import test blog

Applications are evaluated based on the average number of tasks they perform as well as possible overload conditions. These evaluations include queue lengths, CPU cycles, memory usage, throughput, and the use of resources. The actions of performance testing include identifying possible information choke points and comparing the product's performance to original specifications.

There are a number of different types of tests based on user requirements. For example, functional testing verifies that the product is working correctly and meets the specified requirements. This is done through the use of test cases that duplicate and often surpass real world scenarios. Other types of testing include load testing, sometimes referred to as "scalability,” not to mention reliability and usability testing. There is also maintainability testing, which tests the ability of the provider to deliver patches and updates. Configurability, which tests the customer's ability to modify the software if needed and, of course, security testing.

As you can see, testing is more than just making sure that an application meets stakeholder desires. And what tests are run and how much testing is involved depends greatly on the end user's definition of performance. So, it's vital that stakeholders carefully delineate the specifications that developers are required to meet. Remember that software testing is greatly influenced by the time and resources available. Which is why agile testing was developed. The agile approach improves the economics of software development by enabling programming and testing to be done at the same time.

Automation can also save money and resources. However, it's important to include skilled human testers in the mix. Software testing is more of an art than a science and requires human experience, imagination and intuition.

In reality, all forms of software testing are testing for performance in one way or another. Performance drives software development. Better performing software helps people achieve things that could not be achieved any other way. Improving software performance, improves human performance and that's why testing software for performance is important.

Ideally, these standards must be at least as high as interactive sites run by banking institutions, and so testing of e-commerce sites for things like interface quality and security is vitally important. Software quality testing is part of that package.

People want to feel secure when handing over their credit card information. A smoothly operating site, that has been certified for security, is far more likely to have a high conversion rate, thus increasing profit and long term business viability.   

The quality of e-commerce sites has been consistently increasing, yet there are still many people who do not trust the security of such sites. This is quite understandable. Nobody wants to toss their credit card information out into the ether without being very sure that their information is safe.

This is why the worst thing any stakeholder can do is to allow bureaucratic pressure for completion to compromise testing. One of the most common mistakes is to throw such testing into the hands of developers who aren’t testing specialists , are too familiar with the site, and don’t know the risks of launching a buggy site. Testing should be the purview of specialists who are familiar with the vagaries of  e-commerce and know what can go wrong. It’s important to hire testers who are professional, know what they are doing and aren’t subject to internal pressures and politics.

But, security isn’t the only concern. The interactive nature of e-commerce sites requires the testing of all aspects of that interaction, from product display to shopping cart and the checkout process. Functionality is the key to a successful e-commerce site. This includes how products are displayed, how they are searched for and how they are placed in product categories.

Website user testing should be done remotely by testers who are able to act as customers would on the site, looking for flaws in the digital product. It is important that every element from search to purchase be thoroughly tested against real world scenarios, such as different browsers and platforms. Nor should one forget the copy on the page. Is it clear and easy to read? Does it have the proper call to action?  Has it been properly proofread? All elements of an e-commerce site’s public face should undergo customer experience testing.

Needless to say, any e-commerce site should meet WCAG 2.0 guidelines and be as friendly and accessible as possible. It’s functionality should be smooth, input should be easy, it should be readily accessible regardless of platform and feel safe and secure. A well designed and debugged e-commerce site is the key to prosperity in the Internet marketplace.

Businesses should have clear customer centered policies that are the same from touch point to touch point. These policies should ensure that all customer facing personnel offer the same level of service.

All touch points should have certain attributes in common. They should be emotionally consistent. That is they should all exhibit the same level of friendly professionalism and concern. Customers should never be put in a position that they must demand someone address their problems, or feel the need to “educate” the customer service representative in how to do his or her job. This means that customer facing employees must be trained to remain calm in a crisis and know how to extract the necessary information from the customer without hostility. Much of this has to do with defining your brand in a positive way and ensuring that service representatives know how to convey that positive image.

Meeting expectations is another aspect of consistency. Customer facing employees must be empowered to resolve issues without the need for escalation, except in clearly defined and very unusual circumstances. To paraphrase American President Lyndon Johnson, “If the first person you talk to can’t solve your problem, you’re talking to a bureaucracy.” Rapid resolution, without the need for escalation, is not only important for consistency, it’s also a major element of good public relations.  

Consistency isn’t always easy. Customer service can be expensive and the temptation to cut corners, such as outsourcing to customer service farms, can be difficult to resist. However, it’s important to realize that good customer service is not just  a public relations operation. It is a way of encouraging brand loyalty in an era of strong competition where customer retention is an important part of future profits.

