Tuesday 29 December 2015

What are the Upcoming Testing Challenges for IoT?

Upcoming Testing Challenges for IoTf

Okay! It is high time we face the fact that the world is majorly running on mobile devices in the current days. Along with the boom in the field of mobile devices, there has been (obviously!) a boost in the mobile app development which is closely followed by the development of IoT. Soon the world will come to a situation where all things like cars, entertainment devices, transport systems,  robots, HVAC systems, computers, wearable, etc. and things that, till date, have not had electronics until we put it in them e.g., shoes, hardcopy paper, clothes, furniture, pets, back-of-your-neck, etc. will be provided with IP addressed devices.

So what is this so talked about IoT? IoT or Internet of Things, is the basically nothing but the physical objects or “things” to which electronics, software, network connectivity, and sensors have been integrated, to create a network, so as to give them the power to exchange data among each other.
Now, coming to the point! Like all new kids on the block, IoT too has to face many challenges and barriers before it can become successful and hugely popular. Following are some of the major upcoming challenges faced by the QA team while testing IoT.
  1. Cost: Multiple devices means all of them have to be brought together in testing environment and a multi tier environment has to be created. This becomes a very costly affair and requires huge efforts to be recreated.
  2. Interrelated Systems: The subsystems, sub-components, and services are all interrelated for proper functioning of the IoT and are usually controlled by third party. If the testers are unable to reach any one of the systems, the whole software testing procedure fails and hence is a huge challenge for the QA team.
  3. Multiple Teams: Multiple devices results in multiple fields of specializations which in turn requires multiple teams who are specialized in respective field to work simultaneously on the testing task.
  4. Testing Tools: IoT is comparatively new. Hence, the testing tools of the system are not well developed which makes it difficult for the testers to perform the procedures due to the inadequacy.
  5. Sensor quality and Accuracy: When multiple devices are involved, it is obvious that all will not be of the same quality which makes testing of the various IoT devices quite troublesome.
  6. Compatibility Issues: There will be many devices which are unique in their own way with their own functionality which make them hugely different from the other. Hence compatibility of the different devices will be challenging.
  7. Complexity: With the multi tier devices as well as software, complexities are pretty common to occur when all the devices are to be integrated together to form one large device of many parts.
  8. Connectivity Issues: All the systems need to be connected well with each other for proper functioning.
  9. Power Problems: When so many physical objects are running together in an integrated manner, power is obviously a huge issue.
  10. Security / Privacy Issues: IoT operates through remote sensors which increase the chances of breaching privacy or security a lot easier. This will be one of the major upcoming problems for the testers.
  11. Safety Concerns: The IoT is integrating many devices together which open up further chances of entry points by malwares. The increase in the layer of the software in turn increases the complexities of safety issues.
These are some of the most sought after challenges in the field of IoT testing which needs to be attended at once for proper development of the same.

Monday 28 December 2015

3 Great Tools to Test Enterprise Mobile Apps

3 Tools to Test Mobile Apps

As an app developer your primary goal should be to see that you app gets accepted by the customers and the fact that they are in love with it. How can you do that? Simple! Just make sure that your app is free of bugs, can be used easily, can undertake load, is safe to use and is easy to understand. All these can be ensured by simply testing the mobile app that you have created with the help of tools to test enterprise mobile apps so that the glitches can be identified and rectified before it gets launched for the use by the customers.

You can check the enterprise mobile apps with the help of old school manual methods or you can use the various tools that are available on the net to check you app in order to identify the various problem regions or bugs.
  1.    TestFairy: TestFairy is probably one of the best mobile app testing apps which is available absolutely free of cost to the developers and has a lucrative offer for the enterprise mobile app developing teams. It provides the developers with a detailed video recording of the various tests that are performed from the clients’ point of view including CPU, Memory, GPS, Network monitoring, logs, crash reports etc. In case of Android apps you just need to upload the APK file and the tool will use the necessary hooks to test your app. But you may require to insert a few codes in case you are testing an iOS app.
  2.       Google Analytics: It’s by Google; obviously it is one of the best. Google has taken a huge leap in extending its support to the testing of the enterprise mobile apps as mobile apps are gaining huge popularity in the recent days. If you are familiar to using Google Analytics on your computer for testing the web based apps then using the mobile version will be a piece of cake for you. Just like the computer tool the audience page will give you a detailed report of all the current, returning and the new users of the app as well as the experience they have using the app. The tool is perfect for both the iOS and the Android apps. It also provides the developers with the number crashes. This is one of the best testing tools for the apps launched by the big e-commerce platforms.
  3.     Google Play Native App Beta Testing: The previous enterprise mobile app testing tool was specifically for checking the analytical aspects of the app. However, Google Play Native App Beta Testing is meant for checking the all round aspects of your app. If you are an Android app developer then you will obviously have access to the developers’ platform on Google which you can access using your personal account or you can create a new account in case you are working on behalf of an enterprise (as recommended by Google). This tool not only helps you to test the app that you have created but it will also help you with various tips to perform better testing or develop better apps along with creating bulk user reports and deep linking the app with the websites so that you can get reports on engagement of the app along with optimizing the search results of the same.


These are some of the best tools to test enterprise mobile apps which you can use to check your app before you launch it for the use by your customers to ensure absolute customer satisfaction.

