Software Testing: Verification and Validation
Integrity Partners has experience through the entire breadth of software testing. Terminology varies by project, industry, and company and typically follows this general pattern:
Testing Life Cycle
| Test Phase | Element | Description |
| Planning | Test Strategy | Overall outline containing objectives, methods, resources, and schedule |
| Test Plan | A detailed document outlining functions to be tested, schedule, procedures, tests to be performed, pass/fail criteria, and staffing | |
| Test Bed | A “production-like” test environment including as many elements as possible of production hardware, software, and networking components | |
| Development | Traceability Matrix | A matrix that correlates system requirements to test cases |
| Test Cases | Typically associated with a particular design specification, a Test Case specifies input, output, and expected result | |
| Test Scenarios | A description real-world business event and the testing of the manifestation of that event in the software and related procedures, typically through multiple test cases | |
| Test Scripts | Combination of Test Case, Test Procedure, and Test Data | |
| Execution | Unit Testing | Testing a specific function |
| Integration Testing | Testing the integration and interfaces between different functions or components | |
| System | Testing that the complete integrated system meets requirements | |
| System Integration or End-to-End Testing | Testing the integration with other internal or external systems | |
| Regression Testing | Testing for reemergence of prior defects after new functionality or code is added | |
| User Acceptance Testing | Acceptance of system functionality by the end-user | |
| Performance Testing | Testing scalability, often in terms of concurrent users or transaction volume | |
| Security Testing | Testing for ability of system to protect confidential data, including availability of certain types of data based on a particular user’s security classification, password rules enforcement, logging of transactions by user ID | |
| Test Reporting | Test Results Reporting | Metrics and reports including determination regarding readiness for release |