Continuous Delivery in Java

Chapter 12. System-Quality Attributes Testing: Validating Nonfunctional Requirements

You learned in the previous chapter that you must test software for correctness and the delivery of the required business functionality. However, it is equally important to ensure that the system is reliable and scalable, and that the software can be run in a cost-effective manner. Classically, validating the quality of a software system has been divided into testing functional requirements and testing nonfunctional requirements—sometimes referred to as cross-functional requirements or system-quality attributes. In this chapter, you will learn how to test the nonfunctional requirements.

Why Test Nonfunctional Requirements?

Testing nonfunctional requirements is often relegated to the end of a software delivery project, and sometimes completely ignored, particularly within small teams constrained by resources (and expertise). Enterprise development teams can fare somewhat better, partly through access to specialized skills and partly by understanding their customers and associated resource usage better.

Many enterprise organizations conduct capacity and security planning within the feasibility study of a large project. In reality, this is often fraught with uncertainty and danger, as business teams are unsure of the number of customers, usage patterns, and potential threats; and the engineering teams are unsure of the impact and capacity requirements of each unit of functionality offered by the ...