Sunday 27 December 2015

Understanding JMeter and Its Usage in Software Testing

Usage of JMeter in Software Testing

Load testing helps enterprises to deploy software applications effectively, and eliminate chances of downtime and failure in future. But testers need to load test the application by emulating a large number of users and under various conditions to obtain its key performance indicators (KPIs). That is why, many professionals use load testing tools to obtain the software’s KPIs by easily emulating a large number of users simultaneously. As an open source load testing tool, JMeter helps testers to assess the performance of a variety of web applications without increasing project overheads. However, its features and functionality also make JMeter a widely used load testing tool.

Why Many Software Testers Prefer JMeter to Other Load Testing Tools?
Pure Java Application
Unlike other load testing tools, JMeter is designed as a pure Java desktop application. So the users can download zip file, and setup the open source tool in a straightforward way. Further, they have option to run the tool on various operating systems that support Java. As most platforms currently support Java, the load testing tool can be setup and run across major operating systems including Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.

Assess both Static and Dynamic Resources
To evaluate the performance of a website effectively, testers need to assess all its resources. JMeter enables users to test both static and dynamic resources used by the software. They can use the tool to test various static resources including   HTML, CSS and JavaScript. Likewise, it can also be used for testing a variety of dynamic resources PHP, ASP.NET, Java Servlets, Java objects, CGI scripts, FTP servers and databases.

Perform both Load and Stress Tests
The testers can further use JMeter to perform both load tests and stress tests. They can assess the application’s performance under varying loads by simulating the number of users expected to access the website simultaneously. At the same time, JMeter also helps testers to determine the maximum load capacity of the web server. So they can easily identify when the web application will start responding to user request slowly or produce errors.

Supports Most Protocols and Servers
JMeter can also be used to load test and stress test a variety of applications as it supports most of the commonly used protocols and servers. At present, the load testing tools support HTTP, HTTPS, TCP, FTP, SOAP, REST, LDAP, SMPT, POP3 and IMAP. Likewise, it also supports databases through JDBC, NoSQL through MangoDB, and native commands and shell scripts. Thus, the testers can use a single tool to assess the performance of various modern websites and web applications. 

Pluggable Architecture
The architecture of JMeter is built based on plug-ins. Some of its commonly used features are implemented through plug-ins. So it becomes easier for testers to manipulate the testing tool through these plug-ins. Also, they can easily enhance its features and functionality by building custom plug-ins. 

Simple Option to Build Test Cases
Often QA professionals have to put additional time and effort for building effective test plans. But JMeter makes enables users to create test plans by following some simple steps.  For instance, the testers can create test plans for testing SOAP layers simply by mentioning the URLs and SOAP requests. They also have option to extend the basic test plans by incorporating parameters, variables, counters, logs, loops and CSV files. They can further refer to the comprehensive documentation posted on its website to manage and maintain the test scripts efficiently.

Generates Informative Test Reports
The programmers need informative test reports to fix the performance issues quickly. Likewise, clear and elaborate performance testing reports help managers to take a number of crucial decisions. JMeter enables testers to present the requests and response in text, HTML or XML format. Also, they can use the Aggregate Graph component of the tool to present the test results more clearly with graphs and statistics.  Also, they can take advantage of the Display Graph option to present the performance statistics through appealing graphs.


Despite being an open source load testing tool, JMeter is being updated at regular intervals. The most recent version of JMeter enables testers to determine the amount of time required by the software to establish connection with the sever using a new parameter called connect Time. Likewise, JMeter 2.13 allows users to customize both aggregate report and aggregate graph. These new features make JMeter score over other open source and commercial load testing tools available in the market.

Wednesday 23 December 2015

Metrics to Measure Quality of Software that was tested

Metrics to Measure Quality of Software that was tested

Nowadays most enterprises invest in various tools and frameworks to effectuate and speed up their software testing efforts. But each business still needs to measure the quality of software after the testing process is over. As standards of measurement, metrics are commonly used by businesses to assess the quality of the software and effectiveness of the testing process. Thus, the managers can use the metrics to take crucial decisions related to release of the software. The software metrics can be divided into three broad categories, i.e., coverage, progress and quality. A business needs to use metrics belonging to these three categories to assess the quality of the software effectively.

Metrics Used Commonly to Assess the Quality of Software

Test Coverage: It belongs to the category of coverage metrics. The test coverage metric helps manager to assess the quality of the software based on planned test coverage. The manager can calculate the percentage of test cases executed by using the following formula. 
(Total number of test procedures/Total number of test requirements) *100

System Coverage: The system coverage metric also falls under the category of coverage metric. A manager can calculate system coverage metric to analyze the test coverage at the system interface level.

Test Procedure Execution: As part of progress metrics, test procedure metric helps manager to determine the extent of the pending or outstanding testing efforts. The status of test procedure execution can be ascertained using the following formula.
Number of executed test procedures/ Total number of test procedures

Error Discovery Rate: Both error discovery rate and defect density are calculated using a single formula. The progress metric helps managers to take rational decisions related to the application’s release. A manager can calculate the error discovery rate metric by dividing the number of defects identified by total number of test procedures executed.

Defect Aging: It is also important for the manager to determine the turnaround time for a defect. As part of progress metric, defect aging metric helps manager to decide the amount of time required to fix the defects identified during testing process. He can calculate the defect aging metric by deducing the date defect was identified from the date defect was fixed.

