Managing the Testing Process: Practical Tools and Techniques for Managing Hardware and Software Testing

6.4. Case Study

On one project, my test team and I tested an interactive-voice-response (IVR) network connected to a central call center. The IVR network allowed people to access and exchange information and interact in various local communities. The call center gave these people access to technical and personal help with their use of the IVR network. The project involved building a large test IVR/call center network.

For this project, I used a variation of the test logistics database introduced in this chapter. The database, "Case Study IVR Network Test Logistics.mdb," is available at www.rexblackconsulting.com.

In the hardware table, notice that we have a specific system administrator assigned to install each piece of equipment (see Figure 6.21). This might be necessary when multiple people are involved in supporting the test environment.

When I discovered hardware availability issues or problems with this database, I would work with the project management team to resolve them somehow, and then update the database. This is why you don't see a lot of issues with hardware not ready in time for a given test, testers unavailable or double-booked for assignments, or any of the other issues mentioned in this chapter. If you wanted to track such problems, you'd need to add tables that tracking historical status as well as current status.

If you look at the "Test Hardware Usage by Hardware" report, you'll see on pages 8 through 11 and 13 that we had an on-going problem with getting ...