The sheer variety of stakeholders means that it becomes necessary to prioritise certain interests over others, and it also means that stakeholder involvement can be both an advantage or a disadvantage. It can easily become a disadvantage if too many, too few, or the wrong stakeholders are involved.

It is vitally important to follow the formula of Origination – Communication – Resolution, when dealing with stakeholders, The origination could come from a particular stakeholder or a remote usability tester. It might come from anyone legitimately involved in the testing process. It could be a suggestion, a complaint or a question. Once the origination is made, it then becomes necessary for all the interested parties to communicate about it until it is resolved. Such communication may take time, it's not always easy, but if everyone persists, it will reach a resolution.

The key is to know who is responsible for what, and who has legitimate reasons to comment on what. The best stakeholder management is that which takes place as early as possible, ideally before testing even begins. Of course there is the “of mice and men” phenomenon. That is; the best laid plans of mice and men can go astray.  Even so, having a stakeholder map that is fair and can be generally agreed upon will save a tremendous amount of time.

And finally, stakeholder management should never be addressed as if it was just another thing to do on a checklist or an act of public relations. Stakeholders aren't simply people who need to be pacified and gotten out of the way so that testing can continue. They are an integral part of testing itself.  The isolationist viewpoint of separating the company from the consumer and creating an “us and them” mentality, or dividing stakeholders with legitimate interests into those with power and those without; those who must be satisfied and those who can be ignored; is a guarantee of failure.  

Stakeholder management is an important part of the testing process. Providing the right stakeholders with the right information at the right time and listening to their concerns will not be a distraction if you follow the formula of Origination – Communication – Resolution.

User Acceptance Testing should be planned strategically, with carefully identified real world customer journeys and scenarios and open communication lines with users and stakeholders to make sure nothing is left out. Test objectives should then be prioritized with critical operations coming first.

UAT is carried out at the end of the testing cycle. Obviously it is the most critical period for the software release. Delay in any of the previous stages of development and testing eat up UAT time. Improper test planning, in worst cases, leads to overlap between system testing and UAT. Due to less time for UAT, and pressure to meet deadlines, software is deployed to the UAT environment even though functional testing is not completed. UAT goals can’t be achieved in such a situation.

Although UAT typically happens at the end of the testing cycle, testers should bare in mind the Front Line Principle. That is, those people on the front lines, those who will actually use the software, are a great source of information during the development phase. This is especially true during early documentation, when the temptation to simply accept management directives, as if they were edicts from on high, is the strongest.

Unfortunately, such communication can be difficult as the lines of communication between those involved in development and those involved in deployment are at their weakest during the initial stages.

System testing and UAT should not overlap, there should be time for both. If release deadlines exert too much pressure, it’s possible for software to be shifted to UAT before functional testing is complete.

In summary, setting and following a few guidelines, clearly defining the important user journeys and customer flows, clear expectations and roles of responsibility can make User Acceptance Testing a successful part of the development cycle. 

The reality is there are some things that automation can't do.  The most important of which is making value judgments concerning an application.  The reason for this is that the amount of information necessary to enable a machine to make such judgements is prohibitively large.  Computers require and execute instructions and will continue to do so into the foreseeable future.  Computers don't have that unique mix of logic and instinct that forms the basis of human thinking.

Software testing, like so many other areas of life, has become formalized.  Whenever we humans find ourselves doing something over and over again, we like to break down our activities into chunks that can be easily seen and manipulated.  We then invent tools to help us manipulate these chunks.  However, tools are useless without tool users.  Neither a software testing tool or stone hammer can accomplish much without a skilled hand.

The proof of this is that exploratory testing has become an important element in the software development process.  It enables new ideas to emerge that would not be covered in scripted testing.  Exploratory testing is now becoming a discipline unto itself.  Templates, testing techniques and models have all been developed to enhance exploratory testing, and classes are now being taught in the subject.

Exploratory testing is a purpose driven ad hoc activity.  In this respect, it embraces much of user experience and user acceptance testing and is a part of the development lifecycle.  Even so, it is quite different from simply using test case scenarios and requires intelligent participation and imagination. Which are two things that human beings are quite good at.

There is a subtlety to software testing, the same as there is a subtlety to coding itself.  Both coding and testing are an expression of human creativity.  While advances in AI are moving machines closer to human capabilities, there is still a long way to go.  The reality is that by the time a machine can replace the tester under all circumstances, it could probably do the coding as well.  Which isn't likely anytime soon.  And so, human beings will still be a part of the software development process  for a long time to come.

