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

3.1. Test System Architecture and Engineering

By "test system," I mean the organizational capability for testing created by the testing processes, the testware, and the test environment. The testing processes include both written and unwritten procedures, checklists, and other agreements about the way the test team does its testing. The testware includes all those tools, documents, scripts, data, cases, tracking mechanisms, and so forth that the test team uses to do its testing. The test environment includes the hardware, software, networking and other infrastructure, paper and other supplies, facilities, lab, and so forth that the test team procures, installs, and configures to host the system under test in order to test it. See Figure 3.1 for a pictorial representation.

A competent test team with a good test system can consistently provide effective and efficient test services to a (supportive) project. A good test system helps the tester focus her testing efforts on the key quality risks, and find, reproduce, isolate, describe, and manage the most important bugs in the software or hardware being tested, as well as capturing and analyzing key metrics.

Chapter 4, "An Exciting Career in Entomology Awaits You: A Bug Tracking Database," and Chapter 5, "Managing Test Cases: The Test Tracking Spreadsheet," focus on the reporting and data management aspects of this system. Chapter 6, "Tips and Tools for Crunch Time: Managing the Dynamic," and Chapter 7, "Stocking and Managing a Test ...