A flawed software application can have a huge impact on the developer’s revenue, credibility and reputation in the longer run. So before delivering the software to the client, each company needs to ensure that it is working flawlessly and meeting all requirements or specification of the client. There are many instances when minor flaws in software have resulted in both human and monetary loss. That is why; software testing has already becomes an integral and significant part of the software development life cycle (SDLC).
The agile software development principles further do not consider software development and software testing as two separate processes. The agile methodology emphasizes on the programmers and testers working as a single team, and work together to improve the quality of the software. As an integral part of SDLC, software testing process aims to assess the completeness, correctness and quality of the software before its delivery. At the same time, the test results help businesses to check if the software meets all requirements or specifications of the client.
Why Software Testing is Important for Modern Businesses?
A number of studies have indicated that the cost of fixing bugs in the software increases, if they are not identified and fixed early. When the defects or bugs in the software are detected early, it becomes easier for programmers to eliminate them. That is why; most companies nowadays introduce testing in early phases of SDLC. They further deploy independent QA professionals to assess the software during various stages of development.
Nowadays, IT companies to develop custom and mission-critical software applications. A minor bug in the mission-critical software application can result in both financial and human losses. For instance, a minor flaw in the software used by an aircraft can result in irreparable losses. That is why; the IT company must perform a variety of tests to identify and eliminate all defects, bugs or flaws in the application before it is delivered to the client.
Each modern user has option to choose from thousands of identical software applications. So to keep the users interested and engaged, each enterprise must deliver high quality software. When the software is tested thoroughly and repeatedly, its quality can be assesses more effectively. Based on the test result, the company can launch a high quality product that will stay in the market in the longer run.
Software testing further becomes essential for businesses due to the differences between the development and production environments. While developing the product, programmers focus mainly on its features and functionality. But the features and functionality will have different effect on individual users. When the application is assessed in the testing environment, it becomes easier for QA professionals to assess the user experience accurately. As testing environment and production environment are identical, the performance of the software can be assessed more accurately.
Often clients require developers to include new features in the software during different phases of development. Each time a new feature or functionality is added to the application, the code needs to be tested thoroughly. The QA professionals perform regression testing to ensure that both legacy and new features are working flawlessly. The tests will further help the business to assess the quality of the updated product before it goes live.
The modern websites and web applications must be compatible with multiple operating systems, devices and web browsers. So the enterprises must assess the web application’s performance on various devices, platforms and browsers. The seasoned testers use advanced tools to assess the website’s compatibility across multiple platforms and devices. The test results further help developers to make changes to the code to enhance the website’s compatibility and accessibility.
Many businesses deploy independent QA professionals to protect their goodwill in the competitive market. The online forums and social networks have made it easier for modern users to highlight the defects or flaws in a particular software application. So the enterprise needs to ensure that the end user detects no bugs of flaws. When the software is tested thoroughly, the chances of bugs detected by users are eliminated. Thus, software testing will help developers to impress users and stay in the business over a longer period of time.
With more and more businesses adopting agile development methodologies, software development and testing have now become inseparable processes. Each business has to invest in comprehensive software testing to get higher returns, enhance its reputation, and retain clients.
Mindfire Testing Practice has a unique combination of skilled software engineering & testing teams with proven expertise in testing tools and methodologies for a wide range of solutions. If you have any testing requirements and are looking for an ideal IT partner offering expert QA/Testing services, send in your queries to sales at Mindfire Solutions dot com and we would get back to you in 72 hours.
Software testing is a pretty new kid on the block which is slowly becoming an integral part of the software development lifecycle. While it is still a huge debate whether or not the software testing procedure actually helps in saving money or not, its importance is becoming clearer day by day. Contrary to a popular myth, software testing actually ends up saving a lot of company money, time as well as hassle by detecting errors which can then be rectified before the product has been in production or shelved. It also helps in the process of maintaining customer satisfaction by providing them with quality products with a minimal bug level.