Exploratory testing should not be done by testers who have already performed other tests. While it is possible to use the same testers, it's not a good idea. The purpose of exploratory testing is to put a fresh set of eyes on the system. Established testers may be too close to the software.

Consequently, the scope of the tests are restricted to those areas of the system that are accessible to the tester. In this sense, it is similar to user experience testing, however exploratory testing is less limited in that testers can push the edge of the envelope further. In a way, exploratory testers are like test pilots whose job it is to take an aircraft up to and beyond designed limits.

There are two basic types of exploratory testing, Exploratory Functional and Exploratory Experience. These generate different types of reports. In fact, exploratory testing provides for rapid feedback and can create numerous reports. While this is generally a good thing, it can cause opinion to creep into the issues reported.

While exploratory testing may seem unstructured, it isn't. The difference between it and other forms of software testing is that the structure is imposed in an ongoing way, by the person doing the testing. The nice thing about exploratory testing is that it is hands on and relies to a great extent on the tester's imagination. As long as the tester is sufficiently skilled, this can result in a level of rigorous testing that can't always be duplicated in highly formalized scenarios.

Because exploratory testing is less formal and relies on the individual tester, it can be used to make certain that serious defects have been found and corrected. In this way, exploratory testing can also serve as a complement to other forms of testing, thereby helping to increase confidence before release.

There are a number of challenges which can arise during this phase. In most cases, projects are running behind schedule which means the timeframe in which you have to perform UAT with clients can be narrow. Also, clients are always busy and User Acceptance Testing is typically managed using spreadsheets which can make things difficult to manage.

When you are unable to collect detailed client feedback within a fixed timeframe, projects can be delayed and upstream marketing initiatives can be impacted. When spreadsheets are used to capture and manage feedback, details can be misplaced and you may end up launching an application without incorporating the input of every stakeholder.

To address these challenges, Bugwolf has built a platform which not only makes User Acceptance Testing easier to manage and engage stakeholders but also makes UAT more fun and engaging. When clients are short on resources we can also provide a fully vetted and on-demand team of elite testers to assist with User Acceptance Testing.

The Bugwolf platform makes UAT more fun and engaging where testers compete over an accelerated time, providing bugs and feedback about web or mobile application prior to release. We provide a structured way for digital agencies to engage clients, a secure way for clients to access their application, and an easy way for clients to report bugs.

This means that you not only accelerate UAT but also produce better quality products, creating happier and more engaged clients, and make managing UAT a breeze.

What is Beta Testing?

Beta testing is the process of allowing a sample of customers to use software in a real environment prior to release.

Typically, software goes through a number of quality control steps during development - manual testing, automated testing and UAT to name a few. However, all of these steps are usually conducted by the internal team that “owns” the release. Even the most robust testing process is not foolproof. And it’s arguably the final layer of customer insight that is most difficult to replicate internally. This is why using beta testing as a final layer of quality control is so critical and invaluable.

Beta testing is unscripted and conducted outside an internal “lab setting”. Therefore, it adds another dimension to the quality control process. This provides a chance to gather functional and experiential feedback from the very people who will be using the software upon release.

Beta testing adds significant value in any major release, but it is particularly important when the target audience is far-removed from the development and testing team (e.g. if the audience speaks a different language, shares a different culture, uses uncommon devices/browsers/OS, or is based in another country/location).

In the end, they will tell you things about your software that were previously unknown. If these issues remained unaddressed, they would have diminished the value of your product in the eyes of the very people it was designed to benefit.

It’s not always easy for the people involved in the development of the software to watch their “baby” go off on its own in the real world. However, by letting “untrained” customers markup your software, you end up with insights that can lead to critical product tweaks and/or pivots. In the end, beta testing makes a product that is stronger, more flexible and more satisfying for the end user's purposes.

The Beta Testing Process

While a beta test can follow many formats, effective testing usually includes specific steps that insure an optimum outcome.

Step 1: Planning

Before starting a beta test, goals and objectives for the test must be defined. Defining objectives in advance ensures that the right type and number of participants are chosen, enough time has been allotted for the testing and that everyone is clear on what must be achieved. You should also create a clear scope for the test, including: specific features your test will focus on, technologies you want to cover, and access to the test environment.

Step 2: Recruitment

Selecting the right type and number of beta testers is essential for good results. These should be individuals who match the target audience who are able to give impartial opinions in regard to the software. When choosing the size of your testing team, a good rule of thumb is to build a group large enough to provide a representative sample of your total user base. In other words, your testers should reflect the technological, geographical and cultural spread of your full user base. This will ensure you get adequate test coverage.

