamwork to increase productivity
• be able to promote cooperation between software, test, and QA engineers
• have the diplomatic skills needed to promote improvements in QA processes
• have the ability to withstand pressures and say 'no' to other managers when quality is
insufficient or QA processes are not being adhered to
• have people judgement skills for hiring and keeping skilled personnel
• be able to communicate with technical and non-technical people, engineers, managers, and
customers.
• be able to run meetings and keep them focused

What's the role of documentation in QA?

Critical. (Note that documentation can be electronic, not necessarily paper.) QA practices should
be documented such that they are repeatable. Specifications, designs, business rules, inspection
reports, configurations, code changes, test plans, test cases, bug reports, user manuals, etc.
should all be documented. There should ideally be a system for easily finding and obtaining
documents and determining what documentation will have a particular piece of information.
Change management for documentation should be used if possible.

What's the big deal about 'requirements'?

One of the most reliable methods of insuring problems, or failure, in a complex software project
is to have poorly documented requirements specifications. Requirements are the details
describing an application's externally-perceived functionality and properties. Requirements
should be clear, complete, reasonably detailed, cohesive, attainable, and testable. A non-testable
requirement would be, for example, 'user-friendly' (too subjective). A testable requirement would
be something like 'the user must enter their previously-assigned password to access the
application'. Determining and organizing requirements details in a useful and efficient way can
be a difficult effort; different methods are available depending on the particular project. Many
books are available that describe various approaches to this task. (See the Bookstore section's
'Software Requirements Engineering' category for books on Software Requirements.)
Care should be taken to involve ALL of a project's significant 'customers' in the requirements
process. 'Customers' could be in-house personnel or out, and could include end-users, customer
acceptance testers, customer contract officers, customer management, future software
maintenance engineers, salespeople, etc. Anyone who could later derail the project if their
expectations aren't met should be included if possible.
Organizations vary considerably in their handling of requirements specifications. Ideally, the
requirements are spelled out in a document with statements such as 'The product shall.....'.
'Design' specifications should not be confused with 'requirements'; design specifications should
be traceable back to the requirements.
In some organizations requirements may end up in high level project plans, functional
specification documents, in design documents, or in other documents at various levels of detail.
No matter what they are called, some type of documentation with detailed requirements will be
needed by testers in order to properly plan and execute tests. Without such documentation, there
will be no clear-cut way to determine if a software application is performing correctly.
'Agile' methods such as XP use methods requiring close interaction and cooperation between
programmers and customers/end-users to iteratively develop requirements. The programmer uses
'Test first' development to first create automated unit testing code, which essentially embodies
the requirements.

What steps are needed to develop and run software tests?

The following are some of the steps to consider:
• Obtain requirements, functional design, and internal design specifications and other necessary
documents
• Obtain budget and schedule requirements
• Determine project-related personnel and their responsibilities, reporting requirements, required
standards and processes (such as release processes, change processes, etc.)
• Identify application's higher-risk aspects, set priorities, and determine scope and limitations of
tests
• Determine test approaches and methods - unit, integration, functional, system, load, usability
tests, etc.
• Determine test environment requirements (hardware, software, communications, etc.)
• Determine testware requirements (record/playback tools, coverage analyzers, test tracking,
problem/bug tracking, etc.)
• Determine test input data requirements
• Identify tasks, those responsible for tasks, and labor requirements
• Set schedule estimates, timelines, milestones
• Determine input equivalence classes, boundary value analyses, error classes
• Prepare test plan document and have needed reviews/approvals
• Write test cases
• Have needed reviews/inspections/approvals of test cases
• Prepare test environment and testware, obtain needed user manuals/reference
documents/configuration guides/installation guides, set up test tracking processes, set up logging
and archiving processes, set up or obtain test input data
• Obtain and install software releases
• Perform tests
• Evaluate and report results
• Track problems/bugs and fixes
• Retest as needed
• Maintain and update test plans, test cases, test environment, and testware through life cycle

What is 'configuration management'?

Configuration management covers the processes used to control, coordinate, and track: code,
requirements, documentation, problems, change requests, designs,
tools/compilers/libraries/patches, changes made to them, and who makes the changes. (See the
'Tools' section for web resources with listings of configuration management tools. Also see the
Bookstore section's 'Configuration Management' category for useful books with more
information.)
What if the software is so buggy it can't really be tested at all?
The best bet in this situation is for the testers to go through the process of reporting whatever
bugs or blocking-type problems initially show up, with the focus being on critical bugs. Since
this type of problem can severely affect schedules, and indicates deeper problems in the software
development process (such as insufficient unit testing or insufficient integration testing, poor
design, improper build or release procedures, etc.) managers should be notified, and provided
with some documentation as evidence of the problem.

How can it be known when to stop testing?

This can be difficult to determine. Many modern software applications are so complex, and run
in such an interdependent environment, that complete testing can never be done. Common
factors in deciding when to stop are:
• Deadlines (release deadlines, testing deadlines, etc.)
• Test cases completed with certain percentage passed
• Test budget depleted
• Coverage of code/functionality/requirements reaches a specified point
• Bug rate falls below a certain level
• Beta or alpha testing period ends

What if there isn't enough time for thorough testing?

Use risk analysis to determine where testing should be focused.
Since it's rarely possible to test every possible aspect of an application, every possible
combination of events, every dependency, or everything that could go wrong, risk analysis is
appropriate to most software development projects. This requires judgement skills, common
sense, and experience. (If warranted, formal methods are also available.) Considerations can
include:
• Which functionality is most important to the project's intended purpose?
• Which functionality is most visible to the user?
• Which functionality has the largest safety impact?
• Which functionality has the largest financial impact on users?
• Which aspects of the application are most important to the customer?
• Which aspects of the application can be tested early in the development cycle?
• Which parts of the code are most complex, and thus most subject to errors?
• Which parts of the application were developed in rush or panic mode?
• Which aspects of similar/related previous projects caused problems?
• Which aspects of similar/related previous projects had large maintenance expenses?
• Which parts of the requirements and design are unclear or poorly thought out?
• What do the developers think are the highest-risk aspects of the application?
• What kinds of problems would cause the worst publicity?
• What kinds of problems would cause the most customer service complaints?
• What kinds of tests could easily cover multiple functionalities?
• Which tests will have the best high-risk-coverage to time-required ratio?

