Software testing

&
Implementation

Prepared by
Alaa Mohammed Saad
Helwan University
Faculty of Computers and Artificial Intelligence
Software Engineering
Introduction

Software test reports allow us to provide stakeholders

with a comprehensive overview of testing outcomes and
make them well-informed about the product’s quality.
That is why it is highly important to know how to write
efficient test reports.

A well-structured test report not only highlights the

successes and challenges encountered during testing
but also shares the list of improvements.

Step-by-Step Guidance

1. Define the Objective and Scope of Testing

Begin by detailing the purpose of the testing activities.

This could include regression testing, performance
testing, usability testing, or any specific objectives your
testing aimed to achieve.

For example, in one of the latest iterations at

TestCaseLab, our objective was to conduct exhaustive
regression testing to ensure that new features
integrated into our application did not disrupt existing
functionalities. The scope covered all major
components of our application, with a particular focus
on user authentication, data processing, and API
integrations.
2. Document Control and Project Overview

Include a section for document control, outlining

the revision history and distribution list.

The project overview should detail the project’s name,

type, duration, product version, and description.

3. Test Summary

Present a summary of the testing activities, including

the number of test cases executed, passed, failed, and
the pass/fail percentage. You can also use visual aids
like charts or tables for clarity.

4. Test Environment and Configuration

Detail the testing environment and any relevant

configurations. Mention the platforms, browsers,
devices, or operating systems tested, ensuring you
cover the specifics without compromising security or
compliance.

When detailing the test environment, it’s crucial to

balance transparency with security. For instance,
instead of specifying server names, reports might
mention “Server A (primary application server)”
alongside its configuration details, keeping the
information informative yet secure.

5. Defect Reports

Document the defects found during testing,

categorizing them by severity, priority, and status
(open, closed, resolved). Include a brief description of
each defect to facilitate understanding and future
action.

It is also possible to categorize defects not just by

severity but also by their impact on user experience.
This nuanced approach can help prioritize bug fixes
that directly affect your customers, enhancing the
overall quality of the product.

6. Lessons Learned and Recommendations

Reflect on the testing process to capture any lessons

learned, best practices identified,
and recommendations for future testing
cycles or product enhancements.

7. Exit Criteria and Test Closure

Report on the status of exit criteria to confirm

whether the software is ready for release. This includes
detailing any remaining defects or risks that need to be
addressed.
Detailing exit criteria involves not just whether they
were met, but also the implications of any unmet
criteria. For instance, if a critical bug was unresolved
at project closure, the report would detail contingency
plans or mitigation strategies to manage potential risks.

8. Agile Test Summary Reporting

For teams following an agile methodology, emphasize a

leaner report focusing on the essentials: sprint-specific
objectives, test case execution, defect status, and
environment details. This streamlined approach ensures
that each report is actionable and relevant to the
sprint’s goals.

Additional Considerations
 While there are templates and standard formats
available, customize your report to meet the specific
needs of your stakeholders and project.

 Ensure your report is detailed yet clear, avoiding

unnecessary jargon and focusing on providing
insightful information.

 When sharing environment and configuration

details, be mindful of security and compliance
requirements.

 Incorporating case studies from past projects helps

illustrate how theoretical concepts are applied in
 real-world scenarios, providing readers with
practical insights and lessons learned.

 Ensure any direct references to methodologies,

frameworks, or industry standards are accurately
cited. For instance, when discussing a specific
testing technique, mention its origin or source to
maintain credibility and integrity.

Example of Test Report

Let’s outline the structured draft of a software test
report for project ‘X’. This example aims to illustrate
the depth and breadth of information typically included
in such a report.

Software Test Report for Project ‘X’

Document Control

 Title: Software Test Report — Project ‘X’

 Version: 1.2

 Date of Issue: February 23, 2024

 Prepared by: Jane Doe, Lead QA Engineer

 Approved by: John Smith, Project Manager

Revision History
 Version 1.0 (February 10, 2024): Initial draft,
test planning.

 Version 1.1 (February 15, 2024): Incorporated

functional testing results.

 Version 1.2 (February 23, 2024): Added

regression testing outcomes and stakeholder
feedback.

Distribution List

 Development Team

 QA Team

 Project Stakeholders

Project Overview

 Project Name: X

 Duration: January 1, 2024 — March 31, 2024

 Objective: Enhance the user interface and backend

efficiency of the web application.