Defect Fix Retest: The manager also need to check if the application is retested quickly and effectively after the identified defects are fixed. As a progress metric, defect fix retest metric helps managers to decide the amount of time required to release the new build. The metric is calculated by deducting the date of retesting the software from the release date of the new build.

Quality of Fixes: The managers also need to assess a variety of development issues to assess the quality of the software accurately. They can assess the quality of defects fixed by the programmers by dividing the number of defects reopened by the total number of defects fixed. The metric will help manager to understand the impact of bug fixes on other functionality of the software.

Software Problem Reports: The manager also needs to understand the total number of defects identified during the testing process and their significance. So he needs to break down the number of defects identified by priority. Once the defects are organized based on their priority, it will be easier for him to check if all crucial defects are fixed and the application is retested.

Test Efficiency: As a quality metric, test efficiency helps managers to assess the effectiveness of software testing efforts.  A manager can calculate the test efficiency metric by dividing the total number of required tests by the number of system errors.

Test Effectiveness: While assessing the quality of the software, the manager needs to check the effectiveness of tests conducted by the testers. He must analyze the test reports to find out the number of defects identified during the testing process.  The information will help him to assess the effectiveness of tests quantitatively.


Many managers include the quality metrics in the project from the very beginning to obtain accurate and relevant information about the quality of the software through test reports.   However, the managers must include a variety of metrics in the project to assess the quality of the application and testing efforts effectively.

Tuesday 22 December 2015

Transforming the Way Testing is done via Automation Testing

Transforming the Way Testing is done via Automation Testing

Software testing is probably the most important part of the success of a particular software. As the main aim of the software developer is to gain more people to accept the developed software, hence this makes software testing the most important phase in the software development life cycle.

As and when this realization doomed on the software developers, they have been investing in the development of the software testing procedures which has slowly and steadily given way to automated testing procedures that have transformed the way testing is done.
  1.     Transformation in Accuracy: “To err is human” and the case holds for software testing too. When a person is performing the same test again and again for a prolonged period of time, the activity becomes monotonous and it increases the chances of error to occur. However, in case of automation testing chances of error is reduced to a minimal even in prolonged or repetitive tests as it is performed by machines with the same accuracy.
  2.     Transformation in Test Coverage: Factors like memory contents, data tables, file contents, and internal program are not tested during manual testing procedure. However, in automation testing, these factors are taken into consideration to provide you with a detailed result on whether the software is performing as desired or not. Another transformation in test coverage is brought about by automation testing by the fact that the machines are capable of performing prolonged tests which are usually skipped when done in the manual mode as time plays a crucial factor.
  3.     Automation Does What Manual Testing Cannot: It is pretty difficult to get hold of thousands of users to check how the software will perform when it is being used by all at one go, when you are manually performing controlled web application test. However, this is easily achievable in automation testing process. Machines can easily create virtual situations where hundreds or even thousands of users will be using the software under consideration at the same time, thus providing an idea of its functionality in such condition.
  4.     Automated QA Testing Helps Developers and Testers: Automation testing transforms the testing procedure on a whole by providing the testers and developers time to concentrate on more vital issues. Automation testing helps in performing tests on multiple machines at the same time thus relieving the testers and developers with time to resolve more complicated issues thus evolving the testing processes on a whole.
  5.    Transformation in Team Morale: Automation testing takes care of all the prolonged and monotonous software testing processes. This provides the testing team with time as well as energy to take care of more vital issues or on further development of the software which will allow them to provide the customers with a even better software which will be superior in both design, work ability and ease of using. This in turn will ensure success of the product and increased profit for the organization on a whole.


It is quite obvious that automation testing has brought about a huge transformation in the testing process over the years. It has been capable of replacing a large part of manual testing. However, it can’t completely replace manual testing as the planning and development is still done by human who are the master mind behind the automation testing procedure at large. Automation testing has enhanced the accuracy as well as the depth of software testing on the whole and is steadily developing to become even better day by day. It has helped in developing better software which is widely acceptable.

Monday 21 December 2015

Ways in Which Software Testing is Helpful for Healthcare Industry

What are the Ways Software Testing is Helpful in Healthcare Industry

Technology has been advancing in leaps and bounds in the recent eras. All aspects of the human life are now depended on technology in some way or the other. Human life is badly intertwined with the technology and the scenario is no different with the healthcare industry. Healthcare industry uses technology pretty heavily these days in order to maintain information about the patients and related officials and other required details of the industry. This makes testing of the software used in the healthcare industry an absolute must which will ensure that the software is foolproof and will cause no problems when being used.

Healthcare industry is reputed for the use of software which are highly complex in nature and usually contain multiple tiers which are used to integrate variety of information like that of medical plans, enrollments and annual contracts which are to be regularly updated and maintained for long periods of time. All these complexities often lead to data integration complexities which are to be taken care of before releasing them for the use by healthcare professionals so that the data can be safe with them and no data would be lost due to the bugs or glitches.
  1. Software testing ensures that the multi-tier system of the software used in the healthcare industry is up and running at all time and springs back to its original form even after snagging under pressure.
  2. Via software testing it can be made sure that the various software used by the professionals of the healthcare industry provide equally brilliant results even if there is extra load dumped on them due to any kind of mishap.
  3. The software used in the healthcare industry for various purposes, may have to perform tasks continuously for an extended period of time without any possible break. Software testing ensures that these prolonged working periods do not cause any trouble with the performance of the software.
  4. The healthcare industry often have to integrate multiple systems together in order to collaborate the data stored in all the systems or in order to maintain a constant flow of data between these systems. The proper integration of these systems are ensured by the implementation of software testing procedures.
  5. Software testing helps in checking the cross system impacts on the performance of the applications used in healthcare industry.
  6. One of the most important parts of the software used in healthcare industry is the inter dependency of the various apps or software used in the industry, which is checked by the software testing procedures.
  7. Just like in the banking industry, the software to be used in healthcare industry are also at a risk of being breached which can give rise to fatal consequences. Software testing ensures that these types of security glitches are avoided.
  8. At times the software of the healthcare industry needs to be handled by people who are not very apt with the usage. Software testing ensures that the applications are user friendly.