What if the project isn't big enough to justify extensive testing?

Consider the impact of project errors, not the size of the project. However, if extensive testing is
still not justified, risk analysis is again needed and the same considerations as described
previously in 'What if there isn't enough time for thorough testing?' apply. The tester might then
do ad hoc testing, or write up a limited test plan based on the risk analysis.

What can be done if requirements are changing continuously?

A common problem and a major headache.
• Work with the project's stakeholders early on to understand how requirements might change so
that alternate test plans and strategies can be worked out in advance, if possible.
• It's helpful if the application's initial design allows for some adaptability so that later changes
do not require redoing the application from scratch.
• If the code is well-commented and well-documented this makes changes easier for the
developers.
• Use rapid prototyping whenever possible to help customers feel sure of their requirements and
minimize changes.
• The project's initial schedule should allow for some extra time commensurate with the
possibility of changes.
• Try to move new requirements to a 'Phase 2' version of an application, while using the original
requirements for the 'Phase 1' version.
• Negotiate to allow only easily-implemented new requirements into the project, while moving
more difficult new requirements into future versions of the application.
• Be sure that customers and management understand the scheduling impacts, inherent risks, and
costs of significant requirements changes. Then let management or the customers (not the
developers or testers) decide if the changes are warranted - after all, that's their job.
• Balance the effort put into setting up automated testing with the expected effort required to re-
do them to deal with changes.
• Try to design some flexibility into automated test scripts.
• Focus initial automated testing on application aspects that are most likely to remain unchanged.

• Devote appropriate effort to risk analysis of changes to minimize regression testing needs.
• Design some flexibility into test cases (this is not easily done; the best bet might be to minimize
the detail in the test cases, or set up only higher-level generic-type test plans)
• Focus less on detailed test plans and test cases and more on ad hoc testing (with an
understanding of the added risk that this entails).

What if the application has functionality that wasn't in the requirements?

It may take serious effort to determine if an application has significant unexpected or hidden
functionality, and it would indicate deeper problems in the software development process. If the
functionality isn't necessary to the purpose of the application, it should be removed, as it may
have unknown impacts or dependencies that were not taken into account by the designer or the
customer. If not removed, design information will be needed to determine added testing needs or
regression testing needs. Management should be made aware of any significant added risks as a
result of the unexpected functionality. If the functionality only effects areas such as minor
improvements in the user interface, for example, it may not be a significant risk.

How can Software QA processes be implemented without stifling productivity?

By implementing QA processes slowly over time, using consensus to reach agreement on
processes, and adjusting and experimenting as an organization grows and matures, productivity
will be improved instead of stifled. Problem prevention will lessen the need for problem
detection, panics and burn-out will decrease, and there will be improved focus and less wasted
effort. At the same time, attempts should be made to keep processes simple and efficient,
minimize paperwork, promote computer-based processes and automated tracking and reporting,
minimize time required in meetings, and promote training as part of the QA process. However,
no one - especially talented technical types - likes rules or bureacracy, and in the short run things
may slow down a bit. A typical scenario would be that more days of planning and development
will be needed, but less time will be required for late-night bug-fixing and calming of irate
customers.

What if an organization is growing so fast that fixed QA processes are impossible?

This is a common problem in the software industry, especially in new technology areas. There is
no easy solution in this situation, other than:
• Hire good people
• Management should 'ruthlessly prioritize' quality issues and maintain focus on the customer
• Everyone in the organization should be clear on what 'quality' means to the customer

How does a client/server environment affect testing?

Client/server applications can be quite complex due to the multiple dependencies among clients,
data communications, hardware, and servers. Thus testing requirements can be extensive. When
time is limited (as it usually is) the focus should be on integration and system testing.
Additionally, load/stress/performance testing may be useful in determining client/server
application limitations and capabilities. There are commercial tools to assist with such testing.
(See the 'Tools' section for web resources with listings that include these kinds of test tools.)

How can World Wide Web sites be tested?

Web sites are essentially client/server applications - with web servers and 'browser' clients.
Consideration should be given to the interactions between html pages, TCP/IP communications,
Internet connections, firewalls, applications that run in web pages (such as applets, javascript,
plug-in applications), and applications that run on the server side (such as cgi scripts, database
interfaces, logging applications, dynamic page generators, asp, etc.). Additionally, there are a
wide variety of servers and browsers, various versions of each, small but sometimes significant
differences between them, variations in connection speeds, rapidly changing technologies, and
multiple standards and protocols. The end result is that testing for web sites can become a major
ongoing effort. Other considerations might include:
• What are the expected loads on the server (e.g., number of hits per unit time?), and what kind
of performance is required under such loads (such as web server response time, database query
response times). What kinds of tools will be needed for performance testing (such as web load
testing tools, other tools already in house that can be adapted, web robot downloading tools,
etc.)?
• Who is the target audience? What kind of browsers will they be using? What kind of
connection speeds will they by using? Are they intra- organization (thus with likely high
connection speeds and similar browsers) or Internet-wide (thus with a wide variety of connection
speeds and browser types)?
• What kind of performance is expected on the client side (e.g., how fast should pages appear,
how fast should animations, applets, etc. load and run)?
• Will down time for server and content maintenance/upgrades be allowed? how much?
• What kinds of security (firewalls, encryptions, passwords, etc.) will be required and what is it
expected to do? How can it be tested?
• How reliable are the site's Internet connections required to be? And how does that affect
backup system or redundant connection requirements and testing?
• What processes will be required to manage updates to the web site's content, and what are the
requirements for maintaining, tracking, and controlling page content, graphics, links, etc.?
• Which HTML specification will be adhered to? How strictly? What variations will be allowed
for targeted browsers?
• Will there be any standards or requirements for page appearance and/or graphics throughout a
site or parts of a site??
• How will internal and external links be validated and updated? how often?
• Can testing be done on the production system, or will a separate test system be required? How
are browser caching, variations in browser option settings, dial-up connection variabilities, and
real-world internet 'traffic congestion' problems to be accounted for in testing?
• How extensive or customized are the server logging and reporting requirements; are they
considered an integral part of the system and do they require testing?
• How are cgi programs, applets, javascripts, ActiveX components, etc. to be maintained,
tracked, controlled, and tested?
Some sources of site security information include the Usenet newsgroup
'comp.security.announce' and links concerning web site security in the 'Other Resources' section.
Some usability guidelines to consider - these are subjective and may or may not apply to a given
situation (Note: more information on usability testing issues can be found in articles about web
site usability in the 'Other Resources' section):
• Pages should be 3-5 screens max unless content is tightly focused on a single topic. If larger,
provide internal links within the page.
• The page layouts and design elements should be consistent throughout a site, so that it's clear to
the user that they're still within a site.
• Pages should be as browser-independent as possible, or pages should be provided or generated
based on the browser-type.
• All pages should have links external to the page; there should be no dead-end pages.
• The page owner, revision date, and a link to a contact person or organization should be
included on each page.
Many new web site test tools have appeared in the recent years and more than 280 of them are
listed in the 'Web Test Tools' section.