Test Summary

Overview
The testing phase spanned from February 15, 2024, to
March 20, 2024, focusing on functional, performance,
security, and regression testing to ensure the new
features and optimizations in version 2.5 meet the
project objectives without compromising existing
functionalities.

Test Environment

 Platform: Web

 Browsers: Chrome, Firefox, Safari

 Devices: Desktop, Tablets, Mobile Phones

Test Cases

 Total Planned: 550

 Executed: 540

 Passed: 525

 Failed: 10

 Blocked: 5

Defects Found

 Total: 15
 Critical: 2

 High: 5

 Medium: 5

 Low: 3

Detailed Test Results

 Functional Testing

Objective: Verify new features like real-time analytics

function correctly.

Results: 300 test cases executed, 290 passed, 5 failed,

5 blocked due to unresolved dependencies.

 Performance Testing

Objective: Ensure application performance under load

has not degraded.

Results: Conducted load testing with up to 1000

simultaneous users, with response times remaining
within acceptable limits.

 Security Testing

Objective: Identify and address new vulnerabilities.

Results: Uncovered 2 critical security flaws, which
were promptly addressed by the development team.

 Regression Testing

Objective: Confirm existing functionalities remain

unaffected.

Results: 240 test cases executed, 235 passed, 5 failed

indicating minor issues with backward compatibility.

Benefits of Test Automation

If you’re still questioning why test automation is worth
it, here are some automation testing benefits:

1. Faster execution
A manual tester might take several hours or even days
to write and execute test cases, especially for a
complex mobile or web app. With test automation, you
can run thousands of tests across multiple devices and
browsers in minutes.

2. Higher accuracy
When manually testing an app, it’s possible typos will
error, missed steps will happen, and you’ll get tired of
writing test scripts repeatedly every time there’s a
modification in the code. Test automation executes the
same tests with 100% precision—every single time.

3. Greater test coverage

Do you want to test every single scenario manually?
Not realistic. With test automation, you can run
thousands of test cases at once, including edge cases
that would be impossible to check manually, and that,
too, in a few clicks.

4. Cost savings
You need to hire, train, and pay experienced QA
engineers for manual testing to run repetitive tests.
Test automation has an upfront cost, but over time, it
cuts labor costs and minimizes bug-related expenses. It
saves you money in the long run.

5. Early bug detection

Fixing a bug after the app has been released is 10 times
more expensive than catching it during the build. With
test automation, you can run tests every time new code
is pushed, catching issues before they escalate.

6. Integration with CI/CD

Test automation allows you to automate the entire dev
cycle, meaning you can ensure every change is
validated immediately. During manual testing,
developers need instant feedback on the code, which
can slow down the process considerably.

Types of Test Automation Frameworks

1. Unit testing automation

If you want to ensure every single unit of code of your

app, such as a method, module, or function, performs
as expected without relying on external dependencies,
that’s where unit testing automation comes in.

It helps you catch errors early before they affect the

broader system. It also makes it easy to refactor or
extend functionality without breaking the app’s existing
features. Popular tools for unit testing include JUnit for
Java apps, NUnit for .NET, and Mocha for JavaScript.

2. Integration testing automation

Next comes testing the app’s multiple components or
modules to ensure they work as desired. Unlike unit
tests that run in isolation, integration testing verifies
interactions between different app parts, such as APIs,
databases, and microservices.

You can detect communication failures, data

inconsistencies, and broken endpoints. Common
integration testing automation tools include Postman
for API testing, RestAssured for automated REST API
validation, and Selenium WebDriver.

3. API testing automation

If your app relies on APIs, this test automation enables

you to verify backend services and integrations –
independent of the GUI implementation.

API testing is performed at the message layer since

APIs serve as the primary interface to app logic. This
allows you to check if they function correctly, handle
requests and responses properly, and maintain security
standards.

Tools like RestAssured, Postman, and Karate help in

API testing automation.

4. Functional testing automation

One of your testing goals is to ensure all the features

related to user interactions, workflows, and business
logic perform well. Functional testing automation helps
achieve that.

You can simulate real user actions, such as filling out

forms, clicking buttons, and navigating through web
pages with automation tools like Selenium and Cypress.
For mobile apps, you can use Appium to formulate
functional tests on iOS and Android devices.
Automating functional tests helps you maintain
consistency, test edge cases, and speed up release
cycles.

