Why Should You Test Your Application All the Time?

Nowadays, each software application needs to deliver seamless user experience across multiple devices, platforms and browsers to stay popular and profitable. But the performance and user experience of the software is impacted by a number of external factors including systems, processes and infrastructures. No business can exercise control over these external factors affecting its software’s user interface (UI) and user experience (UX). That is why; it becomes essential for businesses to test their software repeatedly and continuously to maintain its quality and user experience.

5 Reasons Why Software Applications Must Be Tested Continuously

1) Shorter Delivery Cycles

A steady increase is being noted in the number of organizations adopting agile project management methodology. The agile methodology emphasizes on short and incremental software delivery cycles. The methodology further requires programmers and testers to work together and concurrently. Once a particular functionality or module of the software is developed, the testers need to assess its quality and share the test results with various stakeholders in the project. The shorter delivery cycles have made it essential for businesses to perform continuous testing.

2) Early Detections of Defects and Bugs

Many studies have highlighted a business can reduce software testing time and cost drastically through continuous testing. When the defects or bugs in an application are detected early, it becomes easier for programmers to get them fixed. As the code is still fresh in their mind, the programmers can work on the defects without putting extra time and effort. Thus, a business can switch from waterfall testing to continuous testing to reduce the defect turnaround time significantly.

3) Overcome Time and Resource Constraints

Most businesses explore ways to enhance test coverage by overcoming constraints related to resources and time. When the software testing commences after the development phase of the project, the testers have to perform the required tests within a stipulated amount of time without affecting the software’s time to market. But when the testers perform continuous testing, it becomes easier for them to complete all tests without requiring any additional time. Hence, continuous testing helps businesses to deliver a flawless software application despite the constraints related to time and resources.

4) Produce High Quality Code

Many enterprises nowadays review source code of software applications to make it safe and secure. The testing model requires the source code of the software to be assessed and reviewed frequently and thoroughly. While reviewing the source code, the testers can identify the pieces of code that may make the application vulnerable to security attacks. A business can always produce high quality code by performing continuous testing. When software is tested continuously, it becomes easier for testers to each and everything in a build. They can even review the source code of the software repeatedly to ensure that the software is not vulnerable to evolving security threats.

5) Essential for Mobile Apps

Nowadays most businesses develop mobile apps by targeting multiple devices and platforms. So they need to ensure that the app deliver quality user experience across many devices and platforms. Likewise, they need to check the application’s user interface across different models of smartphones, tablets and phablets. With mobile operating systems being updated at regular intervals and new mobile apps emerging on a regular basis, it has become essential for businesses to check the mobile app’s performance and user experience continuously. So the businesses must test the mobile apps continuously to accomplish more downloads and higher returns.

Each enterprise can facilitate continuous software testing in a number of ways. It can always provide testers with test automation tools to perform the tests repeatedly and continuously without putting extra time and effort. Likewise, it can adopt continuous integration (CI) methodology to enable the testers to perform the tests accurately and frequently. 

Why Should Organizations Go Agile in Their Testing Approach

The agile project management methodology emphasizes on software applications being developed and tested in rapid and incremental cycles. The model does not consider software development and software testing as two distinct processes. In an agile environment, the programmers and testers have to work together to ensure that the software quality is maintained. The collaboration promotes continuous iteration of development and testing throughout the entire software development life cycle (SDLC).  Each business can reap a number of benefits by adopting the agile software testing model.

Understanding Important Benefits of Agile Testing Methodology

Instantaneous Feedback

In an agile environment, programmers and testers work as a single team. So the entire team is responsible for software quality. The testers can write unit tests each time a new feature or functionality is added to the application, and test the new code almost immediately. Further, they can provide instant feedback to the programmers about defects or bugs in the software. Based on the feedback received from the testers, the programmers can fix the bugs in the same build.

Better and Continuous Communication

In an agile environment, testers have to stay connected with programmers, project managers, customers and other stakeholders in the project. The emphasis on people and interaction results in better and effective communication. The programmers can simply contact the testers to gather more specific and detailed information about the bugs identified by them.  The daily scrum sessions further help the entire team to focus on identifying and fixing important issues in advance.

Easy to Eliminate Major Defects

It becomes easier for programmers to fix the bugs when the defects in the application are identified immediate after the coding phase. As the code it still fresh in the programmer’s mind, he can get the defects fixed without putting any extra time and effort. The instant feedback provided by testers help developers to work on major bugs in the application almost immediately. The business can further avoid additional cost when the bugs are identified during the coding phase.

Easy to Reproduce Bugs

While preparing a bug report, testers have to write detailed and specific information about the bugs identified in the software. They can further reduce the defect turnaround time drastically by reproducing the bugs. But testers have to put additional time and effort to reproduce the bugs. In an agile environment, they test the software once the code is written. So they find time to write detailed bug reports and reproduce the defects accurately. 

Easy to Incorporate Changes

To reap benefits of waterfall software testing, a business has to define the business requirements from the beginning of the project. But software developers nowadays have to build applications based on frequently-changing business requirements. So it becomes impossible for the managers to outline the business requirements clearly before the project starts. But a business can always adopt agile testing methodology to incorporate changes and enhancements required by the client. In an agile environment, applications are developed and tested in short sprints. So the programmer and testers have to focus only on a single sprint with specific features. They can easily accommodate the new business requirements in the next sprint without any hassle.