How is testing affected by object-oriented designs?

Well-engineered object-oriented design can make it easier to trace from code to internal design
to functional design to requirements. While there will be little affect on black box testing (where
an understanding of the internal design of the application is unnecessary), white-box testing can
be oriented to the application's objects. If the application was well-designed this can simplify test
design.

What is Extreme Programming and what's it got to do with testing?

Extreme Programming (XP) is a software development approach for small teams on risk-prone
projects with unstable requirements. It was created by Kent Beck who described the approach in
his book 'Extreme Programming Explained' (See the Softwareqatest.com Books page.). Testing
('extreme testing') is a core aspect of Extreme Programming. Programmers are expected to write
unit and functional test code first - before the application is developed. Test code is under source
control along with the rest of the code. Customers are expected to be an integral part of the
project team and to help develope scenarios for acceptance/black box testing. Acceptance tests
are preferably automated, and are modified and rerun for each of the frequent development
iterations. QA and test personnel are also required to be an integral part of the project team.
Detailed requirements documentation is not used, and frequent re-scheduling, re-estimating, and
re-prioritizing is expected. For more info see the XP-related listings in the Softwareqatest.com
'Other Resources' section.

What is 'Software Quality Assurance'?

Software QA involves the entire software development PROCESS - monitoring and improving
the process, making sure that any agreed-upon standards and procedures are followed, and
ensuring that problems are found and dealt with. It is oriented to 'prevention'. (See the Bookstore
section's 'Software QA' category for a list of useful books on Software Quality Assurance.)

What is 'Software Testing'?

Testing involves operation of a system or application under controlled conditions and evaluating
the results (eg, 'if the user is in interface A of the application while using hardware B, and does
C, then D should happen'). The controlled conditions should include both normal and abnormal
conditions. Testing should intentionally attempt to make things go wrong to determine if things
happen when they shouldn't or things don't happen when they should. It is oriented to 'detection'.
(See the Bookstore section's 'Software Testing' category for a list of useful books on Software
Testing.)
• Organizations vary considerably in how they assign responsibility for QA and testing.
Sometimes they're the combined responsibility of one group or individual. Also common are
project teams that include a mix of testers and developers who work closely together, with
overall QA processes monitored by project managers. It will depend on what best fits an
organization's size and business structure.

What are some recent major computer system failures caused by software bugs?
• A major U.S. retailer was reportedly hit with a large government fine in October of 2003 due to
web site errors that enabled customers to view one anothers' online orders.
• News stories in the fall of 2003 stated that a manufacturing company recalled all their
transportation products in order to fix a software problem causing instability in certain
circumstances. The company found and reported the bug itself and initiated the recall procedure
in which a software upgrade fixed the problems.
• In August of 2003 a U.S. court ruled that a lawsuit against a large online brokerage company
could proceed; the lawsuit reportedly involved claims that the company was not fixing system
problems that sometimes resulted in failed stock trades, based on the experiences of 4 plaintiffs
during an 8-month period. A previous lower court's ruling that "...six miscues out of more than
400 trades does not indicate negligence." was invalidated.
• In April of 2003 it was announced that the largest student loan company in the U.S. made a
software error in calculating the monthly payments on 800,000 loans. Although borrowers were
to be notified of an increase in their required payments, the company will still reportedly lose $8
million in interest. The error was uncovered when borrowers began reporting inconsistencies in
their bills.
• News reports in February of 2003 revealed that the U.S. Treasury Department mailed 50,000
Social Security checks without any beneficiary names. A spokesperson indicated that the missing
names were due to an error in a software change. Replacement checks were subsequently mailed
out with the problem corrected, and recipients were then able to cash their Social Security
checks.
• In March of 2002 it was reported that software bugs in Britain's national tax system resulted in
more than 100,000 erroneous tax overcharges. The problem was partly attibuted to the difficulty
of testing the integration of multiple systems.
• A newspaper columnist reported in July 2001 that a serious flaw was found in off-the-shelf
software that had long been used in systems for tracking certain U.S. nuclear materials. The same
software had been recently donated to another country to be used in tracking their own nuclear
materials, and it was not until scientists in that country discovered the problem, and shared the
information, that U.S. officials became aware of the problems.
• According to newspaper stories in mid-2001, a major systems development contractor was
fired and sued over problems with a large retirement plan management system. According to the
reports, the client claimed that system deliveries were late, the software had excessive defects,
and it caused other systems to crash.
• In January of 2001 newspapers reported that a major European railroad was hit by the
aftereffects of the Y2K bug. The company found that many of their newer trains would not run
due to their inability to recognize the date '31/12/2000'; the trains were started by altering the
control system's date settings.
• News reports in September of 2000 told of a software vendor settling a lawsuit with a large
mortgage lender; the vendor had reportedly delivered an online mortgage processing system that
did not meet specifications, was delivered late, and didn't work.
• In early 2000, major problems were reported with a new computer system in a large suburban
U.S. public school district with 100,000+ students; problems included 10,000 erroneous report
cards and students left stranded by failed class registration systems; the district's CIO was fired.
The school district decided to reinstate it's original 25-year old system for at least a year until the
bugs were worked out of the new system by the software vendors.
• In October of 1999 the $125 million NASA Mars Climate Orbiter spacecraft was believed to be
lost in space due to a simple data conversion error. It was determined that spacecraft software
used certain data in English units that should have been in metric units. Among other tasks, the
orbiter was to serve as a communications relay for the Mars Polar Lander mission, which failed
for unknown reasons in December 1999. Several investigating panels were convened to
determine the process failures that allowed the error to go undetected.
• Bugs in software supporting a large commercial high-speed data network affected 70,000
business customers over a period of 8 days in August of 1999. Among those affected was the
electronic trading system of the largest U.S. futures exchange, which was shut down for most of
a week as a result of the outages.
• In April of 1999 a software bug caused the failure of a $1.2 billion U.S. military satellite
launch, the costliest unmanned accident in the history of Cape Canaveral launches. The failure
was the latest in a string of launch failures, triggering a complete military and industry review of
U.S. space launch programs, including software integration and testing processes. Congressional
oversight hearings were requested.
• A small town in Illinois in the U.S. received an unusually large monthly electric bill of $7
million in March of 1999. This was about 700 times larger than its normal bill. It turned out to be
due to bugs in new software that had been purchased by the local power company to deal with
Y2K software issues.
• In early 1999 a major computer game company recalled all copies of a popular new product
due to software problems. The company made a public apology for releasing a product before it
was ready.