Step 3: Distribution

For the testing to be effective, the participants should be able to use the product in an environment that is as close to the live version as possible. That means, the entire product, including manuals, packaging, etc., should be distributed as part of the beta test.

Step 4: Feedback

Feedback is the point of the test and should be gathered quickly and in as many forms as possible. Bug reports, bug videos, surveys, comments and post-challenge interviews all come into play.

Step 5: Evaluation

The data gathered through feedback is useless unless it is organised and managed effectively. Naturally, the first step is to review and resolve bugs and feedback based on severity in the same way you would any other in-house test. It’s also important to share the output with other teams (e.g. marketing, sales, customer service, etc., that can also benefit from the findings).

Step 6: Conclusion

It is important to give the participants closure at the the conclusion of the test. This includes thanking them for their participation, updating them on the status of the product and recognising/rewarding their performance as a beta tester.

How To Setup A Customer Beta Test Using Bugwolf 

What Are the Benefits of Beta Testing?

Beta testing gives developers a fast and economical way to meet a wide variety of goals that can dramatically improve their product. Let’s take a closer look at some of the insights that result from beta testing:

Geography

It’s a big world and your customer base could be geographically diverse. Differences in geography can result in significant variation in user experience due to differing technological capabilities.

For example, connection speeds and mobile accessibility will vary dramatically between outback Australia and Sydney. Likewise, payment technologies and protocols used in New York will be significantly different than those in mainland China. If your internal testers are testing from a single location, it can be difficult to accurately replicate and test for these variables.

User technology

As if the proliferation of devices and mobility hadn’t complicated things enough, developers have also come to expect an almost infinite combination of outdated OS and browsers across their user base.

This means it’s almost impossible to provide test coverage against every possible combination of user setups. Fortunately, beta testing helps you pick up where your internal test coverage leaves off - allowing you to identify bugs that otherwise would have reached the general public.

Preferences

Like their technical setups, no two customers are the alike. Each brings with them a unique set of abilities, perceptions, beliefs and desires. These differences will give rise to different sets of expectations when it comes to your software. For instance, the type of language, colour scheme and imagery you use, may be interpreted completely different by one user compared to another.

Understandably, this is extremely difficult to identify by in-house QA teams who are focused on technical elements. Nonetheless, something seemingly innocuous can have dramatic ramifications for the success of your software. Beta testing is a pragmatic way to capture these nuances before they become costly mistakes.

Functionality

With the internet bringing us all closer together, it’s easy to overlook the little functional differences that can have serious implications for the use of your software.

For instance, differences in language must be considered when thinking of number systems, writing direction and spelling variants, among others. Dates, calendar types, important events, weights and measures, currency issues and even paper sizes must all be considered. All of these items and more can vary by user and must be considered not only in your content and support materials, but also for form inputs and validation.

For instance, if your sign-up forms only allow U.S. phone and zip code validation, you might unintentionally prevent customers in other locations completing key actions.

How Does Bugwolf Help?

Bugwolf makes it easy to run your own beta tests. There are two main ways we help: the first is by providing companies with a platform that you can use to brief and invite your existing customer beta testers to review your upcoming release. And the second is using a hybrid approach whereby we select professional testers that match your criteria to run blackbox tests on your assets. If you’d like to find out more, please contact us.

At a time when applications no longer function in isolation, a faulty product can also cause a cascading effect that disrupts more than just one system. And so the attempt to update or improve one element in a system can actually cause anything from slow operation to a system wide crash.

There are a number of causes of product failure. These include incomplete or amateurish software testing. Poorly educated software testers, unrealistic development time scales and mission creep, where the mission of the software under development will slowly, and often imperceptibly, shifts away from correct requirements. Perhaps the single biggest cause of poor software performance is insufficient or unimaginative performance testing. It’s important to apply real world scenarios, understand the envelope in which the product operates and push the edge of that envelope as far as possible.

A faulty digital product can impact a number of different areas. It can increase cost. There is the financial cost of fixing a faulty product as well as a cost of coping with the problem until it is fixed. It can, under some circumstances, actually cause a business outage, where a whole section of a business cannot function. But, the most important issue is that a faulty digital product can be a customer relations nightmare. Back in the pre-Internet era, not much more than ten people, usually just friends and family, would ever be aware of a customer’s dissatisfaction. Now that customer can complain to the World via social media. It only takes a few such complaints to create the possibility of bad PR going viral.

Getting a handle on software testing can prevent problems and lower cost in the long term, while improving efficiency and customer relations. The presence of professional testers operating in a strong testing environment is the best guarantee of a reliable digital product. Reliable products lead to happy stakeholders, satisfied customers and greater profitability.