Although most people think that software developers are capable enough to test particular software and no external team is required to do the same, thus saving up, in reality qualified testing professionals are a different lot of people altogether. These people have a whole different outlook as compared to the developers and variable skills. Software testing is actually a lot more than just clicking away on an application to just check whether it is working well or not. Also, it is less likely that the developers will detect their own flaws. The software developers are trained to detect bugs and performance issues and do it with perfect ease.
It is best to hire an independent testing company for your software application from the very beginning of the developmental process. This will help in detecting any flaws that are created from the beginning itself so that the errors don’t pile up at the end of the process. Continuous detection of the flaws will also help in the continuous rectification and thus in strengthening the whole application.
Apart from being perfectly safe and reliable with your software application, the independent testing company will also provide you with a range of services which will ensure maximum test coverage. Another huge advantage of hiring an independent testing company for your software application is the fact that they are dedicated to software testing only and are pro at the job. So you won’t have to take a headache of the process and yet your job will be done with perfection, allowing your staff to concentrate solely on the developmental procedure.
When you have decided to hire an independent testing company for your software application, make sure that you do a background check on the company to get a hang of their reputation or the quality of service they provide. These companies usually maintain confidentiality so that your application is absolutely safe with them and since they are good at their job, so you are secure on the service front too. You should check for their experience too. While instructing them about the work, be absolutely clear on what you expect to see as a result of the testing procedure. These companies are very fierce when it comes to safeguarding the client’s data and they usually a pretty updated and fierce security system so that the critical information of the client’s application is not leaked in any way.
Now that you are absolutely sure about the safety of hiring an independent testing company for your software application, you can now choose from the array of service providers available, so that they fit your requirements and create bug free software.
Whether or not to have an independent testing team is no more a bone of contention. However, outsourcing it or having an in-house team is most certainly a topic for debate. After weighing in your pros and cons, if you decide to go ahead with outsourcing software testing, then Mindfire Solutions has to be your ultimate choice. With the entire gamut of offshore software testing services provided by Mindfire Solutions, you can never go wrong by choosing them for QA of your software products.
“Lack of Proper Planning is the biggest mistake of testers. Planning makes everything near to perfect if not perfect. Many times, we find software testers don't have any prior planning for their test case instead they directly jump for the Testing procedure. Unplanned Testing means dread of bogus application and that happens with 99% practical scenario. So, testers need to plan their Testing approach from the very beginning so that they can build a strong Testing approach for the application architecture that will definitely help them in executing the process in a well-organized manner. Moreover, they should study each and every module of the software application and accordingly prepare their plan to test those modules. Every module differs from other and so their Testing approach should be different. Let’s see the rest 9 common mistakes that a Software Tester makes during the Testing process”.
Lack of proper communication with Client and other resources:
Usually, testers remain idle most of the time during the development process of the application. But, this is really a serious concern. Usually, client changes his requirements in between and the Project Manager discusses the same with the developers. If the tester remains isolated from the system, then he will be unaware about the modified or revised requirements of the client and this will definitely create trouble while testing the application as per his previous or outdated knowledge. So, it’s the duty of the tester to take participate in the client communication so that he will remain in touch with the application throughout the development process.
Overlooking the UML (Unified Modeling Language):
UML i.e. the core design of the application plays the most important part in software application development. It informs how the application will look in different scenarios? How it will behave in different scenarios? And how the validations should be given within the modules or forms? If anyone from the project is unaware about the core design of the application, then it leads to an inefficient way of development process and it hampers the Testing process as well. So, it is necessary to understand each and every component of the application from the core design before you start coding or Testing the application. It also makes the skilled QA/Testing professional aware about the importance of various fields and modules of the application and gives enough scope to design his Testing approach far ahead of time.
Giving more priority to Positive Testing over Negative Testing:
This is yet another problem with testers since a long. They used to give more priority to Positive Testing and neglect the Negative Testing for the application. This is a terrific issue and can never be accepted for any enterprise standard solutions or applications. In fact, Negative Testing has more importance than Positive Testing; because with strong Negative Testing we can perform the Positive Testing without our knowledge; but the reverse is not possible! So, every tester should focus more on Negative Testing than Positive Testing. One more thing, as a smart tester you should also check for boundary value testing for better quality of Testing.