Why is it often hard for management to get serious about quality assurance?
Solving problems is a high-visibility process; preventing problems is low-visibility. This is
illustrated by an old parable:
In ancient China there was a family of healers, one of whom was known throughout the land and
employed as a physician to a great lord. The physician was asked which of his family was the
most skillful healer. He replied,
"I tend to the sick and dying with drastic and dramatic treatments, and on occasion someone is
cured and my name gets out among the lords."
"My elder brother cures sickness when it just begins to take root, and his skills are known among
the local peasants and neighbors."
"My eldest brother is able to sense the spirit of sickness and eradicate it before it takes form. His
name is unknown outside our home."

Why does software have bugs?

• miscommunication or no communication - as to specifics of what an application should or
shouldn't do (the application's requirements).
• software complexity - the complexity of current software applications can be difficult to
comprehend for anyone without experience in modern-day software development. Windows-type
interfaces, client-server and distributed applications, data communications, enormous relational
databases, and sheer size of applications have all contributed to the exponential growth in
software/system complexity. And the use of object-oriented techniques can complicate instead of
simplify a project unless it is well-engineered.
• programming errors - programmers, like anyone else, can make mistakes.
• changing requirements (whether documented or undocumented) - the customer may not
understand the effects of changes, or may understand and request them anyway - redesign,
rescheduling of engineers, effects on other projects, work already completed that may have to be
redone or thrown out, hardware requirements that may be affected, etc. If there are many minor
changes or any major changes, known and unknown dependencies among parts of the project are
likely to interact and cause problems, and the complexity of coordinating changes may result in
errors. Enthusiasm of engineering staff may be affected. In some fast-changing business
environments, continuously modified requirements may be a fact of life. In this case,
management must understand the resulting risks, and QA and test engineers must adapt and plan
for continuous extensive testing to keep the inevitable bugs from running out of control - see
'What can be done if requirements are changing continuously?' in Part 2 of the FAQ.
• time pressures - scheduling of software projects is difficult at best, often requiring a lot of
guesswork. When deadlines loom and the crunch comes, mistakes will be made.
• egos - people prefer to say things like:
'no problem'
'piece of cake'
'I can whip that out in a few hours'
'it should be easy to update that old code'
instead of:
'that adds a lot of complexity and we could end up
making a lot of mistakes'
'we have no idea if we can do that; we'll wing it'
'I can't estimate how long it will take, until I
take a close look at it'
'we can't figure out what that old spaghetti code
did in the first place'

If there are too many unrealistic 'no problem's', the result is bugs.

• poorly documented code - it's tough to maintain and modify code that is badly written or poorly
documented; the result is bugs. In many organizations management provides no incentive for
programmers to document their code or write clear, understandable, maintainable code. In fact,
it's usually the opposite: they get points mostly for quickly turning out code, and there's job
security if nobody else can understand it ('if it was hard to write, it should be hard to read').
• software development tools - visual tools, class libraries, compilers, scripting tools, etc. often
introduce their own bugs or are poorly documented, resulting in added bugs.

How can new Software QA processes be introduced in an existing organization?

• A lot depends on the size of the organization and the risks involved. For large organizations
with high-risk (in terms of lives or property) projects, serious management buy-in is required and
a formalized QA process is necessary.
• Where the risk is lower, management and organizational buy-in and QA implementation may
be a slower, step-at-a-time process. QA processes should be balanced with productivity so as to
keep bureaucracy from getting out of hand.
• For small groups or projects, a more ad-hoc process may be appropriate, depending on the type
of customers and projects. A lot will depend on team leads or managers, feedback to developers,
and ensuring adequate communications among customers, managers, developers, and testers.
• The most value for effort will be in (a) requirements management processes, with a goal of
clear, complete, testable requirement specifications embodied in requirements or design
documentation and (b) design inspections and code inspections.

What is verification? validation?

Verification typically involves reviews and meetings to evaluate documents, plans, code,
requirements, and specifications. This can be done with checklists, issues lists, walkthroughs,
and inspection meetings. Validation typically involves actual testing and takes place after
verifications are completed. The term 'IV & V' refers to Independent Verification and Validation.

What is a 'walkthrough'?
A 'walkthrough' is an informal meeting for evaluation or informational purposes. Little or no
preparation is usually required.
What's an 'inspection'?
An inspection is more formalized than a 'walkthrough', typically with 3-8 people including a
moderator, reader, and a recorder to take notes. The subject of the inspection is typically a
document such as a requirements spec or a test plan, and the purpose is to find problems and see
what's missing, not to fix anything. Attendees should prepare for this type of meeting by reading
thru the document; most problems will be found during this preparation. The result of the
inspection meeting should be a written report. Thorough preparation for inspections is difficult,
painstaking work, but is one of the most cost effective methods of ensuring quality. Employees
who are most skilled at inspections are like the 'eldest brother' in the parable in 'Why is it often
hard for management to get serious about quality assurance?'. Their skill may have low visibility
but they are extremely valuable to any software development organization, since bug prevention
is far more cost-effective than bug detection.

What kinds of testing should be considered?

