Archive for the ‘Manual Testing’ Category

Software Testing Resolutions for 2012

It’s alwys amazing how every year the month of January sparks the desire in many people to reflect on past promises, challenges and successes. Once the moment has gone, a sense of clarity and a surge of determination takes root, and a new list of promises kick-starts a change and a passion to do well for the new year ahead.

Although this helps set about many good changes, trying to stick to these promises can sometimes prove quite a challenge!  How many of you can relate to the the goal of, “I shall join the gym and get fit and healthy”? Unfortunately for some, by February this ambitious goal is broken and by March the very idea of keeping it is mere wishful thinking!

Although harmless if broken, what would happen if the promises you made effect your business? What if your company was sold promises such as:

• Provide a code-free testing tool for QA.
• Offer good customer support.
• Ease the burden of application testing.

Now imagine what would happen if these promises were broken! The impact to your business would be quite damaging.

As a software vendor in the Application Quality Management space, we prefer to keep the promises we make to our customers. So on that note, Original Software would like to lay down a few promises this year that the testing community should also consider following.

2012 New Year’s Resolutions

1. I will focus on testing rather than scripting – why should a tester require programming skills. We believe that empowering your subject matter experts to define and execute sophisticated tests without the need to use any kind of code is the kind of promise that is worth keeping. So we promise to continue innovating our code-free solution in order to remove the burden of code-based script maintenance.
2. I will stop being the drag on Agile development teams – traditional test tools struggle to work in an Agile environment. This is mainly due to the fact that they were designed to work in a ‘test last’ environment whereas the agile model is more a ‘test first, test continuously’ model. Our promise is to support the Agile community with a solution that will provide a dynamic and efficient testing solution for your Agile projects.
3. I will not forget about the test data – regulatory compliance and data protection laws continue to have an ever greater impact upon the ways that companies do business. We want to make testing on live data a thing of the past and help you create subsets of data that retain their referential integrity, and provide a perfect miniature copy of your live environment.
4. I will stop insisting that BAs and end users should test manually – the UAT phase of your application delivery requires business process expertise in order to check that the application meets business expectations. This means relying on business users to test the new or upgraded system. We promise to supply a solution that is able to capture the business process knowledge from the lines of business.
5. I will stop pretending I can run a professional quality organisation on spread sheets and scraps of paper – it’s amazing how many companies still reply on spreadsheets and paper to manage the QA process. We promise to show you a way that enables you to unite all aspects of your quality lifecycle, across all stakeholders, from one central point.

If you have any Software Testing Resolutions for 2012 that you would like to share, we would love to hear them! Please feel free to comment back or tweet your resolution to @Origsoft.

Software Testing Breakfast Briefing in Chicago

During our daily interaction with the global testing community, we hear a similar theme on the challenges and issues faced by the testing and QA teams of companies, both large and small. Some of these include:

- How can we deliver quality applications within the budgetary constraints we face?
- How can we meet the growing demands of the business in a pragmatic and achievable way?
- What alternatives are there to reduce the business risk of poorly rolled out applications?
- Can I really ensure that my quality strategy helps my business gain a competitive advantage?

So with the above in mind, and if you are based in Chicago, would you like to join us for breakfast and enjoy an informative look at software testing? Join your fellow QA professionals at this briefing where you’ll have the opportunity to discuss all of these topics and more.

Find out more and register here!

Microsoft Joins Testing Hall of Shame

Microsoft shot themselves in the foot with this embarrassing blunder that has definitely qualified for a spot in our Software Testing Hall of Shame!

A Microsoft antivirus definition file was the cause behind Google Chrome’s browser to disappear from users’ PCs!

Scores of users reported the deletion of the Google Chrome browser from their PC after running Microsoft’s Security Essentials. Google told Chrome users that Microsoft incorrectly marked the browser as malware and it was later reported that 3,000 users were effected.