Avoiding Load Testing:
Load Testing has significant importance in web industry particularly if our application is dealing with smart phone browsers. In fact, it is necessary for every type of applications including desktop applications. Imagine an application that takes too long for a request process; then? Isn't annoying to you, and just imagine what would happen to the innocent user? He will simply close your application and look forward for a better alternative. So, it's highly recommended to create and develop highly efficient and optimized application that can really have some value for the end user. Now, it can only be possible if the application has undergone several stage of load testing during its development phase. So, every tester should be highly enthusiast to perform the load Testing; because by the process, you can end up with better user experience.
Hurry to release:
I don't know why this happens with most of the software testers? They remain idle during the development process done by the developers but try to finish the Testing at the earliest. In that way, the performance and productivity of the software tester decreases tremendously. Because the same module will need to be tested again in future when get noticed by the same tester or the client side tester. It makes the process absolutely inefficient and unorganized. It's always better to perform a single perfect Testing instead of multiple counterfeit Testing.
Cross platform or browser Testing:
Today's industry is severely influenced by the presence of modern web browsing devices like smart phones and tablets. There are many browsers available in the industry and new and innovative browsers are also getting born with time. Is your application renders properly in those browsers? Test it properly first else the user will dismiss your application. Moreover, your application should give similar user experience in every platform mostly in Android, iOS and Windows. It's the duty of software tester or web tester to test the compatibility of your application for all these platforms and devices. Cross platform Testing, Cross browser Testing and responsiveness Testing can help them out!
Never trying to learn the exact scenario:
This is yet another issue with software testers; don't know is it due to confidence or over-confidence or ignorance. Whatever the reason may be; as a smart software tester you should be cautious enough for your assignments and you should have that much passion for your job; otherwise all your effort is vague. So, before Testing make sure you are truly competent to test the application. Make sure you are the right person to test the application. This only can be possible by the virtue of your knowledge that you have earned over the application by hard study and effort.
Asking help from developers- the biggest mistake:
Imagine if the goat will make friendship with the grass; similarly, if the tester asks question to the developer to help him in testing the modules or understanding the module, then what will happen? This is absolutely wrong. From the developer's point of view, the application is good enough to go live else why should he commit the code to the production stage? So, your doubt needs not to be cleared by the developer during Testing; you can do the same before the Testing process as a smart and serious tester.
Lack of genuine intention to explore bugs:
This is really a passion and should be within every tester to be a successful one. If something that you are doing is not giving you pleasure then, it's not worth a profession. So develop the thirst within yourself to explore more and more bugs, issues and all so that the application will be more perfect and your productivity will increase.
Mindfire Solutions has been providing exemplary QA/Testing services to its clients across industries and geographies and has carved a niche for itself in the testing domain. To avail our services to test and develop your desired applications, send in your requirements to sales at Mindfire Solutions dot com.
Nowadays each IT company has to deliver high quality software applications to retain clients in the longer run. So most companies deploy seasoned QA professionals to verify and validate the software thoroughly to ensure that it is working according to the client’s requirements and expectations. While assessing the software, the testers have to test it from positive as well as negative point of mind. That is why; the QA professionals have to perform both positive and negative testing to assess the quality of the software more effectively.
As the name indicates, positive testing is performed to verify and validate the software based on valid input data. While performing positive testing, the testers focus on the behaviour of the application based on expected inputs. On the other hand, negative testing is performed using invalid input data. While performing negative testing, QA professionals have to check how the software behaves with negative or unintentional user input. Thus, the primary objective of negative testing is check if the software shows errors when it is not supposed to, and does not show errors when it is supposed to.