Enhanced Test Coverage

Often developers have to test software thoroughly without increasing its time to delivery. So they have to prioritize the defects at the time of preparing bug reports. But agile methodology enables testers to perform tests continuously throughout the software development life cycle. Many enterprises even invest in test automation tools to enable testers to repeat the tests under various conditions. Thus, the testers can assess all aspects of the software without affecting the delivery time.

Shorter Delivery Period

Each business has to deliver software continuously and rapidly to make the client happy. Hence, businesses frequently explore ways to shorten the delivery period. Agile methodology emphasize on development and testing of the application in small iterations. So it becomes easier for enterprises to deliver the working software to the client at frequent intervals.  The constant interaction between the testers and customers further resolve various issues and differences without any delay.

However, it is also important for the organization to keep in mind some of the important shortcomings of agile testing model. Likewise, the managers also need to understand when to use the agile testing methodology. But each enterprise can reap benefits in terms of time, quality and cost by implementing a custom agile testing strategy.    

What is the Need to Test Your Retail Apps Frequently?

It is the age of technology and everything we do is related to technology or dependent on it in some way. The advent of technology has hugely aided the way that people used to buy things. Most people are now hooked on to internet shopping which is conducted online via the numerous mobile shopping apps or retail apps that are present. It allows them to browse and order the things they need sitting at home or at office or on the go and the ordered product gets delivered right at their door step. This helps in saving a lot of time and is convenient for most people who are super busy in their lives or for people who are away from their home and require to deliver the products.

One of the best things about conducting business in an age which is primarily mobile centric is the fact that they have a tool for almost everything that is needed. Be it streamlining certain business opportunities or increasing the productivity of the retail app or creating an easier user interface for your customers to deal with, you get a tool for everything.

However to ensure that your app is up and running it is very important that you need to test your app before launching it so that you can ensure complete satisfaction on the customers’ end. It will also ensure that your app increases the profitability of your business based on the ease and productivity and speed as well as security of using your app. It is not enough to test your app only before you launch it. Retail apps should be tested frequently even after being launched. This is due to the fact that the retail apps are used by a huge number of customers each day which makes it prone to development of bugs which may cause problems in the functionality of the app.

The retail apps are usually multi tier in nature and are connected to payment gateways and banking apps so that the customers can make payment of the products they have bought.  This ensures that your app should have top notch security facilities so that it can avoid any kind of fraud that may cause harm to the customers as well as to your reputation. This is one of the major reasons to keep testing the retail apps frequently so that the security facility of the app is never compromised. It also has to safe keep the personal details filled in by your customers while operating your retail app.

With the advancement of the technology you also need to include more and more features in your retail apps in order to enrich the shopping experience of your customers. This also initiates the process of frequent testing of your retail app to make sure that the prevailing functions are in sync with the new ones and work perfectly with the new functions that are included in the retail app. Also your retail app will have varied amount of traffic on each day which will obviously peak during the holidays and occasions when people are prone to exchanging gifts. Frequent load testing of the retail app will make sure that your app doesn’t snag under pressure and even if it does, it can bounce back to its normal functionality as soon as possible without causing much distress to your customers.

We hope to have clarified the need to test your retail apps frequently. It will help you to maintain a healthy app and a loyal customer base. 

Why is Selenium a Good Weapon to Have in Your Arsenal?

When it comes to software testing, every testing organization seeks the help of automated testing tools as it helps in saving both time and money. Software testing is an important part of the whole software development procedure and the cost of the process affects the whole cost of the project. This is why more and more organizations are opting for open source tools rather than investing in commercial tools which cost a lot of money, ultimately increasing the cost of the whole project.

There are a huge number of automated testing tools available for the purpose of testing the various aspects of the software; however, Selenium tops the list. Selenium is becoming more and more popular each day with the testers and the organizations who specialize in testing both functionality and GUI of the web based applications. It is also effective as far as unit testing is concerned in case of JavaScript. Another important fact behind the popularity of the selenium software is the fact that it is supported by immense number of open source developers who are regularly working on the further development of the tool on a regular basis.

So why is selenium a good weapon to have in your arsenal? Here are some reasons to satiate your query.

1.      Selenium is capable of working on almost all the available operating systems which makes it far more popular than the other available automated testing tools out there.
2.      Being an open source automated testing tool, selenium s far more cost effective that the commercial counterparts which are available in the market.
3.      Selenium supports various languages like such as Python, Pearl, and Ruby, PHP, .NET (C #) and Java pretty well. However, in order to perform your task with the selenium tool, knowing just one of the many languages is more than enough.
4.      Selenium is built in a way where it doesn’t depend on any particular scripting language for its workability which is a huge advantage when it comes to software testing. This provides you with the liberty of writing the automated testing script in any language you wish to or prefer. 
5.      Selenium is easy to work with as it functions with equal ease on all the leading and popular browsers like Opera, Safari, Chrome, IE 6, 7, 8 or Mozilla Firefox.
6.      Supported by Google, Selenium is regularly developed by a team of professional and dedicated developers who are trying to make it better every day.
7.      When you use selenium for automated software testing and detecting various elements on your web based software, it uses robust processes like CSS, Xpath, DOM and so on.
8.      When it comes to exerting of frameworks that revolve around Object oriented programming such as Keyword Driven, Data driven and Hybrid, there are no automated tools which can match up to selenium.
9.      Selenium is very well integrated with various open source frameworks like TestNG, JUnit, NUnit and so on which are popular in the software industry.
10.        Selenium proves to be a huge help when it comes to testing software which involves multiple machines or multiple browsers in different machines at the same time. Selenium helps in saving both time and money as it allows easy workability on various different machines at the same time thus allows you to complete large projects which have a limited period of time for completion.

