Re: <No subject given>

["Biederman, K.A." <KBiederman -at- OCWEN -dot- COM>]

Hi Gina-

I'm the Sr. Tech Writer in a large I.T. department (~75 people). Believe
it or not, we don't even have a QA department. Prior to my arrival,
barely any software testing was done. You can imagine the mess I walked
into when I started working here.

We do two types of testing
1.      Unit or Regression testing
2.      String or Scenario testing.

1.      Unit or Regression test plans are written and performed mainly
by the development staff. Each function (window) of the application is
tested to make sure that all the buttons and fields work. There are
three types of inputs: positive (what the program expects - # in a #
field), negative (what the program doesn't expect - # in an alpha
field), and boundary (neither positive or negative - 0 when a positive #
is expected, etc.).

2.      String or scenario tests are written by a Business Analyst (but
unfortunately by me at present) with the help of a user. This type of
test is used to make sure a business function works correctly. It can go
through several different screens and be very lengthy. An example of a
string test is to enter a new customer in the accounts receivable
module. Testers (actual users) are provided with a script: a customer
number to use, address, credit limits, and so on. This type of test
falls under the User Acceptance Testing category.

Until we get a QA department and / or QA software, our test plans are
written in MS Word. I've set them up as forms with text fields. That way
testers cannot change any part of the script and are limited to the
response fields. We leave plenty of space for comments at the end of the
plan.

Ours is not by any means a perfect process. Since I'm *not* a QA
specialist, I've done the best I can. It's pretty boring work and I look
forward to handing it off to someone else someday soon (I hope).

Hope this helps. If you have any other questions or if you want to see
some test plan examples, contact me off-line.

-Kerry

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Gina Hertel [SMTP:Ghertel -at- ALPHA88 -dot- COM]
> Sent: Monday, January 12, 1998 10:55 AM
> Subject:      <No subject given>
>
> What exactly is Q & A testing?
> What goes into it?
> Whose responsibility is it?
> What is it for?
> What types of questions are asked?
>
> My company is not very software-oriented, and I have never personally
> been responsible for this.
> Please provide as detailed a response as possible; I want to find out
> all I can about it.
> Thanks,
> Gina Hertel
> Technical Writer
> Alpha Technologies, Inc.
> ghertel -at- alpha88 -dot- com
> (732) 980-1800 Ext.749