Chapter 6: SEP Phase V: Testing

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Overview

This chapter explains the cyclical process of testing a product, returning it to the development team for further modifications, and beginning a retest sequence. It covers the management aspects of conducting a formalized test process. It does not cover detailed procedures for the testing process.

Material in this chapter will help both the Test and Program Managers to understand what areas of testing need to be addressed and what types of test cases need to be built to adequately cover the most common aspects of a product release. It will help managers learn to ask specific, targeted questions about each aspect of the testing process and ensure that they focus their teams on performing proper testing.

As we begin to review the testing phase, let's take a look at the SEP Phase V roadmap (Figure 6.1) for this phase. The roadmap shows only a few steps needed to be accomplished by the project team members; however, do not be deceived by its simplicity. The amount of work needed at this point is highly focused and concentrated solely on completing test execution and the associated materials needed to document such testing activities.

Figure 6.1: SEP Phase V Roadmap.

The roadmap also shows an iterative process of executing test cases and reporting bugs. The test group executes test cases and documents bugs found in the testing process. The bug reports are reviewed by the developers. The development group then attempts to correct the bugs and resubmits the recoded modules for retest. This iterative process generally continues until all modules have passed all appropriate test cases. It does not, however, guarantee that the program is bug-free.

Testing in this phase ensures that all test cases are executed and work as advertised. Bugs found elsewhere in the system are documented and placed in a hold status until proper classification can occur. These bugs may require new test cases, additional development work, and so on. The main point here is that they are documented and addressed before final delivery is made.

In most organizations, quality processes guide this iteration sequence. Modules are rejected in the test process. The development team receives a notice that something failed. It looks up the details of the failure in the bug tracking or configuration management software. Generally, the lead developer will work with his or her team to fix the problem and validate the fix to their team leader. The team leader will approve the release of the module back into the testing group for retest and subsequent pass or fail status.

Now, back to the roadmap. Once again, the first step in this phase is to review the deliverables checklist for the testing phase. As you can see in Figure 6.2, all of the boxes for this section of the checklist are mandatory. Let's take a look at the first item in Figure 6.2, the Test Plan Checklist.

Figure 6.2: SEP Phase V Deliverables Checklist.

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