Can you blame Google for being a little cheesed off at their Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) rival. It has been alleged that Chrome will pass Mozilla’s Firefox as the second-most-popular browser by the end of this year, pitting Google and Microsoft for the top spot.

As reported in ‘ComputerWorldUK’ by Gregg Keizer: “An incorrect detection for PWS:Win32/Zbot was identified and as a result, Google Chrome was inadvertently blocked and in some cases removed from customers PCs,” Microsoft said in a statement posted to the Facebook page of its malware research center. “We have already fixed the issue…, but approximately 3,000 customers were impacted.”

So it seems the moral of this story once again is that inadequate testing and quality checks lead to issues.

I wonder what tools Microsoft were using to assist them? I would recommend they look here: http://www.origsoft.com/manual-testing-is-here-to-stay/

Play The Pit Stop Challenge

Play our manual testing game – “The Pit Stop Challenge”.
The player with the fastest time wins an iPad2!

http://www.origsoft.com/game/

Welcome to our online manual testing associated game called, “The Pit Stop Challenge” – back by popular demand. It’s a great coffee break challenge that tests your speed, hand and eye co-ordination. Best of all, if you achieve the fastest time by the deadline you will win a fantastic iPad2!

The Pit Stop Challenge represents Original Software’s innovation in manual testing and our ability to push your manual testing into overdrive!

Software testing is almost always perceived as the main bottleneck in any application delivery timeline and it is universally agreed that manual testing can be time consuming, laborious, repetitive, and costly. QA departments around the world continue to rely on manual processes for 80% or more of their software testing. Experts may talk about test automation, but in reality manual testing will always be around.

TestDrive-Assist, from Original Software, delivers practical and immediate benefit by allowing your existing testing resources to test more efficiently and by enabling the transition from manual testing into automation quickly and easily. It is a dynamic solution for manual testers and has been shown to cut the time spent on manual software testing by up to 50%.

Join us as we celebrate next generation technology and dynamic manual testing by playing our Pit-Stop Challenge! http://www.origsoft.com/game/

If your time qualifies for our leaderboard, make sure you register your details for your chance to win an iPad2. The player with the fastest time wins…

Best of luck!

Tesco Bank Should Have Tested on IE9

The news on CIO’s website of Tesco Bank having to issue emergency guidelines for Internet Explorer 9 users, made me chuckle.

Either testing on multiple browsers wasn’t carried out in full or the testing technology being used didn’t support IE9. Either way, Tesco Bank will be entering our ‘Software Testing Hall of Shame’ this week.

Perhaps the bank wasn’t aware that Original Software had announced its support for IE9 back in March: Original Software in Pole Position to Support Internet Explorer 9.

With Original Software you can discover an easier way to ensure your web applications are tested on all browsers.

Podcast: Innovations in Software Testing

Our very own Colin Armitage, CEO at Original Software, took to the stage along with HP, IBM and Microsoft to discuss the latest trends and innovations in the world of software testing. Topics under discussion included manual testing, agile testing and how test automation can be improved. Listen to the podcast here.

Manual Testing - The Smarter Approach

There appears to be a lot of hype in the market place right now about HP Sprinter revolutionising manual testing. A revolution? Really? At Original Software, we’re flattered that HP is attempting to play catch up to our existing manual testing solution.

TestDrive-Assist has been helping manual testers across the globe maximise their manual testing efforts and is particularly useful for agile testing. It dramatically reduces the time needed to perform manual software tests and increases their accuracy and effectiveness. If you’re thinking about HP Sprinter, we suggest you take a look at TestDrive-Assist instead.

We’ve set the standard for dynamic manual testing and we invite you to learn more by registering for our webinar: Manual Testing is Here To Stay.

The Best of Both Worlds

Experts agree that test automation isn’t easy and there has been a lot of debate over which approach leads to better and easier test automation – record and playback or programmatic? Original Software took this debate one stage further and introduced an alternative paradigm to the discussion, during a live webinar. Our claim is that at the end of the day, testing needs to be quick and simple and a programmatic approach is slow, requires technical know how and is hard to maintain. However, simple record and playback technology isn’t the answer either.