What are you still waiting for? Get selenium in your arsenal and get all the advantages of this awesome tool to test your web based applications now!

The Role of Software Testing in Healthcare

As technology is advancing, the future is becoming more and more inclined on its use. The case is no different in the healthcare industry where the professionals are becoming more dependent on the use of technology to save data about the patients as well as the various medical staff that are present for serving these patients. More and more technology is being used in healthcare for the purpose of storing information and integrating various data from various resources to ensure that the patients get top service without much hassle. This makes software testing an important part of healthcare software development in order to ensure that the data are safe and software are efficient to handle such huge and complex process.

It is quite obvious that the healthcare industry requires saving a lot of information such as medical plans, enrolments and annual contracts that are required to be recorded for a long period of time and are regularly updated. This requires the healthcare apps to be pretty complex in nature and containing multiple tiers. These can lead to complexities related to data integration which needs to be resolved before providing the software to the professionals to be used without any problems. Here comes the role of software testing in healthcare.

1. Software testing plays a role in the healthcare industry in order to ensure that the huge multi tier system is up and running at all times and does not succumb under pressure. It also guarantees quick comeback of the systems even if it snags.
2. Healthcare industries often have to face a huge surge of traffic inflow in case of any calamities or mishaps which will automatically increase the load on the software system used by it. Software testing ensures that the software performs equally well even in such cases.
3. Healthcare industries often have to face prolonged period of work without any possible break which is at times accompanied by an increased amount of load. This is extended to the software as well. The role of software testing in healthcare is to make sure that the software performs brilliantly during these prolonged work periods.
4. Software testing makes sure that the system integration in the healthcare industry doesn’t cause any major problems. Healthcare industry often requires system integration for the collaboration of data or in order to maintain a constant flow of data between systems so that the records are well maintained and the system runs smoothly.
5. Impacts of cross system on the applications used in the healthcare industry requires software testing for checking.
6. Software testing plays an important role in the healthcare industry by checking the interdependency of the various software which are frequent in the industry to ensure that they are functioning smoothly and causes no problems.
7. Healthcare industry uses software to store a lot of vital and personal information of the patients which if breached and hacked into can give rise to fatal consequences. Software testing helps in maintaining the security of these various systems used.
8. Software testing helps in maintain an easy user interface of the applications used in healthcare so that they can be handles by people who are not pro at the utilization of same.

These are some of the top most methods by which software testing helps the healthcare industry by helping the developers to create apps that are completely secure in nature and will help the professionals to save all the data and integrate the various files which would take a lot of labor if done in a manual manner. 

Exploratory Testing and Business Values Delivered

A gradual increase is being noted in the number of businesses switching from scripted testing to exploratory testing. The conventional scripted testing approach requires the active test cases to be designed in advance, with clearly defined processes and expected results. The predesigned tests are used by testers to compare the actual test results with expected results. So the testers must be provided with adequate information to execute the tests and interpret the test results effectively.

But exploratory testing approach emphasizes on concurrent test designing and execution. It further requires businesses to deploy skilled software testers, and allows testers to become more imaginative and exploratory. While performing exploratory testing, the QA professionals have autonomy to decide what tests to perform next, and how to prioritize tests due to time constraints. So a business can avail a number of benefits by adopting the modern software testing approach.

What Makes Businesses Switch from Scripted Testing to Exploratory Testing?

Defects are Found Quickly

The predesigned test scripts restrict professionals’ imagination and creativity. When the testers have adequate information about the software to be tested and use the predesigned test scripts, they do not come up with fresh and innovative ideas. Exploratory testing requires them to design and execute tests concurrently. So they can learn and improve continuously, while coming up with new ideas and innovative ways to solve problems.

Accommodate Individual Testing Approaches

Exploratory testing approach requires enterprises to deploy skilled and experienced QA professionals. So each tester can analyze the specific problem in a particular way. The members of the team can further suggest various ways to test a particular feature or functionality of the software.  So the same aspect of the application can be tested in a number of ways. The different approaches effectuate testing, and help testers to identify all flaws in the software.

Allow Testers to Control the Testing Process

The scripted testing approach differentiates the process of test design and test execution. So an enterprise has option to deploy different teams to design and execute tests. Also, the testers need adequate product information and detailed business requirements to execute the tests effectively. So the testers fail to execute tests if the test cases are not designed in advance or they are not familiar with the application. But exploratory testing enables testers to design and execute tests concurrently. They can easily gather the required information, and design and test cases in each situation. 

Freedom to Follow Leads

Nowadays testers have to test all aspects of the software within a shorter amount of time. So they find it daunting to read, understand and execute predesigned test scripts. Most modern testers prefer designing and executing tests in parallel without referring to any predesigned test cases. Further, they want to deploy the limited time in finding bugs instead of reading and understanding test cases. The absence of predefined constraints further enables testers to identify bugs in the software by following all promising leads.

