Although testing can account for up to 50 percent or more of product development costs, few organizations accurately measure their test effectiveness or efficiency. Using the Measurement Framework for Software Test, this introductory tutorial covers defect tracking, test effort, test effectiveness and efficiency measures, test progress, testware design measurement, and other elements that give insight into the costs and results of test activities. The tutorial approaches these issues from a large development organization’s perspective and includes legacy and software maintenance issues. Learn how to accurately evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of your test activities as a basis for improvement.

 
About the Instructor
Ed Weller is a Fellow at Bull where he is responsible for the software processes used by the GCOS8 operating systems group. He was the program chair for the Applications of Software Measurement (ASM) 2001 conference, as well as past program chair for ASM ’96, ’99, and ’00.

With deadline pressures and shifting requirements often facing you, good test case design can make the difference between success and failure in a testing effort. Ross Collard explains how to sharpen your deductive skills in order to design workable, reusable test cases with a reasonable assurance of test coverage and reliability. This tutorial provides you with the opportunity to work on a series of real-life testing scenarios and learn a step-by-step process for designing the "best" test cases.

 
About the Instructor
Ross Collard is a consultant specializing in software testing. His current clients include American Express, General Electric, IBM, Cisco, Dell, Nortel, and NASA. He also teaches software testing at the University of California Berkley.

Testing and Test Automation: Establishing Effective Architectures 

This tutorial provides a practical guide for addressing three essential testing challenges: how to design and document a highly inspectable test suite; how to effectively architect an automated regression test library; and how to integrate test design and automation technology using Action Words. Examples, case studies, and demonstrations are used to illustrate a proven test automation architecture. Learn about the common automation problems and how to overcome them. Discover how to create a process for test design that supports effective test automation.

 
About the Instructors
Edward Kit, founder and president of Software Development Technologies, is a recognized expert in the area of software testing and automation. His best-selling book, Software Testing in the Real World: Improving the Process, has been adopted as a standard by companies worldwide.

More and more testers and test managers are being asked to make the transition from testing traditional software in client/server, PC, and mainframe environments to testing rapidly changing Web applications. This tutorial helps those making the transition by explaining these new technologies and suggesting testing methods and techniques that can be included in a Web site’s site navigation, functional, and usability test plans. Using live demos of representative Web testing tools, Steve Splaine provides you with an overview of which tests can be—and should be—automated.
 
(This tutorial is a repeat of Monday's session.)

 
About the Instructor
Steve Splaine is Chartered Engineer with nearly 20 years’ experience in developing software systems: Web/Internet, Client/Server, Mainframe, and PCs. He is an experienced project manager, tester, and presenter who has worked/presented at over 100 companies in North America and Europe.

Planning Your Project’s System Testing 

Not only do software testers rarely have enough time to test, it is often difficult for them to choose what to test, how much to test, and to know when testing is complete. This tutorial helps participants determine what is important to test for each project and how to plan the testing for that project. Discover typical problems that arise during the testing part of a project and ways to resolve them.

 
About the Instructor
Johanna Rothman is the founder and principal of Rothman Consulting Group, Inc. A frequent speaker and author on managing high technology product development, she has written articles for numerous industry publications and publishes Reflections, a quarterly newsletter about managing product development.

Testing Web Sites/Applications—The Next Step 

Many organizations are seeking to deploy mission-critical Web sites/applications that are intended to attract large numbers of revenue-generating visitors. This tutorial helps the developer or tester already experienced in testing small-scale Web sites understand the technologies needed to make Web sites more secure and scalable. Learn about the automated tools available to assist you in testing your site before and after it goes live. Find out the differences between load testing, stress testing, integrity testing, and endurance testing. Gain insight into different attack points that a hacker could attempt to exploit.

 
About the Instructor
Dale Perry has over 25 years of experience in information technology. He has been a developer, DBA, project manager, tester, and test manager. His project experience includes large system conversion, distributed systems, on-line applications, client/server, and Web applications.

Managing Test Execution 

Planning, test development, and early involvement in the software lifecycle are important, but at some point the tests must be run. It is this period of time that poses unique challenges for test managers and lead test engineers. Based on nearly two decades of software, hardware, and systems experience, Rex Black covers the essential tools, important techniques, critical processes, and fundamental management skills for people involved in leading or managing test execution phases. Explore some of the challenges—and proposed solutions that test managers may encounter.

 
About the Instructor
Rex Black is president and principal consultant of Rex Black Consulting Services, Inc., and international software and hardware testing and quality assurance consultancy. He assists clients with implementation, consulting, training, and staffing for testing and quality assurance projects. He is the author of Managing the Testing Process.

For centuries, people have developed models of systems before they have even begun construction of those systems. Object-oriented analysts and designers also build models, with UML currently being the preferred notation. This workshop describes four basic object-oriented models (use cases, class diagrams, sequence diagrams, and state-transition diagrams), explains their purpose, gives examples of each, and provides sets of questions that you as a tester can use to evaluate the quality of these models during inspections and audits.

 
About the Instructor
Lee Copeland has over 30 years of experience as an information system professional in the areas of application development and software process improvement. He has taught seminars and consulted extensively throughout the United States and internationally.

Key Test Design Techniques 

This workshop goes beyond basic methodology and picks up where most testing and documentation standards courses leave off—providing you with structured methods for selecting a “smart” subset of the infinite continuum that is available. Learn how to design test cases using structured techniques based on both “scientific” and “artistic” methods. Choose test case documentation formats. Practice all techniques taught in this workshop using either Web page or GUI examples, or your own system’s documentation. Learn how to design improved processes based on results from executing test cases.

 
About the Instructor
Claire Lohr has been an active professional in the computer field for over 30 years, with the last 15 years focused on software process improvement. She currently provides training and consulting services for a wide variety of both government and commercial clients, and is a certified Software Quality Engineer and a Lloyd’s Register ISO 9000 Lead Auditor.

Inspection for Testers 

Inspection is the single most effective quality improvement technique for software and its related documents, including test documents. A mature inspection process can find up to 80 percent of the defects present—most found early in the lifecycle when they are much cheaper to fix. Gain hands-on experience in applying the inspection process as described in the book, Software Inspection, by Tom Gilb and Dorothy Graham. Learn how this technique, when properly applied, can have a dramatic effect on the quality of written document within all aspects of software development and testing.

 
About the Instructor
Dorothy Graham is the founder of Grove Consultants in the UK, which provides advice, training, and inspiration in software testing, testing tools, and inspection. She is on the boards of conferences and journals in software testing, and has been an active member of the British Computer Society’s Specialist Interest Group in Software Testing since 1989.