Negative testing can be described more effectively through an example. For instance, the software has a field that is required to accept only integer value. So the testers have to perform negative testing to check if the application shows a validation error message each time users enter a non-integer fields. The certified QA/Testing professionals have to assess the software behaviour of the software by entering invalid or negative inputs like alphabets and special characters. Thus, negative testing helps QA professionals to identify if the application is crashing under different situations.
Common Negative Testing Scenarios
Both desktop and web applications include fields marked as required. So the testers need to assess the application’s behaviour when the required field is empty. They can simply display a message box to the user, and compel him not to leave the required field empty. They can perform negative testing to ensure that the application responds correctly when the required field is empty.
Most software applications accept user inputs through forms or dialog boxes. The controls allow users to submit a variety of data including text, numeric and date. So the testers have to perform negative testing using inappropriate input to ensure that the user input perfectly complements the field type. They can assess a date field by entering “02/30/2015” or validate an age field by entering “abc”.
The applications also contain fields that need to accept user input up to a particular limit. For instance, a textbox accepting the user’s age must not accept 220 or -10. So the testers must test the performance of the application by entering invalid data into such fields.
Some applications even require integer fields to accept data in certain range. For instance, a website may allow users to enter numbers in a specific field ranging from 10 to 100. To assess the applications behaviour accurately, the testers have to enter numbers less than 10 or more than 100. They can write negative tests to ensure that the users are not allowed to enter numbers less than 10 and more than 100.
Sometimes developers have to restrict the size or length of user input. For instance, they have to create fields to accept user’s name with a specific number of characters. In such scenarios, the QA professionals have to perform negative testing to assess the software’s behaviour when the number of characters into the field by a user exceeds the allowed limit.
Some websites provide information only to registered users. So each user needs to login before accessing any internal web page. The testers have to perform negative testing to ensure that the web pages cannot be accessed by random visitors.
On the whole, negative testing and positive testing complement each other. The QA professionals must perform negative testing to enhance test coverage and find more bugs in the application. The testing will further help the enterprise to deliver a more reliable and stable software application that does not crash under different situations. However, negative testing must be performed once positive testing is completed, but before the software goes live. The testers, however, have option to perform negative testing based on any input value to get more accurate and reliable test results.
Mindfire Solutions has been providing expert QA/Testing services for the last 16 years and is adept at using both Negative and Positive testing techniques for ensuring the quality of the software applications. If you are interested to hire the software testing services of Mindfire Solutions, send in your requirements via email to sales at Mindfire Solutions dot com and we will get back to you in 72 hours.
Software testing is an important part of the software development lifecycle that is slowly gaining importance in the IT industries these days. As the software techniques and procedures are advancing, there have been certain best practices of software testing that has been developed for the optimum checking of the software so that it can be made error free to the maximum possible limit and customers will be satisfied with the product you are offering them.
Although the software testing process for web application is by far one of the most important phases of the software development life cycle that starts before the developmental phase and ends after the developmental phase has been over, yet the process is one of the least invested areas which is often ignored.
The software testing life cycle comprises of the following common phases.
1. Unit Tests: Unit tests are usually performed to check if the various modules of the software (which are basically the building blocks of the software) are performing well individually. It makes sure that the separate units are functioning as they should on their own.
2. Integration Tests: These tests include the likes of “white box” testing which are accomplished by the testers who are close to the development team or are pa part of the development team. These tests checks how the various components or modules of the software work along with each other. Instead of individual action, they actually check the system as a whole with the various integrated components.
3. System Tests: System tests or qualification tests should be performed by a team which is remote to the development team. Best left in the hands of the “off shore” testing team, these test checks how the system would work in varying real life situations. They are run on the basis of the “black box” logic which pays least importance to the individual modules or the integration of some of the module. It pays attention on how the various components combine together to give rise to the whole system.
4. Acceptance Tests: Acceptance tests are conducted by the pilot users who will be using the software in the near future when it gets launched. These tests include the likes of “alpha” and “beta” testing when the users are allowed access to the software at an early stage of development so as to see whether the web application provides the desired function and fulfils the requirements of the organization or not.