Facilitates Agile Testing

Many businesses nowadays adopt agile methodology to reduce software testing time and cost significantly. But the delivery cycles in agile project is extremely short. Further, the developers and testers have to collaborate with each other deliver a flawless software application. So the businesses are no longer required to deploy skilled professionals to make test plans, design test cases, and manage defects in the software. When a business adopts exploratory testing approach, it becomes easier for it to design and execute test cases concurrently without deploying any additional professionals. So exploratory testing helps businesses to reap benefits of agile project management methodologies.

On the whole, the exploratory testing approach is completely different from conventional scripted testing approach. But companies like Microsoft have proved that both testing approaches are compatible with each other, and can also be used on a single project. So a business has option to either adopt exploratory testing model or use both testing models simultaneously. 

What are the Upcoming Testing Challenges for IoT?

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Okay! It is high time we face the fact that the world is majorly running on mobile devices in the current days. Along with the boom in the field of mobile devices, there has been (obviously!) a boost in the mobile app development which is closely followed by the development of IoT. Soon the world will come to a situation where all things like cars, entertainment devices, transport systems,  robots, HVAC systems, computers, wearable, etc. and things that, till date, have not had electronics until we put it in them e.g., shoes, hardcopy paper, clothes, furniture, pets, back-of-your-neck, etc. will be provided with IP addressed devices.

So what is this so talked about IoT? IoT or Internet of Things, is the basically nothing but the physical objects or “things” to which electronics, software, network connectivity, and sensors have been integrated, to create a network, so as to give them the power to exchange data among each other.

Now, coming to the point! Like all new kids on the block, IoT too has to face many challenges and barriers before it can become successful and hugely popular. Following are some of the major upcoming challenges faced by the QA team while testing IoT.

1. Cost: Multiple devices means all of them have to be brought together in testing environment and a multi tier environment has to be created. This becomes a very costly affair and requires huge efforts to be recreated.
2. Interrelated Systems: The subsystems, sub-components, and services are all interrelated for proper functioning of the IoT and are usually controlled by third party. If the testers are unable to reach any one of the systems, the whole software testing procedure fails and hence is a huge challenge for the QA team.
3. Multiple Teams: Multiple devices results in multiple fields of specializations which in turn requires multiple teams who are specialized in respective field to work simultaneously on the testing task.
4. Testing Tools: IoT is comparatively new. Hence, the testing tools of the system are not well developed which makes it difficult for the testers to perform the procedures due to the inadequacy.
5. Sensor quality and Accuracy: When multiple devices are involved, it is obvious that all will not be of the same quality which makes testing of the various IoT devices quite troublesome.
6. Compatibility Issues: There will be many devices which are unique in their own way with their own functionality which make them hugely different from the other. Hence compatibility of the different devices will be challenging.
7. Complexity: With the multi tier devices as well as software, complexities are pretty common to occur when all the devices are to be integrated together to form one large device of many parts.
8. Connectivity Issues: All the systems need to be connected well with each other for proper functioning.
9. Power Problems: When so many physical objects are running together in an integrated manner, power is obviously a huge issue.
10. Security / Privacy Issues: IoT operates through remote sensors which increase the chances of breaching privacy or security a lot easier. This will be one of the major upcoming problems for the testers.
11. Safety Concerns: The IoT is integrating many devices together which open up further chances of entry points by malwares. The increase in the layer of the software in turn increases the complexities of safety issues.

These are some of the most sought after challenges in the field of IoT testing which needs to be attended at once for proper development of the same.

Understanding JMeter and Its Usage in Software Testing

Load testing helps enterprises to deploy software applications effectively, and eliminate chances of downtime and failure in future. But testers need to load test the application by emulating a large number of users and under various conditions to obtain its key performance indicators (KPIs). That is why, many professionals use load testing tools to obtain the software’s KPIs by easily emulating a large number of users simultaneously. As an open source load testing tool, JMeter helps testers to assess the performance of a variety of web applications without increasing project overheads. However, its features and functionality also make JMeter a widely used load testing tool.

Why Many Software Testers Prefer JMeter to Other Load Testing Tools?

Pure Java Application

Unlike other load testing tools, JMeter is designed as a pure Java desktop application. So the users can download zip file, and setup the open source tool in a straightforward way. Further, they have option to run the tool on various operating systems that support Java. As most platforms currently support Java, the load testing tool can be setup and run across major operating systems including Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.

Assess both Static and Dynamic Resources

To evaluate the performance of a website effectively, testers need to assess all its resources. JMeter enables users to test both static and dynamic resources used by the software. They can use the tool to test various static resources including   HTML, CSS and JavaScript. Likewise, it can also be used for testing a variety of dynamic resources PHP, ASP.NET, Java Servlets, Java objects, CGI scripts, FTP servers and databases.

Perform both Load and Stress Tests

The testers can further use JMeter to perform both load tests and stress tests. They can assess the application’s performance under varying loads by simulating the number of users expected to access the website simultaneously. At the same time, JMeter also helps testers to determine the maximum load capacity of the web server. So they can easily identify when the web application will start responding to user request slowly or produce errors.

Supports Most Protocols and Servers

JMeter can also be used to load test and stress test a variety of applications as it supports most of the commonly used protocols and servers. At present, the load testing tools support HTTP, HTTPS, TCP, FTP, SOAP, REST, LDAP, SMPT, POP3 and IMAP. Likewise, it also supports databases through JDBC, NoSQL through MangoDB, and native commands and shell scripts. Thus, the testers can use a single tool to assess the performance of various modern websites and web applications. 

