STARWEST 2001 - Software Testing Conference

PRESENTATIONS

Data in Functional Testing-You Can't Live Without It

This paper sets out to illustrate some of the ways that data can influence the test process, and will show that testing can be improved by a careful choice of input data. In doing this, the paper will concentrate most on data-heavy applications; those which use databases or are heavily influenced by the data they hold.
James Lyndsay, Workroom Productions
Delusions of Grandeur: Is Your Web Site Really Scalable?

This presentation relates a software test lab's real-world experiences performing load testing for scalability on three Web sites. Besides methodology, it also covers the tools employed, client expectations before launch, and how the findings from the testing were applied to help clients correctly scale their sites. Learn why this type of testing is the most effective way to validate design and hardware architecture, plus identify potholes before they end up on the information superhighway.
Jim Hazen, SysTest Labs, LLC
Designing Reusable Test Automation

This paper introduces the Sequencer design that facilitates the creation and execution of reusable operations. The idea behind the Sequencer is to carve the product under test into sets of functional operations. A test case data file describes the operations to be executed including their order and required data. The Sequencer’s test driver executes the test by loading the test case and sequencing the operations.
Edward Guy Smith, Mangosoft Incorporated
Enjoying the Perks of Model-Based Testing

Software testing demands the use of some model to guide such test tasks as selecting test inputs, validating
the adequacy of tests, and gaining insight into test effectiveness. Most testers gradually build a mental
model of the system under test, which would enable them to further understand and better test its many
functions. Explicit models, being formal and precise representations of a tester’s perception of a program,
are excellent shareable, reusable vehicles of communication between and among testers and other teams
Ibrahim K. El-Far, Florida Institute of Technology
Enterprise Test Engine Suite Technology

Many companies invest heavily in test automation in order to verify the functionality of their complex
client/server and Web applications, only to find that anticipated cost savings and higher reliability remain
James Schaefer, Capital One
Establishing Best Testing Practices in Your Organization

The path to best testing practices begins with communication. By building relationships with a product's key players-developers, analysts, and end users-your test team can achieve a higher level of both quality and customer satisfaction. Discover the link between effective communication and implementing critical step-by-step test processes such as test conditions, test case design, test data construction, and reporting.
Michelle Lynn Baldwin, Booz, Allen & Hamilton
Evolution of Automated Testing for Enterprise Systems

The key to accelerating test automation in any project is for a well-rounded, cohesive team to emerge that can marry its business knowledge with its technical expertise. This session is an in-depth case study of the evolution of automated testing at the BNSF Railroad. From record-and-playback to database-driven robust test scripts, this session will take you through each step of the $24 billion corporation's efforts to implement test automation.
Cherie Coles, BNSF Railroad
Flight Recorders: Analyze and Fix Defects Quickly

Users find 25 percent of your defects after your software goes live, according to a recent study. In addition to being expensive to fix, these post-ship defects often prove impossible to find due to the many potential user environments out there. Flight recorders are new tools, named after those already present on aircraft, that trace the execution of an application in or before production. Their job is to collect information while the system runs.
Oliver Cole, OC Systems, Inc.
How to Break Out of the Same Old Routine with Retrospectives

How many times have you finished testing on a release and said "Boy, I never want to go through one like that again." Or have you ever had a project canceled and said "If only I would have known at the beginning, what I know now, I would have done things a lot differently." Or when you finished testing on release one, said “next time I want to do it differently,” then said the same thing on releases two, three, and four? If any of these thoughts resonate with you, then I think you will be interested in the Lessons Learned process.
Randy Slade, Kaiser Permanente Information Technology
How to Establish a Rapid QA Process for Web Development

The majority of Web development projects incorporate a start-up scenario that slowly evolves a small group of test engineering roles made up of people with little or no QA experience. However, once management sees that their start-up site demands professionalism to meet user and investor expectations, they begin a desperate search to assemble a competent QA department.
Patricia Humphrey, Neoforma.com

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