These are some of the top most ways which software testing ensures that the healthcare industry is benefited from a good software and continues its journey to serve the mankind on a whole. We hope to have made you realize the importance of the various software testing procedure in the success of a healthcare industry software so that you introduce the various processes as early as possible in the software development life cycle in order to provide your customers with a software devoid of all kinds of possible bugs and glitches.

Sunday 20 December 2015

What do we know about Crowdtesting and Its Importance?

What do we know about Importance of Crowdtesting?

Within a short span of time, crowdsourced testing or crowdtesting has become a popular trend in software testing.  As the name indicates, crowdtesting involves a group of individuals in the software testing process. Under this distinct form of testing, the enterprises share prototypes of software application with a group of individuals through an online platform for testing purposes.
Thus, a software application is tested under real world conditions by the crowd that includes both software testers and end users. Many businesses opt for crowdtesting to get feedback from a wide variety of individuals, and identify all defects and performance issues in their software. An enterprise can also reap a number of additional benefits by involving more individuals in the software testing process.  

What Make Many Businesses Opt for Crowdtesting?
Flexibility
To test a modern application effectively, the testers must have adequate testing experience and domain expertise. Often enterprises find it challenging to pick the right professionals to test specific software applications.  Crowdtesting makes it easier for enterprises to get the software tested by a group of individuals with varying backgrounds and expertise. Further, most crowdtesters are passionate about identifying bugs in the application and improve its quality.

Reduced Testing Time
Nowadays businesses have to assess all aspects of the software application within a shorter amount of time. So enterprises have to deploy additional testers to complete the required tests on schedule. Often small businesses and start-ups find it daunting to complete an application thoroughly within a shorter amount of time. Crowdtesting helps businesses to identify all critical bugs in the software within a shorter amount of time. As the software is tested by a group of individuals simultaneously, it can be assessed thoroughly without increasing the time to market.

Unbiased Assessment
In an agile environment, testers and programmers work as a single team. Also, the testers have to collaborate with various stakeholders in the project on a continuous basis. That is why; often testers find it difficult to provide unbiased feedback and reports on the software’s quality. Crowdtesting helps businesses to eliminate the intrinsic biasness of in-house testers. As the software is tested by   diverse individuals, an enterprise can easily get more relevant test results and unbiased feedback.

Enhance Test Coverage
The testers must test the software under different environments and condition to assess its quality accurately. But often enterprises find it difficult to test applications across different devices, environments and platforms due to lack of adequate resources. Many businesses opt for crowdtesting to increase test coverage by overcoming the constraints related to resources. When the software is tested by a group of individuals, the business can easily find out all technical issues and bottlenecks affecting its functionality and performance.

Better Compatibility Testing
The modern applications need to deliver quality user experience across a wide variety of devices, platforms and browsers. But it is not possible for businesses to test the software using all devices available in the market. Many enterprises even use emulators to assess the performance of the application across many devices. A business can always share the software with crowdtesters to effectuate compatibility and usability testing. As the testers will assess the software on various devices and platforms, it will be easier for the business to assess the software’s compatibility more accurately.

Cost Effective
Often small enterprises and start-ups find it difficult to maintain an in-house team of software testers. Also, businesses find it difficult to find testers with adequate domain-knowledge to test the application effectively. When an enterprise opts for crowdtesting, it is required to pay to the testers only for the unique and relevant defects or performance issues detected by them.  So it becomes easier for it to get all aspects of the product tested without incurring additional expenses. At the same time, crowdtesting helps businesses to hire experienced testers, project managers and designers.


However, it is also important for the enterprises to make a comprehensive plan to overcome some of the major shortcomings of crowdtesting. The plan must focus on managing confidentiality, facilitating communication with crowdsourced testers, and detecting relevant and impactful bugs. The right strategy will help businesses to overcome these shortcomings, and take advantage of the emerging software testing trend.

Wednesday 16 December 2015

The Need of Automation in Agile Testing

Need of Automation in Agile Testing

The agile project management methodology emphasizes on continuous collaboration between various stakeholders throughout the software development process. Further, the methodology does not consider software development and testing as two distinct processes. So the testers have to collaborate with programmers, managers and customers to ensure that the software meets the specifications and requirements of the client. They also have to test essential components continuously throughout the development process. The enterprises can always automate the software testing efforts in an agile environment to make the testers more productive, get faster test results, and deliver quality software.

Why Test Automation is Essential in an Agile Environment?
Need to Perform a Variety of Tests
In an agile environment, all aspects of the software are tested. So the QA professionals have to perform a variety of tests to deliver a quality application. Often testers have to perform unit, functional, performance, regression, integration, acceptance, and load testing in agile environment. Also, they need to repeat certain tests during each sprint to assess quality accurately. The test automation tools   make it easier for tester to perform and repeat a variety of tests without putting any extra time and effort.