• Black box testing - not based on any knowledge of internal design or code. Tests are based on
requirements and functionality.
• White box testing - based on knowledge of the internal logic of an application's code. Tests are
based on coverage of code statements, branches, paths, conditions.
• unit testing - the most 'micro' scale of testing; to test particular functions or code modules.
Typically done by the programmer and not by testers, as it requires detailed knowledge of the
internal program design and code. Not always easily done unless the application has a well-
designed architecture with tight code; may require developing test driver modules or test
harnesses.
• incremental integration testing - continuous testing of an application as new functionality is
added; requires that various aspects of an application's functionality be independent enough to
work separately before all parts of the program are completed, or that test drivers be developed
as needed; done by programmers or by testers.
• integration testing - testing of combined parts of an application to determine if they function
together correctly. The 'parts' can be code modules, individual applications, client and server
applications on a network, etc. This type of testing is especially relevant to client/server and
distributed systems.
• functional testing - black-box type testing geared to functional requirements of an application;
this type of testing should be done by testers. This doesn't mean that the programmers shouldn't
check that their code works before releasing it (which of course applies to any stage of testing.)
• system testing - black-box type testing that is based on overall requirements specifications;
covers all combined parts of a system.
• end-to-end testing - similar to system testing; the 'macro' end of the test scale; involves testing
of a complete application environment in a situation that mimics real-world use, such as
interacting with a database, using network communications, or interacting with other hardware,
applications, or systems if appropriate.
• sanity testing or smoke testing - typically an initial testing effort to determine if a new software
version is performing well enough to accept it for a major testing effort. For example, if the new
software is crashing systems every 5 minutes, bogging down systems to a crawl, or corrupting
databases, the software may not be in a 'sane' enough condition to warrant further testing in its
current state.
• regression testing - re-testing after fixes or modifications of the software or its environment. It
can be difficult to determine how much re-testing is needed, especially near the end of the
development cycle. Automated testing tools can be especially useful for this type of testing.
• acceptance testing - final testing based on specifications of the end-user or customer, or based
on use by end-users/customers over some limited period of time.
• load testing - testing an application under heavy loads, such as testing of a web site under a
range of loads to determine at what point the system's response time degrades or fails.
• stress testing - term often used interchangeably with 'load' and 'performance' testing. Also used
to describe such tests as system functional testing while under unusually heavy loads, heavy
repetition of certain actions or inputs, input of large numerical values, large complex queries to a
database system, etc.
• performance testing - term often used interchangeably with 'stress' and 'load' testing. Ideally
'performance' testing (and any other 'type' of testing) is defined in requirements documentation or
QA or Test Plans.
• usability testing - testing for 'user-friendliness'. Clearly this is subjective, and will depend on
the targeted end-user or customer. User interviews, surveys, video recording of user sessions,
and other techniques can be used. Programmers and testers are usually not appropriate as
usability testers.
• install/uninstall testing - testing of full, partial, or upgrade install/uninstall processes.
• recovery testing - testing how well a system recovers from crashes, hardware failures, or other
catastrophic problems.
• security testing - testing how well the system protects against unauthorized internal or external
access, willful damage, etc; may require sophisticated testing techniques.
• compatability testing - testing how well software performs in a particular
hardware/software/operating system/network/etc. environment.
• exploratory testing - often taken to mean a creative, informal software test that is not based on
formal test plans or test cases; testers may be learning the software as they test it.
• ad-hoc testing - similar to exploratory testing, but often taken to mean that the testers have
significant understanding of the software before testing it.
• user acceptance testing - determining if software is satisfactory to an end-user or customer.
• comparison testing - comparing software weaknesses and strengths to competing products.
• alpha testing - testing of an application when development is nearing completion; minor design
changes may still be made as a result of such testing. Typically done by end-users or others, not
by programmers or testers.
• beta testing - testing when development and testing are essentially completed and final bugs
and problems need to be found before final release. Typically done by end-users or others, not by
programmers or testers.
• mutation testing - a method for determining if a set of test data or test cases is useful, by
deliberately introducing various code changes ('bugs') and retesting with the original test
data/cases to determine if the 'bugs' are detected. Proper implementation requires large
computational resources.

What are 5 common problems in the software development process?

• poor requirements - if requirements are unclear, incomplete, too general, or not testable, there
will be problems.
• unrealistic schedule - if too much work is crammed in too little time, problems are inevitable.
• inadequate testing - no one will know whether or not the program is any good until the
customer complains or systems crash.
• featuritis - requests to pile on new features after development is underway; extremely common.

• miscommunication - if developers don't know what's needed or customer's have erroneous

expectations, problems are guaranteed.

What are 5 common solutions to software development problems?

• solid requirements - clear, complete, detailed, cohesive, attainable, testable requirements that
are agreed to by all players. Use prototypes to help nail down requirements.
• realistic schedules - allow adequate time for planning, design, testing, bug fixing, re-testing,
changes, and documentation; personnel should be able to complete the project without burning
out.
• adequate testing - start testing early on, re-test after fixes or changes, plan for adequate time for
testing and bug-fixing.
• stick to initial requirements as much as possible - be prepared to defend against changes and
additions once development has begun, and be prepared to explain consequences. If changes are
necessary, they should be adequately reflected in related schedule changes. If possible, use rapid
prototyping during the design phase so that customers can see what to expect. This will provide
them a higher comfort level with their requirements decisions and minimize changes later on.
• communication - require walkthroughs and inspections when appropriate; make extensive use
of group communication tools - e-mail, groupware, networked bug-tracking tools and change
management tools, intranet capabilities, etc.; insure that documentation is available and up-to-
date - preferably electronic, not paper; promote teamwork and cooperation; use protoypes early
on so that customers' expectations are clarified.

What is software 'quality'?

Quality software is reasonably bug-free, delivered on time and within budget, meets
requirements and/or expectations, and is maintainable. However, quality is obviously a
subjective term. It will depend on who the 'customer' is and their overall influence in the scheme
of things. A wide-angle view of the 'customers' of a software development project might include
end-users, customer acceptance testers, customer contract officers, customer management, the
development organization's management/accountants/testers/salespeople, future software
maintenance engineers, stockholders, magazine columnists, etc. Each type of 'customer' will
have their own slant on 'quality' - the accounting department might define quality in terms of
profits while an end-user might define quality as user-friendly and bug-free.