Pluggable Architecture

The architecture of JMeter is built based on plug-ins. Some of its commonly used features are implemented through plug-ins. So it becomes easier for testers to manipulate the testing tool through these plug-ins. Also, they can easily enhance its features and functionality by building custom plug-ins. 

Simple Option to Build Test Cases

Often QA professionals have to put additional time and effort for building effective test plans. But JMeter makes enables users to create test plans by following some simple steps.  For instance, the testers can create test plans for testing SOAP layers simply by mentioning the URLs and SOAP requests. They also have option to extend the basic test plans by incorporating parameters, variables, counters, logs, loops and CSV files. They can further refer to the comprehensive documentation posted on its website to manage and maintain the test scripts efficiently.

Generates Informative Test Reports

The programmers need informative test reports to fix the performance issues quickly. Likewise, clear and elaborate performance testing reports help managers to take a number of crucial decisions. JMeter enables testers to present the requests and response in text, HTML or XML format. Also, they can use the Aggregate Graph component of the tool to present the test results more clearly with graphs and statistics.  Also, they can take advantage of the Display Graph option to present the performance statistics through appealing graphs.

Despite being an open source load testing tool, JMeter is being updated at regular intervals. The most recent version of JMeter enables testers to determine the amount of time required by the software to establish connection with the sever using a new parameter called connect Time. Likewise, JMeter 2.13 allows users to customize both aggregate report and aggregate graph. These new features make JMeter score over other open source and commercial load testing tools available in the market.

Metrics to Measure Quality of Software that was tested

Nowadays most enterprises invest in various tools and frameworks to effectuate and speed up their software testing efforts. But each business still needs to measure the quality of software after the testing process is over. As standards of measurement, metrics are commonly used by businesses to assess the quality of the software and effectiveness of the testing process. Thus, the managers can use the metrics to take crucial decisions related to release of the software. The software metrics can be divided into three broad categories, i.e., coverage, progress and quality. A business needs to use metrics belonging to these three categories to assess the quality of the software effectively.

Metrics Used Commonly to Assess the Quality of Software

Test Coverage: It belongs to the category of coverage metrics. The test coverage metric helps manager to assess the quality of the software based on planned test coverage. The manager can calculate the percentage of test cases executed by using the following formula. 

(Total number of test procedures/Total number of test requirements) *100

System Coverage: The system coverage metric also falls under the category of coverage metric. A manager can calculate system coverage metric to analyze the test coverage at the system interface level.

Test Procedure Execution: As part of progress metrics, test procedure metric helps manager to determine the extent of the pending or outstanding testing efforts. The status of test procedure execution can be ascertained using the following formula.

Number of executed test procedures/ Total number of test procedures

Error Discovery Rate: Both error discovery rate and defect density are calculated using a single formula. The progress metric helps managers to take rational decisions related to the application’s release. A manager can calculate the error discovery rate metric by dividing the number of defects identified by total number of test procedures executed.

Defect Aging: It is also important for the manager to determine the turnaround time for a defect. As part of progress metric, defect aging metric helps manager to decide the amount of time required to fix the defects identified during testing process. He can calculate the defect aging metric by deducing the date defect was identified from the date defect was fixed.

Defect Fix Retest: The manager also need to check if the application is retested quickly and effectively after the identified defects are fixed. As a progress metric, defect fix retest metric helps managers to decide the amount of time required to release the new build. The metric is calculated by deducting the date of retesting the software from the release date of the new build.

Quality of Fixes: The managers also need to assess a variety of development issues to assess the quality of the software accurately. They can assess the quality of defects fixed by the programmers by dividing the number of defects reopened by the total number of defects fixed. The metric will help manager to understand the impact of bug fixes on other functionality of the software.

Software Problem Reports: The manager also needs to understand the total number of defects identified during the testing process and their significance. So he needs to break down the number of defects identified by priority. Once the defects are organized based on their priority, it will be easier for him to check if all crucial defects are fixed and the application is retested.

Test Efficiency: As a quality metric, test efficiency helps managers to assess the effectiveness of software testing efforts.  A manager can calculate the test efficiency metric by dividing the total number of required tests by the number of system errors.

Test Effectiveness: While assessing the quality of the software, the manager needs to check the effectiveness of tests conducted by the testers. He must analyze the test reports to find out the number of defects identified during the testing process.  The information will help him to assess the effectiveness of tests quantitatively.

Many managers include the quality metrics in the project from the very beginning to obtain accurate and relevant information about the quality of the software through test reports.   However, the managers must include a variety of metrics in the project to assess the quality of the application and testing efforts effectively.

Ways in Which Software Testing is Helpful for Healthcare Industry

Technology has been advancing in leaps and bounds in the recent eras. All aspects of the human life are now depended on technology in some way or the other. Human life is badly intertwined with the technology and the scenario is no different with the healthcare industry. Healthcare industry uses technology pretty heavily these days in order to maintain information about the patients and related officials and other required details of the industry. This makes testing of the software used in the healthcare industry an absolute must which will ensure that the software is foolproof and will cause no problems when being used.

Healthcare industry is reputed for the use of software which are highly complex in nature and usually contain multiple tiers which are used to integrate variety of information like that of medical plans, enrollments and annual contracts which are to be regularly updated and maintained for long periods of time. All these complexities often lead to data integration complexities which are to be taken care of before releasing them for the use by healthcare professionals so that the data can be safe with them and no data would be lost due to the bugs or glitches.