Continuous Regression Testing
As noted earlier, programmers and testers have to continuously collaborate with the customer and other stakeholders in an agile environment. So they receive feedback from the client throughout the development process. Also, the developers need to add new functionality to the software or make changes to the system according to the feedback received from the client. Each time changes are made to the system, the QA professionals need to perform regression testing to ensure that the performance and functionality of the application remain intact. The test automation tools make it easier for testers to perform regression testing regularly without putting any extra time and effort. 

Frequent Changes to the Code
Based on the feedback received from the client, the programmers frequently make changes to the code in an agile development environment. The changes made to the code can have a huge impact on the software’s functionality and performance. So each time the code changes, the QA professionals have to repeat a series of tests. They cannot repeat a number of tests quickly without using any tools. The tools enable them to repeat all tests quickly by executing the test scripts. They can further reuse the same test scripts to perform the tests on a regular basis.

Deliver Fast and Reliable Test Results
In an agile environment, software testing efforts aim to deliver faster and more accurate test result. The quick and quality test results help various stakeholders to take critical decisions. The test automation tools help users to avoid rework and shorter feedback cycles. Thus, it becomes easier for testers to provide reliable test results to managers and customers without requiring any additional time. The tools further help users to organize and structure the test results to make them simple and easy to understand.

Simplify Agile Environment Management
Often organizations find it challenging to create and maintain an agile development environment. But the new generation test automation tools have made it easier for businesses to manage agile environment. The tools enable testers to create test scripts that are reusable and maintainable. The businesses can maintain the test scripts without investing in any additional resources. Further,   they can use the environment to deliver high quality software applications in future. 

Get Higher ROI in Automation
Many organizations opt for manual testing to avoid inflated project overheads. But a business can get higher ROI by automating its testing efforts in an agile environment. In an agile environment, both coding and testing occur simultaneously. So the software’s time to market is reduced drastically. At the same time, the reduced feedback cycles make it easier for manager to take crucial decisions about promoting and launching the software. Also, the enhanced quality of the product contributes towards boosting its popularity and profitability. 


On the whole, a business can reap benefits in terms of time and quality through agile testing automation. But it cannot automate all its manual testing efforts. So it is always important for the business to identify the repetitive tests that must be automated. At the same time, the exploratory testing cases and one-time tests need to be executed manually.

Tuesday 15 December 2015

Prioritizing Bugs - How do Testers Decide?

How do Testers Decide to Prioritizing Bugs

Nowadays, testers have to test all aspects of a software application within a stipulated amount of time. The time constraint makes it essential for the professionals to understand the importance of each bug, and prioritize it for resolution. That is why; testers often find it challenging to prioritize the bugs based on their importance, and required turnaround time.

It is a common practice among QA professionals to prioritize all bugs according to four distinct levels, i.e., critical, high, medium and low. The critical bugs prevent the testers to from continuing testing beyond a particular point. So the maximum turnaround time for such bugs is 24 hours.  The high priority bugs affect the normal functionality of the software at the users end, and must be fixed before its release.

The medium priority bugs affect the performance and user experience of the applications, and can be fixed after its release. The low priority bugs do not have a huge impact on the application’s performance, and can be postponed due to time constraints. However, the testers must keep in mind some common best practices while prioritizing bugs.

Common Best Practices Testers Follow while Prioritizing Bugs for Resolution
Label Security Bugs as Critical

The bugs affecting user data will have a direct impact on the application’s popularity and profitability. There are also chances that the security issues will increase the business’s legal liability. So the testers must prioritize the security risks related to user data, and ensure that such bugs are fixed immediately.

Focus on Frequency of Occurrence
Some defects in the software occur sporadically, whereas others occur more frequently. The bugs occurring more frequently often results in software failure and affect the user experience negatively. The QA professionals can easily identify the bugs that occur frequently based on the bug report and problem tickets. These defects must be fixed in the next build to enhance the application’s performance and user experience.  

Look for Bugs disrupting Business Activities
Certain software applications are designed with features to help businesses accomplish specific objectives like process improvement. So the bugs disrupting the business process or activities must be resolved immediately. The testers must refer to the key performance indicators (KPIs) to identify the bugs that affect specific features or functionality of the application, and hence prevent the business from accomplishing certain tasks or objectives smoothly.    

Identify the Bugs affecting User Experience
Nowadays the popularity and profitability of a software application is directly linked to its user experience. So any bugs affecting the application’s user experience will have a negative impact on revenues. Often bugs found in the software’s user interface (UI) affect the user experience negatively. The QA professionals must refer to the KPIs to identify such bugs, and mark them as high-priority items for resolution.

Prioritize Bugs Impacting the Traffic or Revenue
Often the major key points of a project are impacted by specific bugs. For instance, some bugs can affect the website’s performance, user signup, click-through rates, and similar important metrics negatively. So these bugs will have an adverse impact on the revenue generated by the web application. The testers must get the bugs resolved in the same release to prevent the website from losing more traffic and revenue. 

Isolate the Defects
It is always important for the testers to prioritize the bugs according to the severity of their impacts. They can easily determine the severity of the impact by isolating individual bugs. The bugs affecting the software’s key feature and functionality must be fixed urgently. On the other hand, the bugs affecting the rarely used features can be fixed during the next build. So the testers need to analyze the impact of each bug individually to categorize them properly.