Apart from the various phases of the test, there are also the varying nature of tests which are to be kept in mind by the expert Testing/QA professionals:
1. Functional Tests: Functional tests checks if the web application is providing the required functions to the various customers.
2. Platform Compatibility Tests: Platform compatibility tests are the ones which are responsible for checking the feasibility of the web application in various OS or browsers that the customers may be using to access it.
3. Robustness Tests: Robustness tests checks the functionality of the web application in unfavourable conditions which it may face in the real world like the sudden shutting down of the machine.
4. Performance Tests: Performance tests are usually performed after the web application has been completely configured to check the performance issues that may have cropped up during the developmental phase of the same.
5. Scalability Tests: Scalability tests are performed to check the performance of the web application under increased load.
6. Usability Tests: These tests are performed to check the web application’s user friendly nature.
Thus we have discussed some of the best practices that you can follow in order to test your web application.
Mindfire Solutions has been providing expert web application testing services to its clients for the past 16 years. And we have always made sure to follow these best practices as we continue making the code bug free. If you would like to hire our expert testing professionals then do send in your requirements to sales at Mindfire Solutions dot com and we would respond to you in the next 72 hours.
Before getting to whether we should or should not do penetration testing, we should have a fair idea of what penetration testing actually is. Most often penetration testing is confused with the likes of “vulnerability scan”, “compliance audit” or “security assessment”, but in reality it is a world apart from the above tests. Penetration testing is the type of tests which not only brings forth the vulnerabilities of developed software but at the same time, exploits these vulnerabilities to show the extent of damage that may be caused due to these flaws.
Penetration testing may look like automated testing practice and can be conducted with the help of the automated tools available in the market, but the core of the test lies in the hands of the individual testers or the testing teams which pushes the detected short comings to its end limits. Although the highly precise automated tools are well capable of testing your software, they were made by human and the unique human mind may conjure newer techniques of penetrating your software which makes manual tests a vital part of penetration testing. The main aim of penetration testing is to detect the real world attacks that the software may face due to the pertaining security breaches that are available. It fixes a target and attacks it with various vectors to explore the probable chances of attacks that may occur.
Penetration testing is important for a particular type of software due to the following factors that gets determined by the testing procedure.
1:: It gives the developers a reality check about the feasibility of the vector sets that attack a said target.
2:: It helps in the determination of high risk vulnerabilities which occurs as a result of integration of several low risk vulnerabilities, which occur in a particular sequence.
3:: There are certain vulnerabilities which do not get detected without automated testing procedures and applications which scan the vulnerabilities of the software being tested.
4:: It helps in assessment of the magnitude of risk that may be inflicted up on the business or the software due to attacks that are successful.
5:: It helps in determining the ability of the network defenders in detecting and preventing the various attacks that may be brought up on the software.
6:: It proves why it is important to pay attention to and invest more in security personnel and technology to C-level management, investors, and customers for risk management purpose.
7:: It shows why the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) requires both on-going penetration testing (after any system changes) as well as yearly testing.
8:: Penetration testing is essential in determining the validation of the newly engaged security system over the incumbent one. Along with forensic results, penetration testing recreates the attacking vectors in order to check if the system is prone to further breach or is perfectly capable of defending itself against further attacks (both the existing and new kinds).
So, now you see the various aspects which can be resolved with the help of the penetration testing issues. However, the true worth of the test depends on the criteria or purpose of the software that has been developed and the organization using it. It is for you to judge (taking the various purpose of your software into consideration) as to which kind of penetration testing you need to perform on your software. In case of low security software you may want to utilize the basic tests which are time saving and cost effective, but in case of high security software, you may want to avail the pro penetration testing to completely secure your software.
Mindfire Solutions has the largest certified QA/Testing team in India and has been continuously delighting customers over the past decade with bug-free code. If you are interested to hire an experienced QA team for ensuring your codes are clean, drop in a mail with your requirements to sales at Mindfire Solutions dot com.