1. Software testing ensures that the multi-tier system of the software used in the healthcare industry is up and running at all time and springs back to its original form even after snagging under pressure.
2. Via software testing it can be made sure that the various software used by the professionals of the healthcare industry provide equally brilliant results even if there is extra load dumped on them due to any kind of mishap.
3. The software used in the healthcare industry for various purposes, may have to perform tasks continuously for an extended period of time without any possible break. Software testing ensures that these prolonged working periods do not cause any trouble with the performance of the software.
4. The healthcare industry often have to integrate multiple systems together in order to collaborate the data stored in all the systems or in order to maintain a constant flow of data between these systems. The proper integration of these systems are ensured by the implementation of software testing procedures.
5. Software testing helps in checking the cross system impacts on the performance of the applications used in healthcare industry.
6. One of the most important parts of the software used in healthcare industry is the inter dependency of the various apps or software used in the industry, which is checked by the software testing procedures.
7. Just like in the banking industry, the software to be used in healthcare industry are also at a risk of being breached which can give rise to fatal consequences. Software testing ensures that these types of security glitches are avoided.
8. At times the software of the healthcare industry needs to be handled by people who are not very apt with the usage. Software testing ensures that the applications are user friendly.

These are some of the top most ways which software testing ensures that the healthcare industry is benefited from a good software and continues its journey to serve the mankind on a whole. We hope to have made you realize the importance of the various software testing procedure in the success of a healthcare industry software so that you introduce the various processes as early as possible in the software development life cycle in order to provide your customers with a software devoid of all kinds of possible bugs and glitches.

Prioritizing Bugs - How do Testers Decide?

Nowadays, testers have to test all aspects of a software application within a stipulated amount of time. The time constraint makes it essential for the professionals to understand the importance of each bug, and prioritize it for resolution. That is why; testers often find it challenging to prioritize the bugs based on their importance, and required turnaround time.

It is a common practice among QA professionals to prioritize all bugs according to four distinct levels, i.e., critical, high, medium and low. The critical bugs prevent the testers to from continuing testing beyond a particular point. So the maximum turnaround time for such bugs is 24 hours.  The high priority bugs affect the normal functionality of the software at the users end, and must be fixed before its release.

The medium priority bugs affect the performance and user experience of the applications, and can be fixed after its release. The low priority bugs do not have a huge impact on the application’s performance, and can be postponed due to time constraints. However, the testers must keep in mind some common best practices while prioritizing bugs.

Common Best Practices Testers Follow while Prioritizing Bugs for Resolution

Label Security Bugs as Critical

The bugs affecting user data will have a direct impact on the application’s popularity and profitability. There are also chances that the security issues will increase the business’s legal liability. So the testers must prioritize the security risks related to user data, and ensure that such bugs are fixed immediately.

Focus on Frequency of Occurrence

Some defects in the software occur sporadically, whereas others occur more frequently. The bugs occurring more frequently often results in software failure and affect the user experience negatively. The QA professionals can easily identify the bugs that occur frequently based on the bug report and problem tickets. These defects must be fixed in the next build to enhance the application’s performance and user experience.  

Look for Bugs disrupting Business Activities

Certain software applications are designed with features to help businesses accomplish specific objectives like process improvement. So the bugs disrupting the business process or activities must be resolved immediately. The testers must refer to the key performance indicators (KPIs) to identify the bugs that affect specific features or functionality of the application, and hence prevent the business from accomplishing certain tasks or objectives smoothly.    

Identify the Bugs affecting User Experience

Nowadays the popularity and profitability of a software application is directly linked to its user experience. So any bugs affecting the application’s user experience will have a negative impact on revenues. Often bugs found in the software’s user interface (UI) affect the user experience negatively. The QA professionals must refer to the KPIs to identify such bugs, and mark them as high-priority items for resolution.

Prioritize Bugs Impacting the Traffic or Revenue

Often the major key points of a project are impacted by specific bugs. For instance, some bugs can affect the website’s performance, user signup, click-through rates, and similar important metrics negatively. So these bugs will have an adverse impact on the revenue generated by the web application. The testers must get the bugs resolved in the same release to prevent the website from losing more traffic and revenue. 

Isolate the Defects

It is always important for the testers to prioritize the bugs according to the severity of their impacts. They can easily determine the severity of the impact by isolating individual bugs. The bugs affecting the software’s key feature and functionality must be fixed urgently. On the other hand, the bugs affecting the rarely used features can be fixed during the next build. So the testers need to analyze the impact of each bug individually to categorize them properly.

The QA professionals must remember that bug prioritization is a subjective decision. The best practices and guidelines for bug prioritization will differ from one project to another. So they must identify the severity of each defect to prioritize the bugs effectively for resolution.

Importance of Testing Applications across Devices & Browsers

If you are aiming at winning the hearts of your customers with the software you have developed, the safest way to do so is by implementing software testing procedure on the same so as to detect the probable bugs and glitches and rectify them.

Since it was discovered, technology has always been a blessing to mankind. With its advancement, it has offered people with ample choice or both devices and browsers through which they can access and utilize a particular app according to their convenience. This has made cross browser and device testing of application an absolute must part of the whole software testing process in order to make sure that the developed application works equally well in all the browsers or devices. This in turn ensures satisfaction of the customers.