The QA professionals must remember that bug prioritization is a subjective decision. The best practices and guidelines for bug prioritization will differ from one project to another. So they must identify the severity of each defect to prioritize the bugs effectively for resolution.

Monday 14 December 2015

Xamarin Test Cloud and Its Importance to Mobile Testing

Importance of Xamarin Test Cloud to Mobile Testing

As a cross-platform mobile application development platform, Xamarin makes it easier developers to build native apps for iOS, Android and Windows using a single code base written in C#. But the developers still have to put additional time and effort to ensure that the application runs flawlessly on a wide variety of devices. They need to perform elaborate user interface (UI) acceptance testing to assess the app’s usage and user interaction effectively.

As a cloud-based service, Xamarin Test Cloud is designed to help businesses to automate the UI acceptance testing effort. It enables testers to assess the application’s look, feel, functionality and performance across a wide variety of devices without putting any extra time and effort. There are also a number of reasons why many enterprises nowadays opt for Xamarin Test Cloud.

Why Use Xamarin Test Cloud for UI Acceptance Testing of Mobile Apps?
Choose from Two Frameworks
Xamarin Test Cloud allows testers to write automated UI tests using either Xamarin.UITest or Calabash. Each framework runs smoothly on the application’s user interface, and tests its behavior accurately. The experienced QA professionals can use Xamarin.UITest to write tests in C#, while taking advantage of a popular testing library like NUnit. Likewise, the testers can use Calabash to write tests based on behavior-driven development methodology. Calabash enables them to write tests in Ruby, while taking advantage of Cucumber.  They can simply follow the grammatical rules imposed by Cucumber to develop test scripts in the language of businesses.

Test Mobile Applications on 1000+ Devices
Nowadays, each mobile app must deliver quality experience across a wide variety of devices to become popular and profitable. That is why, testers need to perform UI acceptance testing of applications across different models of smartphones, tablets and phablets. Xamarin Test Cloud enables testers to test the code on more than 1000 device. They can simply write the test scripts once, and run the same scripts to against various devices and emulators locally. Likewise, they can simply press a button to run the same tests across a variety of devices on the cloud. So businesses can use Xamarin Test Cloud to assess their mobile applications across a large percentage of mobile devices available in the market. 

Assess Various Aspects of a Mobile App
To test a mobile app effectively, the testers must focus on many factors. For instance, they must keep in mind the various ways to interact and use the mobile device. Likewise, they also need to need to assess the application’s functionality and performance in various environments. In addition to automating UI acceptance testing, Xamarin Test Cloud also helps users to assess the application thoroughly. The users can avail the cloud-based service to test the application under a variety of network conditions including 3G, 4G, Wi-Fi and no network. Also, they can assess the mobile application’s functionality accurately by simulating common user behaviors like rotating the device, tapping and swiping the screen, pressing any button, switching network connection, changing GPS location, and accessing hardware like camera.

Work with Popular Continuous Integration Tools
Often QA professionals have to test a mobile app repeatedly and frequently to identify and eliminate all defects. Xamarin Test Cloud allows users to create individual tests and functionality locally, and then submit the application or tests to the cloud through a command prompt. The testers have option to submit the tests to Xamarin Test Cloud either manually or though continuous integration (CI) tools. They also have option to work with some of the commonly used CI tools like TeamCity, Jenkins and Team Foundation Server. The CI tools make it easier for QA professionals to test the mobile app at frequent intervals and during different phases of development. 

Generate Detailed Reports
Various stakeholders in the project need detailed and accurate test results to take crucial decisions related to the mobile application’s release and promotion. So the testers have to present the test results in a detailed yet easy-to-understand format. Xamarin Test Cloud makes it easier for users to generate detailed test reports. The testers have option to generate reports for individual tests. Also, they can enhance the quality of reports by including high-resolution screenshots. Along with device logs, stack traces and similar debugging information, the test reports also provide useful results based on test duration, memory consumption, CPU access and similar performance data.  

However, it is also important for users to understand some of the major limitations of Xamarin Test Cloud. The cloud-based service does not allow testers to run different sets of tests simultaneously. So they have to queue up various sets of tests sequentially. Likewise, Xamarin Test Cloud cannot be used effectively to test certain hardware features like NFC technology and Bluetooth Pairing. But the enterprises can still use Xamarin Test Cloud to automate the UI acceptance testing process effectively

Sunday 13 December 2015

Importance of Testing Applications across Devices & Browsers

Testing Applications Importance across Devices & Browsers

If you are aiming at winning the hearts of your customers with the software you have developed, the safest way to do so is by implementing software testing procedure on the same so as to detect the probable bugs and glitches and rectify them.

Since it was discovered, technology has always been a blessing to mankind. With its advancement, it has offered people with ample choice or both devices and browsers through which they can access and utilize a particular app according to their convenience. This has made cross browser and device testing of application an absolute must part of the whole software testing process in order to make sure that the developed application works equally well in all the browsers or devices. This in turn ensures satisfaction of the customers.

When you are developing an application, your target should be to provide your customers with the best possible performance along with awesome security system, so that your customers are head over heels in love with your application. This can be done only by testing the application’s performance in various kinds of devices and browsers which are majorly used by the real time users. Although there are multiple tools available for cross device or browser testing, yet it is better to test them manually because these tools though can perform test in multiple browser or device simultaneously, tends to treat all of them in similar manner, which is not needed at times. While testing the apps manually, you can take into consideration the uniqueness of each of the devices and browsers along with your app and the parts of it to check if they are compatible with each other or not so that you can tweak it accordingly.

