Advanced Testing of Systems-of-Systems, Volume 1

10Static Tests, Reviews and Inspections

Defects are the result of human error (or mistakes), static in a deliverable that – upon execution – generate an unintended result. We can have defects that are introduced during the software design phases, and also during the project phases. In the software design phases, defects can occur in (non-exhaustive list):

– the requirements elicitation phase, when a requirement is not identified or misunderstood;

– the phase of writing the requirements, if it is incorrectly filled in (typo error);

– the software analysis and design phase, if the model or architecture is not correctly defined or if the interfaces between the components are incomplete;

– the coding phase, if the understanding of the requirements and their translation into code is incorrect;

– the component design phase;

– the test design phases – whatever their level – based on the requirements and selected techniques.

During the phases of a test project, defects can appear in:

– the needs analysis phase to design a test strategy, if the quality requirements are not described correctly;

– the preparation phases of the test environments, whether in terms of the necessary data, the applications with which the software product must communicate or the hardware requirements;

– the test data definition phases, whether input data, configuration and/or parameterization data, or expected data that will be compared with the data obtained during the tests;

– the results analysis phases, ...