When you are developing an application, your target should be to provide your customers with the best possible performance along with awesome security system, so that your customers are head over heels in love with your application. This can be done only by testing the application’s performance in various kinds of devices and browsers which are majorly used by the real time users. Although there are multiple tools available for cross device or browser testing, yet it is better to test them manually because these tools though can perform test in multiple browser or device simultaneously, tends to treat all of them in similar manner, which is not needed at times. While testing the apps manually, you can take into consideration the uniqueness of each of the devices and browsers along with your app and the parts of it to check if they are compatible with each other or not so that you can tweak it accordingly.

Features like Applets, JavaScript, Flash, AJAX requests and more are what contribute to making a browser different from the second one, similar is the cases with the devices that are used. This uniqueness of the devices and browsers makes the application you have developed perform in different ways in different browsers or devices producing varying outcomes. However, it is desirable that your application will perform equally in all the devices or browsers, without any discrimination so that your customers are given ample choices to choose from and also so that you get a customer base. This is what makes testing applications across devices and browsers very important so that your customers do not have to suffer due to their choice of browsers or devices and so that you do not have to suffer the consequences of their choice by compromising on the popularity of your application.

It is quite obvious that you will target the majority while you are developing applications to be launched. This is why it is but natural that you will focus more on the most popular browsers and apps while you are testing your application for its performance in cross browsers and devices in order to make sure that your app and all its parts provides equally awesome performance and security service in all of them. However, it won’t be very wise to neglect the less used counterparts completely. Also while you are manually testing your application, take the various operating systems of the devices into consideration along with the built and other aspects so as to ensure all round performance of it.

So that’s a gist of the importance of testing applications across devices and browsers. We hope to have made you realize the need for the process in order to make your app popular and wanted among customers.

Internet of Things and Its Impact on Software Testing Industry

As a network of physical objects, Internet of Things (IoT) enables a wide variety of devices to collect and exchange data through sensors, software applications, and network connections. The environment provides each device with a unique identifier, and allows various devices to collect and exchange data over a network through machine-to-machine interaction. The machine-to-machine communication will make the devices both smart and complex. Also, the interaction will have a huge impact on the software testing industry as most devices will use specialized software applications and tools to collect and exchange data with each other.

Assessing Major Impacts of Internet of Things on Software Testing

Strong Testing Strategy

The conventional software testing strategies normally focus on specific devices, operating systems and web browsers.  But businesses have to focus on embedded software while making strategy to test IoT applications.  They have to ensure that all aspects of the application are tested thoroughly and in many environments. At the same time, the testing strategy must emphasis on unit testing, continuous integration, clear requirements, complete test coverage, lean test plans, detailed user stories, and informative test reports. The conventional testing strategies have to be completely revamped to deliver a flawless IoT application. 

Emphasis on Cloud-based Applications

The devices will communicate with each other over the internet, and through software applications and sensors. Most devices in future will be designed with sensors. In addition to making it smarter, the sensor will further enable the device to gather, measure, and analyze data. But the sensors are completely different from conventional machines. The enterprises have to build the right infrastructure to leverage the information collected through sensors. Many businesses will soon rely on cloud-based applications to interpret and exchange the data collected by sensors. So IoT will require testers to assess a variety of cloud-based applications to check the effectiveness of sensors and embedded software.    

Focus on Usability, Performance and Security Testing

IoT will make it essential for enterprises to emphasis on usability, performance and security testing of IoT applications. Normally, the next generation applications will sport a minimal design, with smaller controls or buttons. So the testers must perform usability testing to ensure that the users can operate the device in a quick and convenient way. Likewise, the testers have to perform elaborate performance testing to assess the application’s performance under varying internet connections. As the application will gather and exchange data over the internet, the testers need to ensure that it detects, collects and stores data despite disruptive internet connection. At the same time,   the professionals also need to perform security testing to protect the IoT environment from various security threats. The security testing will include emphasis on assessing the strength of passwords and effectiveness of encryption techniques.

Test Automation becomes Essential

The QA professionals have to perform a variety of tests to assess the functionality and performance of an IoT application accurately. They also need to repeat certain tests to assess the application under different conditions or based on various parameters. So enterprises have to automate the manual testing efforts to increase test coverage and complete all required tests within a shorter amount of time. The test automation tools will further help users to evaluate code coverage and interoperability of devices without putting any extra time and effort. Likewise, the emulators and simulators will help the enterprise to test IoT applications across many devices without investing in real devices and hardware.

Need for New Testing Tools and Frameworks

The businesses cannot rely on conventional software testing tools and frameworks to test applications accurately in the IoT environment. They will need test automation tools designed specifically for testing sensors, cloud-based applications, and embedded systems. Likewise, they will also need tools to assess the application’s performance across many devices, platforms and networks. The managers will also be required to pick the right test automation tools to assess custom and complex IoT applications.  Many companies are expected to launch specialized test automation tools by targeting the IoT environment.

On the whole, businesses have to explore innovative ways to test software applications developed for the Internet of Things environment. Also, the testers will need advanced and customized tools to assess effectiveness of the software application to facilitate communication and data exchange between a variety of devices.  

Cross Browser Testing and Its Importance

The success of a particular software rides a lot on the software testing procedures that are implemented on the same. This is due to the fact that software testing enables the detection of bugs or glitches that are the possible causes of dissatisfaction of the customers.