The end goal should be to move testers AWAY from programming. After all, why write a program to test a program? The more flexible your programmatic test becomes, the more complex it becomes and the more difficult it becomes to maintain.

Our reputation for ease of use and innovation at Original Software has led us to develop a solution that doesn’t have any underlying programming, but it’s not a basic record and playback solution either – more like record,extend,repeat. The basic test is captured but then can be extended with branch logic, repetitive data, made to loop, check links, find values in tables or combos which might have moved, pass data around the test – without any programming. Fields move around all the time, especially in web pages. Testers shouldn’t expect to have to do anything in their scripts to cope with that, the solution should just deal with it without any human intervention.

With TestDrive, the test criteria is separated from the script. This is a huge contributor to the ease of maintenance. It makes scripts, and parts of scripts, usable in many tests. With good test and script design the number of scripts can be kept to a minimum while the number of automated tests can grow rapidly. Plus, if your application is very volatile and bits of it get thrown away and replaced on a frequent basis you can afford to throw away your automation if the investment to create it in the first place was minimal.

Surely this is valid script ‘maintenance’? Take a look for yourself  by watching the recording of The Test Automation Debate – Programmatic versus Record and Playback today and tell us what you think.

HMRC Software Glitch Makes Returns Taxing

Yesterday, January 31st, was the last chance for self-assessors to submit their tax return online at the website for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC). Even though the HMRC said only on Friday that their computer system was working well and they did not foresee the problems experienced in recent years, our majesty’s government failed to test thoroughly again!!

Apparently, accountants were having problems after it appeared that the company that supplies software which allows accountancy firms and advisors to access the HMRC website had shut its links early. Returns that should have taken no more than 10 minutes to file, were taking up to an hour. HMRC confirmed that some advisors using third party software were experiencing what they called a ‘slowdown’.

CCH Personal Tax was the software concerned and although its parent company, Wolters Kluwer, said they had not been notified of any issues with the software, problems certainly existed.

Now we can’t be sure what the problems really were,  but this story is yet another example of poor or incomplete testing. Such high profile software glitches only go to justify Original Software’s mantra that “application quality must become a business imperative” – especially if government reputations are to remain unscathed.

Source: Yahoo News

HP Sprinting to Catch Up Again?

Isn’t it great when a huge technology vendor, such as HP, starts paying attention to its
more innovative and visionary competitors, in an attempt to play catch up?

We discovered this just the other day, when we saw that HP was plugging a ‘copy cat’
manual testing tool at this winter’s TestExpo, which takes place on Dec 7th in London,
UK. Ironically named HP Sprinter, the launch of the tool has been rather slow in coming
to market.

HP is claiming the following:

“HP Sprinter is a manual testing revolution. Fully integrated with HP Quality Center
version 11, HP Sprinter is an easy to use solution that delivers accurate and efficient
manual software testing. HP Sprinter dramatically reduces the time needed to perform
manual software tests and increases their accuracy and effectiveness. Manual tests are
launched from HP Quality Center into HP Sprinter where the tester carries out the test.
The actions and results of the test are recorded as a storyboard and results are passed
back to HP Quality Center.”

It’s reassuring for us to see HP taking its first baby steps in following Original Software
and sharing our vision of making manual testing more efficient and productive. However,
HP Sprinter is hardly a revolution, especially when you consider that you need Quality
Center installed to make any headway with your manual testing. Not exactly a cost-
effective or stand alone solution!

TestDrive-Assist is our Dynamic Manual Testing solution that was introduced over three
years ago and has since set the standard for advanced manual testing. You can use it on
its own or with any of our other products in our solution suite.

So, just like its entry into Test Data Management- HP is rather late to the party again! But
hey everyone is welcome, and in our minds, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.