Monday, December 28, 2009

Economics of Testing

The cost of faults escalates as we move the product towards field use. If a fault is detected before field use, the cost of rework to correct the fault increases dramatically because more than one previous stage of design, coding and testing may have to be repeated. If the fault occurs during field use, the potential cost of the fault might be catastrophic. If faults present in documentation go un-detected, then development based on that documentation might generate many related faults which multiply the effect of the original one.

Early test design can prevent fault multiplication. Analysis of specifications during test preparation often brings faults in specifications to light.

The cost of testing is generally lower than the cost associated with major faults (such as poor quality product and/or fixing faults), although few organisations have figures to confirm this.

What to consider, based on IEEE 829-1998 Test Plan Outline.
  • Test plan identifier
  • Introduction
  • Test items
  • Features to be tested
  • Features not to be tested
  • Approach
  • Item pass/fail criteria
  • Suspension criteria and resumption requirements
  • Test deliverables
  • Testing tasks
  • Environmental needs
  • Responsibilities
  • Staffing and training needs
  • Schedule
  • Risks and contingencies
  • Approvals

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1 Comments:

At August 18, 2010 at 4:03 AM , Blogger Tee Chess said...

I agree with your opinion that the cost will tend increase as we move further towards the development process. If faults present in documentation go un-detected, then development based on that documentation might generate many related faults and hence more cost to remove them. Software Testing Services

 

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