Software testing is, in a way, the pillar of success when it comes to software development. The testing procedure starts even before the developmental test, with the help of the feasibility testing process to check the plausibility of the software and ends with the beta test which is done after the whole developmental life cycle has been completed.
As the importance of software testing in the software development life cycle becomes more and more evident, the myths related to the same topic are clearing up. In this age of technology, everything is being automated. Manual processes are being replaced by automation and it is a huge myth which states that manual testing of software will be replaced by the automated testing procedure in the near future. However, it is very obvious that both manual and automated testing procedures hold their importance in the software testing life cycle.
But before we get into the replacement myth, let us get a fair idea of what actually automated and manual testing are. Automated testing of software is nothing but a method by which certain coded scripts will check the software for the performance and bugs which were fitted in the code. Manual testing on the other hand comprises of a lot more than just conducting some tests. It also deals with planning the whole process and documentations of the available results.
Companies providing automated testing services may come up with certain written codes which test your software in a mechanical manner. But it also helps in saving time and money. In cases like regression testing where you check the integration of existing system with newly added features or smoke testing where you perform basic level testing of the software, automated testing is a boon. Automated testing should be conducted anywhere which requires same kind of scripting just to see whether the system is performing as per requirement. This will save the hassle of performing step by step manual testing of the system.
But manual testing has its own importance. The primary job of a manual tester is to create the testing plan so that maximum test coverage is achieved in order to provide the customers with as bug free software as possible. There are certain parts of the software which simply can’t be tested without the manual testing procedure. They are as follows:
1. Functional Testing.
2. Usability Testing.
3. Requirements Analysis.
4. Tacit Test Procedures.
5. Domain Testing (or data testing).
6. Risk Testing.
7. Sympathetic Testing.
8. Lateral Thinking.
9. Bug Investigation.
10. Perspective/Prospective.
11. Consistency Oracles.
12. Playing.
13. Claims Testing.
14. Galumphing.
These are just the tests that have to be done in the manual process. Apart from this, manual testing also has to record and analyse the testing results for future use of the same.
After weighing the scenario, it is pretty obvious that although automated testing procedures have made a marked progress, it will never be able to completely abolish the manual testing procedure as automated testing lacks one major thing that appears to be a huge advantage of the manual testing and that is brain. The trick lies in balancing the two kinds of testing and rip the advantages of both ultimately gaining a super good software as a result.
Mindfire Solutions has the largest number of certified QA testing professionals in India and has been providing quality software testing services since the last 15 years. If you would like to avail our expert testing services just send in your query to sales at Mindfire Solutions dot com.
When it comes to software testing, most people have a myth that a good developer will definitely suffice to become good testers too. However the scenario is quite different in reality. A good developer doesn’t necessarily mean a good tester. Software testing is a hugely different league of jobs which include the testing of the performance of the software, bugs available as well as the stress level which the software can endure. Based on the report provided by the software testers, the developers tweak the software to make it better and get customer satisfaction.
Before getting into the future of manual testing, let’s take a sneak peek into manual testing. Manual testing of software is nothing but testing and detecting the various defects that software may have by testing it manually. The various stages of manual testing are as follows:
1. Unit Testing
2. Integration Testing
3. Software Testing
4. System Testing
5. User Acceptance Testing
6. Release or Deployment Testing
It also deals with the planning process of the tests to be held in order to check whether the software is in good working condition or not and also in preparing a detailed report of all the glitches that needs fixing to make the software better and in turn gain customer satisfaction by providing them with a quality product. Documentation is a very important part of software testing procedure as it helps a lot in future references.
Today’s world is hugely dependent on technology, which seems to take over almost all the aspects of our life. A similar scenario is seen in the case of software testing too. Most people are harbouring the idea that it is now time for automated testing to take over and manual testing of the software is going to take a back seat in the industry. But when it comes to actual working scenario, although automated testing has made quite some advancement in its field, manual testing can’t be rejected altogether. On one hand, automated testing is perfect for tests like regression testing or unit testing, but similarly other tests like usability and exploratory tests require manual testing to accomplish the desired result.