Features like Applets, JavaScript, Flash, AJAX requests and more are what contribute to making a browser different from the second one, similar is the cases with the devices that are used. This uniqueness of the devices and browsers makes the application you have developed perform in different ways in different browsers or devices producing varying outcomes. However, it is desirable that your application will perform equally in all the devices or browsers, without any discrimination so that your customers are given ample choices to choose from and also so that you get a customer base. This is what makes testing applications across devices and browsers very important so that your customers do not have to suffer due to their choice of browsers or devices and so that you do not have to suffer the consequences of their choice by compromising on the popularity of your application.

It is quite obvious that you will target the majority while you are developing applications to be launched. This is why it is but natural that you will focus more on the most popular browsers and apps while you are testing your application for its performance in cross browsers and devices in order to make sure that your app and all its parts provides equally awesome performance and security service in all of them. However, it won’t be very wise to neglect the less used counterparts completely. Also while you are manually testing your application, take the various operating systems of the devices into consideration along with the built and other aspects so as to ensure all round performance of it.


So that’s a gist of the importance of testing applications across devices and browsers. We hope to have made you realize the need for the process in order to make your app popular and wanted among customers.

Wednesday 9 December 2015

Internet of Things and Its Impact on Software Testing Industry

Impact on Software Testing Industry

As a network of physical objects, Internet of Things (IoT) enables a wide variety of devices to collect and exchange data through sensors, software applications, and network connections. The environment provides each device with a unique identifier, and allows various devices to collect and exchange data over a network through machine-to-machine interaction. The machine-to-machine communication will make the devices both smart and complex. Also, the interaction will have a huge impact on the software testing industry as most devices will use specialized software applications and tools to collect and exchange data with each other.

Assessing Major Impacts of Internet of Things on Software Testing
Strong Testing Strategy
The conventional software testing strategies normally focus on specific devices, operating systems and web browsers.  But businesses have to focus on embedded software while making strategy to test IoT applications.  They have to ensure that all aspects of the application are tested thoroughly and in many environments. At the same time, the testing strategy must emphasis on unit testing, continuous integration, clear requirements, complete test coverage, lean test plans, detailed user stories, and informative test reports. The conventional testing strategies have to be completely revamped to deliver a flawless IoT application. 

Emphasis on Cloud-based Applications
The devices will communicate with each other over the internet, and through software applications and sensors. Most devices in future will be designed with sensors. In addition to making it smarter, the sensor will further enable the device to gather, measure, and analyze data. But the sensors are completely different from conventional machines. The enterprises have to build the right infrastructure to leverage the information collected through sensors. Many businesses will soon rely on cloud-based applications to interpret and exchange the data collected by sensors. So IoT will require testers to assess a variety of cloud-based applications to check the effectiveness of sensors and embedded software.    

Focus on Usability, Performance and Security Testing
IoT will make it essential for enterprises to emphasis on usability, performance and security testing of IoT applications. Normally, the next generation applications will sport a minimal design, with smaller controls or buttons. So the testers must perform usability testing to ensure that the users can operate the device in a quick and convenient way. Likewise, the testers have to perform elaborate performance testing to assess the application’s performance under varying internet connections. As the application will gather and exchange data over the internet, the testers need to ensure that it detects, collects and stores data despite disruptive internet connection. At the same time,   the professionals also need to perform security testing to protect the IoT environment from various security threats. The security testing will include emphasis on assessing the strength of passwords and effectiveness of encryption techniques.

Test Automation becomes Essential
The QA professionals have to perform a variety of tests to assess the functionality and performance of an IoT application accurately. They also need to repeat certain tests to assess the application under different conditions or based on various parameters. So enterprises have to automate the manual testing efforts to increase test coverage and complete all required tests within a shorter amount of time. The test automation tools will further help users to evaluate code coverage and interoperability of devices without putting any extra time and effort. Likewise, the emulators and simulators will help the enterprise to test IoT applications across many devices without investing in real devices and hardware.

Need for New Testing Tools and Frameworks
The businesses cannot rely on conventional software testing tools and frameworks to test applications accurately in the IoT environment. They will need test automation tools designed specifically for testing sensors, cloud-based applications, and embedded systems. Likewise, they will also need tools to assess the application’s performance across many devices, platforms and networks. The managers will also be required to pick the right test automation tools to assess custom and complex IoT applications.  Many companies are expected to launch specialized test automation tools by targeting the IoT environment.


On the whole, businesses have to explore innovative ways to test software applications developed for the Internet of Things environment. Also, the testers will need advanced and customized tools to assess effectiveness of the software application to facilitate communication and data exchange between a variety of devices.  

Tuesday 8 December 2015

Few Tips to Undertake Performance Test of Web Apps in the Cloud

Tips of Performance Test of Web Apps in the Cloud

With the development of the cloud computing procedures and their popularity I the world of technology, most testers face the dilemma of whether to use the internal testing facilities present in the organization or the applications available in the cloud, be it private or public in nature.