With the advancement of technology, people have been offered with the liberty of choosing from a number of various browsers from which they can access any particular app. This has made cross browser testing a very important part of the software testing life cycle where, the whole software along with its integrated parts, is tested for compatibility in multiple major browsers which can be used by the customers or real time users to access the same in order to ensure equally great performance in all of them.

The best way to perform cross browser testing of any app is to do it manually. Yes! There are many tools available which allows the testers to perform cross browser testing, but there is a chance that these tools will treat all the browsers in the same manner, while testing the app simultaneously in multiple browsers, which is not desirable at times. While you are manually performing the cross browser testing you can take into consideration the various aspects and uniqueness of the various browsers and check the desired outcome of the app or website in them separately. But before you start performing the cross browser testing of your app or website, list down all the qualities of the software that you need to be checking so that you don’t miss any of the points while testing the performance on multiple software that are usually used by the customers to access various apps and websites.

Just as one app or website is different from the other on various fronts, similar is the case with the various browsers which are usually used to operate the various apps or websites. Features like Applets, JavaScript, Flash, AJAX requests and more are what make each browser unique in its own way. These are also the factors which affect the performance and desired outcome of the apps and websites which are being accessed through them. The various browsers can affect the work ability of the whole app or website or the various parts which it is made up of. Cross browser testing ensures that the app or website performs equally well in all these browsers. The advancement of technology has not only allowed us to choose among various browsers but also presented us with the liberty to choose among various devices through which we can operate the said application. This further accentuates the importance of cross browser testing.

Performing cross browser testing helps in making sure that the application is working perfectly and as desired in all the browsers and devices available in the market. It is important to focus on the browsers with the maximum popularity rating while performing cross browser testing, however, the lesser known browsers should not be neglected and specially the browsers used by majority of the target customers. It is also to be remembered that the various versions of the same browser also plays an important role in the performance of a certain app or website. The various operating systems that are available also should be taken into consideration while performing cross browser testing.

So, that’s an overview of cross browser testing and its importance in the success of a app or a website. We hope to have satiated all your queries about cross browser testing and provided you with satisfactory answers. 

How to Effectively Conduct Bug Reporting for New QA Testers?

The bug reports prepared by testers help managers to take a number of crucial decisions. So the managers need clear, detailed and informative bug reports. But often the reports prepared by beginners do not provide adequate information about the defects or flaws in the software application to the programmers and managers. Sometimes the inadequate and ambiguous information even affects the outcome of the software testing project. That is why, it is important for both experienced testers and beginners to keep in mind some simple points to conduct bug reporting effectively. 

Simple Ways to Prepare Better Bug Reports

Describe Each Step in the Process

The beginners must break down the process of identifying a defect. In addition to mentioning the series of steps taken till the bug is identified, they also need to mention both expected and actual results. When each step in the experience is described, it will be easier for the programmers to fix the bugs based on specific details. Likewise, the expected and actual results will help testers to check if the bug is fixed successfully.

Don’t Analyze the Bugs

Often testers have to analyze and prioritize bugs according to their severity and impact on the application’s functionality. But they need not prioritize bugs while preparing the bug report. The primary objective of the report is to bring all bugs into the system. So the report must convey detailed and specific information about each bug identified during the testing process. The testers must include all bugs in the report regardless of their significance, frequency of occurrence, and severity.

Provide Specific Information

The testers can easily reduce the defect turnaround time by providing specific information about each bug in the report. For instance, while reporting a defect found in a web application, they must clearly describe the page URL, user account details and login credentials. Likewise, they can provide more specific information about the bugs by providing screenshots. The screenshot will complement the description of the bug included in the report, and help programmers to understand the issue clearly.

Reproduce the Bugs

The professionals can further conduct bug reporting effectively by reproducing the bugs. However, the performance and functionality of an application can be impacted by a number of factors during the testing process. So they need to identify and reproduce only those bugs that are persistent and occur frequently. While reproducing a bug, the testers can easily identify the exact steps in the experience, and supplement the details by providing screenshots.

Focus Exclusively on Facts

Often beginners tend to speculate about the source and effect of a defect. The speculative information makes it difficult for programmers to understand and fix the bugs quickly. So the testers must focus only on facts while preparing the bug report. They must report facts about the bug objectively, and avoid trying to speculate about nature and source of the problem.

Make Subjects Descriptive

Often programmers identify and track each issue based on its subject. So the testers must write the subject in a clear and descriptive way. The subject must convey information about the issues in a simple and unambiguous way. When the subject is accurate and descriptive, it becomes easier for programmers to identify and understand the source of the problem. Thus, descriptive subjects used in the bug reports can reduce defect turnaround time drastically.

Assign a Number to Each Bug Report

Normally, testers have to prepare several bug reports while testing a single software application.  So they need to differentiate the reports from each other. When the testers assign a unique number to each bug report, it becomes easier for them to track individual reports efficiently. Further, they   can easily update the status of each report once the defects are fixed. Some testing tools even allow users to add unique ids to various bug reports simply by changing the configuration.

On the whole, the testers need to prepare informative bug reports to reduce the defect turnaround time drastically. Instead of following a predefined template or format, the testers must focus on conveying detailed and clear information about the bugs identified during the testing process. They can even consider reproducing the bugs before preparing bug reports to make it easier for programmers to eliminate the defects in the software application.