It is true that most companies are opting for automated frameworks for testing their software and needs automated testers to maintain or upgrade these frameworks, but they also need manual testers for certain jobs. Yes! It is obvious from the current trends that purely manual testers are suffering on the job front, but the cases with purely automated testers are same too. Most companies are looking for hybrids who have a diverse knowledge in both automated and manual testing techniques. These people can take good care of the automated framework as well as tackle the manual side of the testing too.
Manual testing of software is very important to check the aspects which will be handled or faced by the end users, like user friendliness of the software or the ease with which the people will be able to handle the software. Also, when it comes to planning or strategizing the software testing procedure, which is a critical operation, manual testers have a huge role to play. Apparently if you have good skills and updated, cutting edge knowledge about your subject, you are bound to have a good future even in the field of manual testing.
Mindfire Solutions has been providing quality software testing services and has a team of qualified and certified QA professionals who have provided excellent services so far. To avail our quality testing services drop in a mail to sales at Mindfire Solutions dot com.
Nowadays businesses needs more quicker time-to-market to their software products with no major expenses towards testing tools, at the same time they like make sure that the software bugs do not eat up their expenditures. They want affordable testing solutions which don’t compromise on quality to produce accelerated time-to-value. In the last ten years, the software testing industry has advanced from a small section of the application development lifecycle towards a market onto itself. A lot of industry standard testing tools at the moment are around to deal with various issues with the QA process, which range from simple unit testing to the end-to-end life-cycle management. Market evolution has resulted in increasing end-to-end charges for testing tools. However this is encouraging IT organizations to look for open source testing tools, that are usually more economical from being a total price of ownership point of view and still provide similar kind of functionality. Open source tools at the moment are an important aspect of the IT spectrum, and feature penetrated just about every facet of the software testing world. The day to day functions influencing the usage of the open source tools within the software testing industry. It may help a business cut down on investing in testing tools.
Usually, QA teams have a preference for working with commercial products more than open source software. Easily understandable with little bit of training, nearly all have very clear documentation along with tutorials. Support user-base via several channels for the issues, patches and progress. Teams spread expense of tools throughout the life of the usage. Tool needs long-term commitment, thus minimizing possibility of moving to a different tool. Popular commercial tools will have more amounts of people in the knowledge base. Open Source reduced total expense of ownership, reduces dependencies upon particular products or toolsets. Promote quicker time-to-market, Simple procurement, easy to usage, tool customization. Approach and the affinity in order to add to the community, thus promoting open as well as extensible architectural pattern of software. The below advancements have boosted the ante towards open source tools. The latest recession has tightened the organizational budget, getting open source tools a lot more attractive. Minimum ownership cost, flexibility, improved innovation, reduced development along with faster procurement and as factors behind choosing open source. Open source had grown to reach the top in the executive agenda, quicker, economical, as well as much better. Open source is strategically put in use to get competitive benefit. Open source offers greater innovation possibilities for IT professionals.
Many businesses have attained great results through using open source tools with the methodology of Agile development too. The reason is because of the character these tools perform in providing early code-driven tests and also consistent integration mechanisms, that are secret to the success in Agile projects. QA organizations eager to get maximum advantages by the open source tools come with similar questions about the most effective way for switching to open source testing tools. QA organizations should look into the below stated most important factors of the testing tool of open source configuration, deployment and the usage process. The majority of tools are designed to serve a particular purpose, having said that, option of source code indicates that organizations will be able to customize the tools as needed, by a little effort. Bugs found can result in big issues any time a project is under way, while a lot of support is given by vendors for the particular commercial tools, tool support has limitations to general forums as well as the tools community. Administration and maintenance expenses rise with the rise in project complexity & size, many organizations often ignore this component at the time of budgeting and end up having major deviations. Tools come with non-intuitive user interfaces, which make it difficult to give dedicated training. However, training material is usually found in communities, forums, and blogs. Various options of open source licensing mechanisms such as GPL, LGPL, and so on should be understood and then accordingly used. It's not easy to straightaway integrate open source software along with other tools. Limited derivation of metrics and limited reporting options tend to be the other issues for the QA teams and for IT management.