What is 'good code'?

'Good code' is code that works, is bug free, and is readable and maintainable. Some organizations
have coding 'standards' that all developers are supposed to adhere to, but everyone has different
ideas about what's best, or what is too many or too few rules. There are also various theories and
metrics, such as McCabe Complexity metrics. It should be kept in mind that excessive use of
standards and rules can stifle productivity and creativity. 'Peer reviews', 'buddy checks' code
analysis tools, etc. can be used to check for problems and enforce standards.

For C and C++ coding, here are some typical ideas to consider in setting rules/standards; these
may or may not apply to a particular situation:
• minimize or eliminate use of global variables.
• use descriptive function and method names - use both upper and lower case, avoid
abbreviations, use as many characters as necessary to be adequately descriptive (use of more
than 20 characters is not out of line); be consistent in naming conventions.
• use descriptive variable names - use both upper and lower case, avoid abbreviations, use as
many characters as necessary to be adequately descriptive (use of more than 20 characters is not
out of line); be consistent in naming conventions.
• function and method sizes should be minimized; less than 100 lines of code is good, less than
50 lines is preferable.
• function descriptions should be clearly spelled out in comments preceding a function's code.
• organize code for readability.
• use whitespace generously - vertically and horizontally
• each line of code should contain 70 characters max.
• one code statement per line.
• coding style should be consistent throught a program (eg, use of brackets, indentations, naming
conventions, etc.)
• in adding comments, err on the side of too many rather than too few comments; a common rule
of thumb is that there should be at least as many lines of comments (including header blocks) as
lines of code.
• no matter how small, an application should include documentaion of the overall program
function and flow (even a few paragraphs is better than nothing); or if possible a separate flow
chart and detailed program documentation.
• make extensive use of error handling procedures and status and error logging.
• for C++, to minimize complexity and increase maintainability, avoid too many levels of
inheritance in class heirarchies (relative to the size and complexity of the application). Minimize
use of multiple inheritance, and minimize use of operator overloading (note that the Java
programming language eliminates multiple inheritance and operator overloading.)
• for C++, keep class methods small, less than 50 lines of code per method is preferable.
• for C++, make liberal use of exception handlers

What is 'good design'?

'Design' could refer to many things, but often refers to 'functional design' or 'internal design'.
Good internal design is indicated by software code whose overall structure is clear,
understandable, easily modifiable, and maintainable; is robust with sufficient error-handling and
status logging capability; and works correctly when implemented. Good functional design is
indicated by an application whose functionality can be traced back to customer and end-user
requirements. (See further discussion of functional and internal design in 'What's the big deal
about requirements?' in FAQ #2.) For programs that have a user interface, it's often a good idea
to assume that the end user will have little computer knowledge and may not read a user manual
or even the on-line help; some common rules-of-thumb include:
• the program should act in a way that least surprises the user
• it should always be evident to the user what can be done next and how to exit
• the program shouldn't let the users do something stupid without warning them.

What is SEI? CMM? ISO? IEEE? ANSI? Will it help?

• SEI = 'Software Engineering Institute' at Carnegie-Mellon University; initiated by the U.S.
Defense Department to help improve software development processes.
• CMM = 'Capability Maturity Model', developed by the SEI. It's a model of 5 levels of
organizational 'maturity' that determine effectiveness in delivering quality software. It is geared
to large organizations such as large U.S. Defense Department contractors. However, many of the
QA processes involved are appropriate to any organization, and if reasonably applied can be
helpful. Organizations can receive CMM ratings by undergoing assessments by qualified
auditors.

Level 1 - characterized by chaos, periodic panics, and heroic efforts required by individuals to
successfully complete projects. Few if any processes in place; successes may not be repeatable.

Level 2 - software project tracking, requirements management, realistic planning, and

configuration management processes are in place; successful practices can be repeated.

Level 3 - standard software development and maintenance processes are integrated throughout an
organization; a Software Engineering Process Group is is in place to oversee software processes,
and training programs are used to ensure understanding and compliance.

Level 4 - metrics are used to track productivity, processes, and products. Project performance is
predictable, and quality is consistently high.

Level 5 - the focus is on continouous process improvement. The impact of new processes and
technologies can be predicted and effectively implemented when required.

Perspective on CMM ratings: During 1997-2001, 1018 organizations were assessed. Of those,
27% were rated at Level 1, 39% at 2, 23% at 3, 6% at 4, and 5% at 5. (For ratings during the
period 1992-96, 62% were at Level 1, 23% at 2, 13% at 3, 2% at 4, and
0.4% at 5.) The median size of organizations was 100 software engineering/maintenance
personnel; 32% of organizations were U.S. federal contractors or agencies. For those rated at
Level 1, the most problematical key process area was in Software Quality Assurance.

• ISO = 'International Organisation for Standardization' - The ISO 9001:2000 standard (which
replaces the previous standard of 1994) concerns quality systems that are assessed by outside
auditors, and it applies to many kinds of production and manufacturing organizations, not just
software. It covers documentation, design, development, production, testing, installation,
servicing, and other processes. The full set of standards consists of: (a)Q9001-2000 - Quality
Management Systems: Requirements; (b)Q9000-2000 - Quality Management Systems:
Fundamentals and Vocabulary; (c)Q9004-2000 - Quality Management Systems: Guidelines for
Performance Improvements. To be ISO 9001 certified, a third-party auditor assesses an
organization, and certification is typically good for about 3 years, after which a complete
reassessment is required. Note that ISO certification does not necessarily indicate quality
products - it indicates only that documented processes are followed. Also see http://www.iso.ch/
for the latest information. In the U.S. the standards can be purchased via the ASQ web site at
http://e-standards.asq.org/

• IEEE = 'Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' - among other things, creates
standards such as 'IEEE Standard for Software Test Documentation' (IEEE/ANSI Standard 829),
'IEEE Standard of Software Unit Testing (IEEE/ANSI Standard 1008), 'IEEE Standard for
Software Quality Assurance Plans' (IEEE/ANSI Standard 730), and others.

• ANSI = 'American National Standards Institute', the primary industrial standards body in the
U.S.; publishes some software-related standards in conjunction with the IEEE and ASQ
(American Society for Quality).

