Page 167 - SOFTWARE TESTING & QUALITY ASSURANCE

Software Testing and Quality Assurance

While testing a calculator, it may be as simple as 1+1. However, while testing a
cellular telephone switching software, there could be hundreds or thousands of
input conditions. While testing a file-based product, it would be the name of the
file and a description of its contents.

4. Output Specification: This describes the result you expect from executing the test case. Did 1+1
equal 2? Were the thousands of output variables set correctly in the cell phone software? Did all
the contents of the file load as expected?
5. Environmental Needs: Environmental needs are the hardware, software, test tools, facilities, staff,
and so on that are necessary to run the test case.
6. Special Procedural Requirements: This section describes anything unusual that must be done to
perform the test.

Testing WordPad probably doesn't need any extraordinary procedures,
whereas testing nuclear power plant software needs extraordinary procedural
preparations.

7. Intercase Dependencies: If a test case depends on another test case or might be affected by
another, the information is included here.
If this suggested level of documentation is strictly followed, at least a page of explanatory text for each
test case you identify should be written. Thousands of test cases could result in thousands of pages of
documentation.
This is another reason why the IEEE 829 standard should be taken as a guideline. Government projects
and certain industries are required to document their test cases to this level. However, in other
instances, you can adopt an alternative approach. Taking an alternative approach does not mean
dismissing or neglecting important information—it means figuring out a way to abridge the
information into a more efficient means of communication.
Test cases can be presented in the form of matrix or table. Each line of the matrix represents a specific
test case and has its own identifier. All the other information that goes with a test case, namely: test
item, input specification, output specification, environmental needs, special requirements, and
dependencies are most likely common to all these cases and can be written and attached to the table.
Someone reviewing the test cases could read this information and then review the table to check for its
coverage.

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