Open source tools could drive great quality as well as predictability within the testing life cycle, consequently cutting down overall application development expenses through keeping tool investments down. They help in fill the gaps within the life cycle, especially if IT has process maturity relative towards its whole process to application life-cycle management solutions. An important role is played with the open source tools during product development, particularly in Agile development processes in which time-to-market is vital. Lots of QA organizations look ahead to blending their processes by open source as well as with commercial testing tools. A very good combination of the two will be advisable to ensure cost optimization and the testing stability.
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HP Unified Functional Testing (UFT) software is used widely by developers across the world to automate testing process. The software application makes it easier for the QA professionals to carry out a variety of testing including functional testing and regression testing. The testers can further write test scripts using Visual Basic Scripting Edition (VBScript) scripting language. The scripting language simplifies the process of manipulating the objects and controls of the application and specifying a test procedure. The integrated development environment (IDE) provided by the application helps testing professionals to write and validate test scripts more effectively. With more and more organizations automating their testing process, the demand for HP UFT software is increasing at a steady pace.
Why Automate Your Test Process with HP Unified Functional Testing Software
Effective in Testing both Front-end and Back-end of the Application
HP has designed the Unified Functional Testing software application as a comprehensive testing platform to test both GUI and API. The combination of GUI testing and API testing makes the software useful for testing both front-end (User interface) and back-end of a software application. The QA professionals can use the GUI testing method to evaluate the front-end of the software application, whereas the back-end of the application can be tested using the API testing method.
Simple and Easy-to-Use
Often organizations have to provide training to software developers and testers while adopting a new technology. Despite being effective in functional testing and regression testing automation, UFT is still simple and easy-to-use. So your workers can learn its features and navigation option easily, and start generating reports and validate the user-friendly results. Further, UFT can be combined seamlessly with Test Management Tool (Hp-Quality Center). So the users can easily schedule tests and monitor the test results.
Facilitates Data-Driven Testing
HP has further designed the UFT software with support for data-driven testing. So it allows the data to be stored as a data table to be reused for another project. The QA professionals even have option to implement data-driven testing as a Microsoft Excel workbook, which can be accessed from the UFT application. The application further supports two distinct data table types, i.e., local or action data sheets and global data sheets.
Quick Scripting Process
The amount of time required for completing functional or regression testing is impacted by the time required to write test scripts. HP UFT allows testing professionals to write test scripts using VBScript. In comparison to object oriented programming languages, VBScript is easier to learn and code. Thus, the UFT scripting can be completed by the professionals within a shorter span of time.
Enhanced Code Reusability
Like other powerful test automation tools, HP UFT also enables QA professionals to save the test scripts, function libraries, objects, components and application areas. It comes with a centralized quality control solution known as ALM. The developers can store the test scripts, function libraries, objects and components with the with the ALM project. The details stores with ALM project can be shared with other QA professionals, and reused for other testing projects.
Extensible to Several Development Environments
Despite being used by QA professionals to automate both web based and windows based client-server applications, HP UFT still does not support all operating systems and web browsers by default. But the testers have option to install corresponding add–in to make the software compatible with a particular development environment. The application comes with three default add-ins, i.e., ActiveX, Visual Basic and Web. But users can still load corresponding add–ins to use UFT with Java, .NET, SAP, Oracle Apps, Delphi, Web Services and Flex.
HP further allows organizations to use Unified Functional Testing software either the seat or concurrent license. The seat license is specific to a computer on which the UFT software is installed, whereas the concurrent license is a network based license that enables multiple users to use the application at a time. So an organization has option to choose the licensing according to its specific needs and budget. If you are planning to hire services of offshore software testing companies, you must evaluate them to see if they are sufficiently agile or not!
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