Software QA/Testing Technical FAQs

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For Reliability, Usability and Testability. Explain why you would test for these factors?

Reliability:
- Extent to which a program can be expected to perform its intended function with required precision.
- This testing would be performed if the application has a characteristic that affects human lives or if it is a Real time application.
Usability:
- Effort required in learning, operating, preparing input & interpreting output of a program.
- This testing would be performed if the application has a characteristic that involves a lot of human interaction with the application.
Testability:
- Effort required in testing a program to ensure it performs its intended function.
- This testing would be performed if the application has a characteristic that affects human lives.

What other roles are in testing?
Depending on the organization, the following roles are more or less standard on most testing projects: Testers, Test Engineers, Test/QA Team Leads, Test/QA Managers, System Administrators, Database Administrators, Technical Analysts, Test Build Managers, and Test Configuration Managers.
Depending on the project, one person can and often wear more than one hat. For instance, we Test Engineers often wear the hat of Technical Analyst, Test Build Manager and Test Configuration Manager as well.

Whats the difference between ISO vs CMM ?

Answe1:
CMM is much oriented towards S/W engg process improvements and never speaks of customer satisfaction whereas the ISO 9001:2000 speaks of process improvements generic to all organisations and also speaks of customer satisfaction.

A2:
FYI. There are 3 popular ISO standards that are commonly used for SW projects. They are 12270, 15540, and 9001 (subset or 9000). I hope I got the numbers correct. For CMM, the latest version is 1.1, however, it is already considered a legacy standard which is to be replaced by CMMI, the latest version is 1.1. For further information re CMM/I, visit the following:
http://www.sei.cmu.edu/cmm/
http://www.sei.cmu.edu/cmmi/

To build and release the build to the QA. Does any body knowing in detail about this profile?

Build Release engineer,
The nature of the job is to retrieve the source from the confirugartion system, and creates a build in the build machine, and takes a copy of the files which you moved to buildmachine, and install into QA servers.
Here the main task when you install in QA servers, you have to be carefull about connectin properties, whether all applications are extracted properly, whether is QA server should have all supported software

What makes a good test engineer?
Good test engineers have a "test to break" attitude. We, good test engineers, take the point of view of the customer, have a strong desire for quality and an attention to detail. Tact and diplomacy are useful in maintaining a cooperative relationship with developers and an ability to communicate with both technical and non-technical people. Previous software development experience is also helpful as it provides a deeper understanding of the software development process, gives the test engineer an appreciation for the developers' point of view and reduces the learning curve in automated test tool programming.

What's the role in CMM Level in Testing?
What's the diff b/w 5 levels?
which level most commonly used in testing?

Answer1:
SEI = 'Software Engineering Institute' at Carnegie-Mellon University; initiated by the U.S. Defense Department to help improve software development processes.
CMM = 'Capability Maturity Model', now called the CMMI ('Capability Maturity Model Integration'), developed by the SEI. It's a model of 5 levels of process 'maturity' that determine effectiveness in delivering quality software. It is geared to large organizations such as large U.S. Defense Department contractors. However, many of the QA processes involved are appropriate to any organization, and if reasonably applied can be helpful. Organizations can receive CMMI ratings by undergoing assessments by qualified auditors.
Level 1 - characterized by chaos, periodic panics, and heroic efforts required by individuals to successfully complete projects. Few if any processes in place; successes may not be repeatable.
Level 2 - software project tracking, requirements management, realistic planning, and configuration management processes are in place; successful practices can be repeated.
Level 3 - standard software development and maintenance processes are integrated throughout an organization; a Software Engineering Process Group is is in place to oversee software processes, and training programs are used to ensure understanding and compliance.
Level 4 - metrics are used to track productivity, processes, and products. Project performance is predictable, and quality is consistently high.
Level 5 - the focus is on continouous process improvement. The impact of new processes and technologies can be predicted and effectively implemented when required. Perspective on CMM ratings: During 1997-2001, 1018 organizations were assessed. Of those, 27% were rated at Level 1, 39% at 2,23% at 3, 6% at 4, and 5% at 5. (For ratings during the period 1992-96, 62% were at Level 1, 23% at 2, 13% at 3, 2% at 4, and 0.4% at 5.) The median size of organizations was 100 software engineering/maintenance personnel; 32% of organizations were U.S. federal contractors or agencies. For those rated at Level 1, the most problematical key process area was in Software Quality Assurance.

Answer2:
The whole essence of CMM or CMMI is to produce quality software. It targets the whole organizational practices (or processes), which are believed to be the best across industries. For further understanding of SEI CMMI visit http://www.sei.cmu.edu/cmmi.
What is the role of CMMI Level in Testing?
Please understand that Testing is just part or subset of CMMI. Testing is addressed on a particular Process Area. If my memory serves me correct, it is the VER or Verification process area and sometimes addressed also in VAL or the Validation process area. It could also be the other way around.
Each Process Area has its own level to be driven to the level 5. This is true for the Continuous Representation of CMMI version 1.1. I am not sure about the Staged Representaiton of the same version. Please refer to the website above for more details.
What is the difference between the levels of CMMI?
This was already answered in the same thread by Priya. I would like to add that there is an additional level for the Continuous Representation which is called Level 0 (zero) --> Incomplete.
Which level is most commonly used in Testing?
I would say all levels would deal with testing. But again this is true for VAL and VER Process Areas.
For further readings, try searching google using CMMI+tutorials or Testing+CMMI. Most of the documents about CMMI are free and available on the Web.

Answer3:
Level 1. Initial The organization is characterized by an ad hoc set of activities. The processes aren't defined and success depends on individual effort and heroics.
Level 2. Repeatable At this level, basic project management processes are established to track costs, to schedule, and to define functionality. The discipline is available to repeat earlier successes on similar projects.
Level 3. Defined All processes are documented for both management and engineering activities, and standards are defined.
Level 4. Managed Detailed measures of each process are defined and product quality data is routinely collected. Both process and products are quantitatively understood and controlled.
Level 5. Optimizing Continuous process improvement is enabled by quantitative feedback from the process and from piloting innovative ideas and technologies.
There are 3 popular ISO standards that are commonly used for SW projects. They are 12270, 15540, and 9001 (subset or 9000). I hope I got the numbers correct. For CMM, the latest version is 1.1, however, it is already considered a legacy standard which is to be replaced by CMMI, the latest version is 1.1. For further information re CMM/I,

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