• Other software development process assessment methods besides CMM and ISO 9000 include
SPICE, Trillium, TickIT. and Bootstrap.

What is the 'software life cycle'?

The life cycle begins when an application is first conceived and ends when it is no longer in use.
It includes aspects such as initial concept, requirements analysis, functional design, internal
design, documentation planning, test planning, coding, document preparation, integration,
testing, maintenance, updates, retesting, phase-out, and other aspects.

Will automated testing tools make testing easier?

• Possibly. For small projects, the time needed to learn and implement them may not be worth it.
For larger projects, or on-going long-term projects they can be valuable.
• A common type of automated tool is the 'record/playback' type. For example, a tester could
click through all combinations of menu choices, dialog box choices, buttons, etc. in an
application GUI and have them 'recorded' and the results logged by a tool. The 'recording' is
typically in the form of text based on a scripting language that is interpretable by the testing tool.
If new buttons are added, or some underlying code in the application is changed, etc. the
application might then be retested by just 'playing back' the 'recorded' actions, and comparing the
logging results to check effects of the changes. The problem with such tools is that if there are
continual changes to the system being tested, the 'recordings' may have to be changed so much
that it becomes very time-consuming to continuously update the scripts. Additionally,
interpretation and analysis of results (screens, data, logs, etc.) can be a difficult task. Note that
there are record/playback tools for text-based interfaces also, and for all types of platforms.
• Other automated tools can include:
code analyzers - monitor code complexity, adherence to standards, etc.
coverage analyzers - these tools check which parts of the code have been exercised by a test, and
may be oriented to code statement coverage, condition coverage, path coverage, etc.
memory analyzers - such as bounds-checkers and leak detectors.
load/performance test tools - for testing client/server and web applications under various load
levels.
web test tools - to check that links are valid, HTML code usage is correct, client-side and server-
side programs work, a web site's interactions are secure.

other tools - for test case management, documentation management, bug reporting, and
configuration management.
 QC Interview Questions

1. Why is TestDirector used for?

TestDirector is a test management tool. The completely web-enabled TestDirector supports high
level of communication and association among various testing teams, driving a more effective
and efficient global application-testing process. One can also create reports and graphs to help
review the progress of planning tests, executing tests, and tracking defects before a software
release.

2. Why are the requirements linked to the test cases?

TestDirector connects requirements directly to test cases, ensuring that all the requirements have
been covered by the test cases.

3. What are the benefits and features of TestDirector?

TestDirector incorporates all aspects of the testing process i.e. requirement management, test
planning, test case management, scheduling, executing tests and defect management into a single
browser-based application. It maps requirements directly to the test cases ensuring that all the
requirements have been covered by the test cases. It can import requirements and test plans from
excel sheet accelerating the testing process. It executes both manual and automated tests.

4. What is the use of filters in TD?

Filters in TestDirector are mainly used to filter out for the required results. It helps to customize
and categorize the results. For eg: to quickly view the passed and failed tests separately filters are
used.

5. What is Test Lab?

In the Test Lab the test cases are executed. Test Lab will always be linked to the test plan.
Usually both are given the same name for easy recognition.

6. How to customize the defect management cycle in Quality Center?

Firstly one should collect all the attributes that has to be part of the defect management like
version, defect origin, defect details, etc. Later using the modify options in QC one can change
the defect module accordingly.

7. What is the advantage of writing test cases in Quality Center than writing in excel sheet?

Although creating test cases in excel sheet will be faster than doing it in QC as excel is more user
friendly when compared to QC one require to upload them to QC and this process may cause
some delay due to various reasons. Also QC provides link to other tests which in turn is mapped
to the requirements.
8. What is the difference between TestDirector and Quality Center?

The main difference is QC is more secured than TestDirector. In Quality Center the login page
shows projects associated only to the logged in user unlike in Test Director where one can see all
the available projects. Also test management is much more improved in QC than TD. Defect
linkage functionality in QC is more flexible when compared to TD.

9. What is meant by Instance?

Test instance is an instance of test case in Test Lab. Basically it means the test case which you
have imported in Test lab for execution.

10. What is the use of requirement option in TestDirector?

Requirement module in TD is used for writing the requirements and preparing the traceability
matrix.

11. Is it possible to maintain test data in TestDirector?

Yes one can attach the test data to the corresponding test cases or create a separate folder in test
plan to store them.

12. If one tries to upgrade from TestDirector 7.2 to QC 8.0 then is there risk of losing any data?

No there is no risk of losing the data during the migration process. One has to follow proper
steps for successful migration.

13. How is a bug closed in TestDirector?

Once the test cases are executed in the Test Lab and bugs are detected, it is logged as a defect
using the Defect Report Tab and sent to the developer. The bug will have 5 different status
namely New, Open, Rejected, Deferred and Closed. Once the bug has been fixed and verified its
status is changed to closed. This way the bug lifecycle ends.

14. In TD how are the test cases divided into different groups?

In the test plan of TestDirector one can create separate folder for various modules depending on
the project. A main module in the test plan can be created and then sub modules be added to that.

15. What is the difference between TD and Bugzilla?

TestDirector is a test management tool. In TD one can write manual and automated test cases,
add requirements, map requirements to the test cases and log defects. Bugzilla is used only for
logging and tracking the defects.
16. Are TestDirector and QC one and the same?

Yes TestDirector and Quality Center are same. Version of TD 8.2 onwards was known as
Quality Center. The latest version of Quality Center is 9.2. QC is much more advanced when
compared to TD.

17. What is the instance of the test case inside the Test Set?

Test set is a place containing sets of test cases. We can store many test cases inside test set. Now
instance of test case is the test case which you have imported in the test tab. If an another test
case has the same steps as this test case till half way then you can create the instance of this test
case.

18. What are the various types of reports in TestDirector?

In TD reports are available for requirements, test cases, test execution, defects, etc. The reports
give various details like summary, progress, coverage, etc. Reports can be generated from each
TestDirector module using the default settings or it can be customized. When customizing a
report, filters and sort conditions can be applied and the required layout of the fields in the report
can be specified. Sub-reports can also be added to the main report. The settings of the reports can
be saved as favorite views and reloaded as required.