5. Smoke testing automation

Run a set of quick, high-level smoke tests to check

whether the app’s critical functionalities are working
after a build or deployment and if it’s stable enough for
more in-depth testing.

Often called “sanity testing,” it ensures that significant

app components load correctly and aren’t broken right
from the start. Smoke testing automation is typically
executed as part of the CI/CD pipeline using tools like
Selenium, JUnit, and TestNG.

6. Regression testing automation

Conduct regression testing automation to ensure new

code changes don’t introduce unintended defects in
previously working functionality. Whenever a new
feature is added, a bug is fixed, or an optimization is
performed, it ensures existing features function as
usual.

Tools like Katalon Studio, Ranorex, and Selenium help

automate regression tests by recording and replaying
test scripts across different app versions.

7. GUI testing automation

If your app has a Graphical User Interface (GUI),

testing it is essential to ensure consistency in complex
visual elements and dynamic behaviors.

Rather than manually clicking through screens, you can

record and replay user actions to validate buttons,
menus, and forms across different devices, screen
sizes, and operating systems.
Tools like TestGrid excel at visual validation. They
enable you to capture screenshots and compare them
to baselines to fix UI discrepancies.

8. Security testing automation

Security testing automation is the way to go if you want

to detect vulnerabilities, security flaws, and threats
within an app. Test for vulnerabilities like cross-site
scripting (XSS), SQL injections, insecure data storage,
and authentication flaws.

Ensure compliance with security standards and prevent

potential cyberattacks. Popular security testing tools
include Burp Suites, Nessus, and OWASP ZAP. They
scan apps for vulnerabilities and generate reports with
remediation steps.

9. Performance testing automation

With performance testing automation, evaluate your

app’s behavior under different loads, stress conditions,
and concurrent user interactions. Check for resource
utilization, response times, and system stability under
peak conditions.

Tools such as LoadRunner, Gatling, and JMeter enable

testers to simulate thousands of users accessing an app
simultaneously. They provide detailed performance
metrics, such as transaction times and error rates,
helping you identify bottlenecks and optimize system
performance.

General Approaches to Test Automation

Although there are many approaches to test
automation, two stand out:

Graphical User Interface (GUI) testing generates

UI events, such as keystrokes and mouse clicks in the
app, and observes the changes that result in the user
interface to validate that its observable behavior is
correct.

API-driven testing is a framework that interacts with

an app’s programming interface to validate its
behavior. It bypasses the UI entirely, focusing on
testing public interfaces of modules, classes, or
libraries. This method provides various input
arguments and verifies the correctness of the returned
results.

Test Automation Methodologies

To automate software testing efficiently, you need a
methodology you can trust. Although there are many
approaches and strategies to consider, your decision
depends on several factors, such as project size,
complexity, team skill set, and available tools.

Let’s take a look at the most common test automation

frameworks:

1. Linear scripting
If your app is simple and doesn’t require frequent
updates, this might seem like an easy solution. Here,
you record user interactions with the app and play
them back as automated test scripts. Since there’s no
need for coding, it’s quick to get started, too.

2. Modular and framework-based testing

Have an app that’s dynamic and demands frequent
updates? Go for this approach. Instead of recording
everything in one go, break the test cases into smaller,
reusable components or modules. Modular and
framework-based testing can be sub-categorized into:

 Keyword-driven testing, which lets you define

reusable actions in a structured format, making
automation accessible even to non-programmers
  Data-driven testing, which separates test data
from test scripts so you can test multiple scenarios
easily
 Modular testing, which organizes tests into
independent units
 Hybrid testing, which combines specific elements
of the above three frameworks for flexibility

3. Behavior-Driven Development (BDD)

BDD works best in agile environments where multiple
stakeholders, such as developers, testers, and business
analysts, must collaborate. It allows you to write test
cases in plain language, usually using Gherkin syntax,
so everyone on your team can understand.

4. Continuous testing

This involves executing automated tests as part of the

software delivery pipeline. It helps obtain immediate
feedback on the business risks associated with the app
whenever changes are made to its code or
configurations.

Conclusion

Project ‘X’ testing phase was largely successful, with

the majority of test cases passing and critical defects
addressed promptly. The few failed tests during
regression highlight the need for continuous testing
throughout the development cycle. The project is on
track for its scheduled release, pending final
stakeholder approval.