Structured Software Testing and Continuous Quality Improvement

System Technology Institute
Mclean, San Diego, United States

Course Format: Classroom | E-learning | Virtual Class | Online | On-site | Blended | Self-paced

Course Description:

'' 4 days. UPDATED 2008! Software quality and reliability is something everyone wants. Companies strive to release quality products, users expect software that is reliable and easy to use, developers take pride in well written work product and managers know that quality equates to on-time and on-budget deliverables.

This course discusses effective and practical approaches to system program testing. A combination of lecture and exercises will teach the participant how to detect the maximum number of defects with a good mix of test cases. The course covers testing concepts and planning with an emphasis on effective testing. Other topics addressed are the role of testing in the Project Life Cycle, measurements to support test decision-making, and how the testing group interacts with other groups (such as Development and Configuration Management).

Many books cover the topic of Structured Software Testing. "Structured," in this context, means a well-defined developed and testing cycle in which discretely defined steps provide measured outputs to each step. It is generally assumed that the work product being tested has well-defined requirements, good development standards and thorough specifications. Most often we expect that those development standards have been used in the implementation process. Unfortunately, quite often this is not the case. Testing teams often face situations that demand testing against changing requirements, shortcut development cycles and tough deadlines.

This course aims to provide a thorough introduction to testing in both a structured and unstructured environment. Our goal is to support continuous improvement by promoting effective testing methods throughout the Project Life Cycle. Best practices, strategies for working in challenging situations, and techniques for optimizing your own efforts are presented. The value of testing—and the value the Testing Team provides to the organization—is discussed in depth, establishing clear win-win objectives for all involved parties.

STI offers Structured Software Testing Specialist Certification through our SST curriculum. Prerequisites for certification include 120 SST followed by an open book certification exam.

Course Objectives

Understand Testing Reality, Goals, and Functions
Understand the Project Life Cycle
Decide What to Test, When to Test, and How Much to Test
Plan, Manage, and Control Testing Process with Measurement
Apply Practical Steps towards Producing Reliable Software
Distinguish between Different Testing Categories
Creating a Continuous Quality Improvement Strategy and Plan
Formulate Test Plans, Specifications, and Reports
Who Should Attend

Testing and QA Specialists
IS Managers at all levels
Software Developers
Systems Analysts
Process Engineering Groups
IS Auditors
Course Content

Introduction
Historical view of testing.
Understanding the role of testing in the Software Life Cycle.
Understanding fundamentals of testing.
Understand the basic testing process.
Understand the relationship between Quality, Reliability, and Safety.
Prevention versus Detection.
Verification versus Validation.
Objectives & Limitations of Testing
Debunk popular testing myths.
Consider difficult questions that Testers continue to face throughout their career.
Example Test Series
Combining intuition and analysis for testing of a program.
Five steps to better testing.
Testing Fundamentals
Understand the purpose of Test Scripts, Test Scenarios, and Test Items.
Be able to define test cases.
The importance of good Requirements Management.
Overview of Testing Techniques
Black-box, white-box and grey-box testing.
Manual versus automated testing.
Static versus dynamic testing.
Continuous Improvement
Quality principles.
Continuous improvement through the Plan, Do, Check, Act process.
Going around the PDCA circle.
Life Cycle Testing Review
Overview
Understanding waterfall development methodology.
Understanding continuous improvement "phased" approach.
Psychology of Life Cycle Testing.
Testing as a Continuous Improvement process.
Technical Reviews as a Continuous Improvement process.
Verifying the requirements phase.
Verifying the (logical, physical, functional) design phase.
Verifying the coding phase.
Planning & Management
Predict the expected number of defects in a software product.
Estimate system test duration.
Understand the benefits of reverse test planning.
Describe the Testing Maturity Model.
Discuss Metrics useful to the Test Manager.
Methodology
Information gathering (Plan).
Test planning (Plan).
Test case design (Do).
Test development (Do).
Test execution/evaluation (Do/Check).
Prepare for the next spiral (Act).
Risk Management
Quality Assurance as an integral process.
The formal release cycle.
Benefits of continuous integration.
Handling unexpected changes in priority.
Contingency planning.
Audits and Verifications
Baseline audits.
Audit and review tasks.
Goals of the audit: assessing compliance to Specifications, Standards, Requirements, Test Plans and Processes.
The Formal Review
Walkthroughs and formal Inspections (pros and cons).
The Tester’s role.
Tools and Processes
Overview of today’s test support tools.
Requirements Management software.
Defect tracking and issue tracking.
Automated testing tools.
Integrated versus "a la carte" tool suites.
Evaluating testing tools.
Development Testing
Define the Unit Testing Process.
Define and perform the steps in Functional and Structural Testing.
Understand how design decisions affect testability.
Define a process to minimize the Unit Test set.
Describe how to develop effective test cases.
Integration Testing
Describe the purpose of Integration.
Describe two methods for obtaining a controlled test environment.
Define two methods for Software Integration.
Discuss three strategies for Incremental Integration.
Explain the Integration Procedure.
Acceptance Testing
Define Acceptance Testing.
Understand the role of Acceptance Testing.
Understand the process of performing Acceptance Testing.
Execute the Software Reliability Measurement Process.
Identify tests performed in conjunction with Acceptance Testing.
Production Testing
Understand the purpose and process of Production Testing.
Define Parallel Testing.
Understand the purpose and process of Parallel Testing.
Define Alpha/Beta Testing.
Understand the purpose and process of Alpha/Beta Testing.
Delivery Testing
When is a project complete?
Activities of the delivery phase.
Continuous integration and testing... continues.
Deployment stage, testing and release.
User testing and stakeholder review ("beta testing").
Delivery planning.
Configuration Management and Testing
Configuration control and the CCB.
Identifying baselines.
Audits and Verifications.
Automated tools and CM systems and their value.
Course Summary
What is Testing?
Planning Activities
Best Practices
Audit and Control Activities
Measurement
The "Big Bang Theory"
Resources and References
Test templates.
Checklists.
Integrating testing into development methodology.
Appendixes.
...''

Phone:1-888-299-9071

School Address:

System Technology Institute
P.O. Box 96503, PMB 74102
Washington DC 20090-6503

System Technology Institute
93 S. Jackson Street, PMB 74102
Seattle WA 98104-2818

System Technology Institute
1280 Calle Aurora
Camarillo CA 93010-8438

USA


Jobs & Resumes: Mclean, San Diego
Houses & Roommates: Mclean, San Diego
Travel Agencies: San Diego

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