19. How can one map a single defect to more than one test script?

Using the 'associate defect' option in TestDirector one can map the same defect to a number of
test cases.

20. Is it possible to create custom defect template in TestDirector?

It is not possible to create ones own template for defect reporting in TestDirector but one can
customize the template that is already available in TestDirector as required.

21. Can a script in TD be created before recording script in Winrunner or QTP?

Any automation script can be created directly in TD. You need to open the tool (Winrunner or
QTP) and then connect to TD by specifying the url, project, domain, userid and password. And
then you just record the script like you always do. When you save the script, you can save it in
TD instead of your local system.

22. How to ensure that there is no duplication of bugs in TestDirector?

In the defect tracking window of TD there is a “find similar defect” icon. When this icon is
clicked after writing the defect, if anybody else has entered the same defect then it points it out.

23. How is the Defect ID generated in TestDirector?

The Defect ID is automatically generated once the defect is submitted in TD.

24. What does the test grid contain?

The test grid displays all the relevant tests related to a project in TD. It contains the some key
elements like test grid toolbar with various buttons for commands which are commonly used
when creating and modifying the tests, grid filter which displays the filter that is currently
applied to a column, description tab which displays a description of the selected test in the test
grid and history tab that displays the changes made to a test.

25. What are the 3 views in TD?

The three views in TD are Plan Test which is used to prepare a set of test cases as per the
requirements, Run Test which is used for executing the prepared test scripts with respect to the
test cases and finally Track Defects which is used by the test engineers for logging the defects.

26. How to upload data from an excel sheet to TestDirector?

In order to upload data from excel sheet to TD firstly excel addin has to be installed, then the
rows in the excel sheet which has to be imported to TD should be selected, and then finally the
Export to TD option in the tools menu of TestDirector should be selected.

27. How many types of tabs are available in TestDirector?

There are 4 types of tabs available in TestDirector. They are Requirement, Test Plan, Test Lab
and Defect. It is possible to customize the names of these tabs as desired.

28. Is 'Not covered' and 'Not run' status the same?

Not Covered status means all those requirements for which the test cases are not written whereas
Not Run status means all those requirements for which test cases are written but are not run.

29. How does TestDirector store data?

In TD data is stored on the server.

30. Why should we create an Instance?

Test Instance is used to run the test case in the test lab. It is the test instance that you can run
since you can't run the test case in test set.

Set 2 :

1. What is meant by test lab in Quality Centre?

Test lab is a part of Quality Centre where we can execute our test on different cycles creating test
tree for each one of them. We need to add test to these test trees from the tests, which are placed
under test plan in the project. Internally Quality Centre will refer to this test while running then
in the test lab.

2. Can you map the defects directly to the requirements(Not through the test cases) in the Quality
Centre?
In the following methods is most likely to used in this case:
Create your Req.Structure
Create the test case structure and the test cases
Map the test cases to the App.Req
Run and report bugs from your test cases in the test lab module.

The database structure in Quality Centre is mapping test cases to defects, only if you have
created the bug from Application. test case may be we can update the mapping by using some
code in the bug script module(from the customize project function), as per as i know, it is not
possible to map defects directly to an requirements.

3. how do you run reports from Quality Centre. Does any one have good white paper or articles?
This is how you do it
1. Open the Quality Centre project
2. Displays the requirements modules
3. Choose report
Analysis > reports > standard requirements report

4. Can we upload test cases from an excel sheet into Quality Centre?
Yes go to Add-In menu Quality Centre, find the excel add-In, and install it in your machine.
Now open excel, you can find the new menu option export to Quality Centre. Rest of the
procedure is self explanatory.

5. Can we export the file from Quality Centre to excel sheet. If yes then how?
Requirement tab– Right click on main req/click on export/save as word, excel or other template.
This would save all the child requirements

Test plan tab: Only individual test can be exported. no parent child export is possible. Select a
test script, click on the design steps tab, right click anywhere on the open window. Click on
export and save as.

Test lab tab: Select a child group. Click on execution grid if it is not selected. Right click
anywhere. Default save option is excel. But can be saved in documents and other formats. Select
all or selected option

Defects Tab: Right click anywhere on the window, export all or selected defects and save excel
sheet or document.

6. How many types of tabs are there in Quality Centre. Explain?

There are four types of tabs are available
1. Requirement : To track the customer requirements
2. Testplan : To design the test cases and to store the test scripts
3. test lab : To execute the test cases and track the results.
4. Defect : To log a defect and to track the logged defects.

7. How to map the requirements with test cases in Quality Centre?

1. In requirements tab select coverage view
2. Select requirement by clicking on parent/child or grandchild
3. On right hand side(In coverage view window) another window will appear. It has two tabs
a) Tests coverage
b) Details
Test coverage tab will be selected by default or you click on it.
4. Click on select tests button a new window will appear on right hand side and you will see a list
of all tests. You cans elect any test case you want to map with your requirements.

8. How to use Quality Centre in real time project?

Once completed the preparing of test cases
1. Export the test cases into Quality Centre( It will contained total 8 steps)
2. The test cases will be loaded in the test plan module
3. Once the execution is started. We move the test cases from test plan tab to the test lab module.
4. In test lab, we execute the test cases and put as pass or fail or incomplete. We generate the
graph in the test lab for daily report and sent to the on site (where ever you want to deliver)
5. If we got any defects and raise the defects in the defect module. when raising the defects,
attach the defects with the screen shot.

9. Difference between Web Inspect-QA Inspect?

QA Inspect finds and prioritizes security vulnerabilities in an entire web application or in
specific usage scenarios during testing and presents detail information and remediation advise
about each vulnerability.
Web Inspect ensures the security of your most critical information by identifying known and
unknown vulnerabilities within the web application. With web Inspect, auditors, compliance
officers and security experts can perform security assessments on a web enabled application.
Web inspect enables users to perform security assessments for any web application or web
service, including the industry leading application platforms.

10. How can w add requirements to test cases in Quality Centre?

Just you can use the option of add requirements.
Two kinds of requirements are available in TD.
1. Parent Requirement
2. Child requirements.
Parent Requirements nothing but title of the requirements, it covers high level functions of the
requirements

Child requirement nothing but sub title of requirements, it covers low level functions of the
requirements.