With the evolution of the cloud computing systems over the era, almost all the major web applications are now being transferred to the cloud for the obvious reason of the ease of sharing among various people and the reduced cost of storing them. It is the same with the performance testing of the apps. It helps in reduction of physical storage systems which in turn reduce capital and maintenance cost of these storage system. It also speeds up the installation and update facilities of the various tools that are used for the performance testing procedure. Performance test of the web apps in the clouds also ensures that the various tests are easily shared among various testing and development teams around the world which in turn enhances the quality of the developed software.

With the advancement of the technology, the complexities of the developing an application has also increased as there are more complicated bugs that are difficult to rectify with the existing conventional performance testing tools. The best way to deal with such situation is to shift to cloud testing which provides the users with the latest and updated software testing tools which are always updated and ready for use tester. The cloud computing offers a solution to all these complexities as all the various servers, which possibly host the application over various testing teams, are connected together via the cloud.

Basically, if you are going to undertake performance test of web apps in the cloud, you need to keep in mind certain points, which will help you to form a better software as you will be able to conduct a better performance test.
1.       Before you start off with the planning or execution of the performance test on your developed software, get to know which criteria you are testing your software for, so that you can concentrate on those specific parts.
2.       While planning the performance test procedure which you are going to execute on the developed app, get to know the load limits which your app can handle and plan your load test accordingly. This will ensure that your app gets tested for the optimum load levels and provide customers with excellent service.                                               
3.       Detect the frequently occurring problems with performance that your developed app is encountering. This will give you an idea of which areas to pay more attention to while you are actually performing the test or when you are rectifying the problems that you have encountered so that your customers does not have to face the same problems while using your app.
4.       For best performance by the cloud server itself, you need to optimize the conditions of usage of the same by both the host as well as the guest users. The cloud server too is a piece of technology which has its specific limitation. In order to ensure that it provides you with best possible service, you will need to optimize its usage by the various users both in and outside your organization.


We hope this article has helped you to undertake the performance test of the web apps in the cloud with utmost ease to get the best possible end results and make an even better software to be used by your customers.

Monday 7 December 2015

HP UFT Software and the Benefits That It Provides While Testing

HP UFT Software and the Benefits That It Provides While Testing

HP Unified Functional Testing (UFT) software helps enterprises to automate functional testing of variety of applications. It comes with tools to help users to test web applications, mobile apps, APIs and packaged applications. At the same time, businesses can further use UFT to automate functional and regression testing of both applications and environments. HP has been updating the software on a regular basis to help users to test modern software applications in a quick and effective way. There are also a number of reasons why HP UFT software is hugely popular among modern QA professionals.
Features of HP UFT That Help Testers to Test Software More Efficiently
Supports Many Commonly Used Technologies
The latest version of UFT supports most of the commonly used technologies. Along with .NET and Java, it also supports REST, SOA and other web protocols. So the QA professionals can use a single tool to test the functionality of variety of applications including complex enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM) software. They can even avail the cross-browser testing feature of UFT to write the test script once, and execute the same script to assess the functionality of a web application across major web browsers.
Simplifies Manual to Automation Conversion
Often QA professionals find it challenging to switch to a new test automation tool. But they can learn and use HP UFT without investing any extra time and effort. UFT further makes it easier for them to create new automations by importing the existing recordings and other manual testing assets. The testers can avail HPE Sprinter, an advanced manual testing solution, provided by software to convert the manual testing assets into automation resources, and reuse them to conduct functional and regression testing effectively.
Supports Keyword-Driven Testing
Unlike other popular software testing tools, HP UFT supports keyword-driven testing. The feature makes it easier for QA professionals to create and maintain test scripts. They can use the software to capture the flows from the application screen directly, and convert the captured flows into test scripts through the record/replay options. The scripting and debugging environment included in UFT further enables users to access the tests and object properties, and incorporating the required changes. The environment further helps users to create tests rapidly by providing features like auto-completion of code, built-in code snippets, and tools to validate specific activities.
The users also have option to test a variety of mobile apps through UFT Mobile. They can use the solution to create a virtual mobile device lab or leverage a wide variety mobile device on the cloud. Thus, UFT Mobile helps businesses to assess the functionality and performance of their mobile devices across many devices. At the same time, the software allows QA professionals to write the test script once, and execute the same script automatically to test the mobile application across multiple devices, platforms and browsers.
Provides a Visual Interface for Web Services and API Testing
HP UFT provides a visual interface that makes it easier for users to test web services and APIs. As the interface enables QA professionals to test the web services and APIs at the headline layer, they are not required to write longer lines of code. The interface displays the GUI and API tests in the graphic area, and allows testers to assess the test flow accurately. The visual interface further simplifies assessment of complex application compositions and custom business processes by providing useful information like   activities, actions, test flow and test logic. At the same time, it effectuates API testing by helping users to generate HTTP, web and SOAP requests without writing any extra code.
Facilitates Integration and Collaboration
While testing software applications in agile environment, the testers can avail the built-in continuous integration tools provided by the software. The tool makes it easier for them to create reusable test plans, manage different versions of the test plan, and share the test plan with different members of the team. The UFT object repository manager is also designed based on an open XML format. It helps the manager to share application object definitions, assess definitions, and function libraries with different testers. The collaboration and integration contributes towards reducing the testing time significantly.

UFT is a commercial test automation tool. So businesses have to incur additional expenses to take advantage of the features provided by the software. Also, HP UFT can be used only for testing applications running on Windows Platform. However, a business can always speed up and effectuate functional testing by investing in the most recent version of UFT.