Software QA testing, without a doubt, is the backbone of the SDLC process. Besides reducing risks, a comprehensive and thorough approach to testing can help you identify problems. It can effectively reduce the time to fix, the time to market, and therefore, the overall cost. Before you ship your product to the market and into the hands of the users, it is critical that you step back and objectively evaluate the effectiveness of your QA testing strategy.
WHAT IS AN EFFECTIVE QA TESTING STRATEGY?
For starters, an effective QA strategy is one that can be measured. The key, however, is identifying what to measure and what to ignore. Equally important, if not more so, is measuring the efficacy of the entire testing process. In this post, we look at five key indicators to evaluate if your own business’s QA testing strategy is effective.
1. TEST PLANNING AND EXECUTION PRODUCTIVITY
These measures help you assess the effectiveness of your test planning and execution strategy. The test planning productivity parameter is the ratio of the number of designed test cases to the total effort for their design and documentation.
Similarly, the test execution productivity is simply the ratio of the Number of Test Steps (Or test cases executed) to the Total Effort for Test Execution.
An effective QA testing strategy has high Test Planning and Execution Productivity values to ensure the planning and execution of a higher number of tests per tester per unit of time.
2. DEFECT LEAKAGE
The Defect Leakage metric measures the percentage of unidentified defects that occurred during System Testing (ST).
In other words, this is a measure of finding errors after the deployment of software.
3. ERROR DISCOVERY RATE
It is the ratio of the total number of defects found to the total number of test cases executed and measures the overall deficiencies identified per test case. The higher this number, the higher the coverage of the test case.
4. DEFECT REJECTION RATE
It is the ratio of total defects rejected by the development team to the total errors identified by the testing team. This metric helps us understand how well the testing team understood requirements. It also tells us how many rejected errors are due to a lack of understanding of the needs.
This parameter can also be measured using the bug acceptance rate. A lower defect rejection rate, and in turn, a higher bug acceptance rate shows that the testing requirements were clearly understood and integrated into the QA testing strategy.
PERCENTAGE OF AUTOMATION
The more automated tests there are in place – the more likely it is that you’ll identify critical defects introduced to your software while ensuring minimal human resource overheads and manual efforts.
Ideally, you can focus on improving this parameter as the QA team evolves and matures.
However, a target of 20% of automated test cases is a good starting point. It is important to note here that an effective test strategy is one that automate not only the tests but also the testing process.
This process of automation improves the rate of execution of the test plan while reducing the time and effort spent on regression testing.
EVALUATION OF EFFECTIVENESS OF QA TESTING STRATEGY
It is necessary to define deliverables and milestones. You should be able to define your comprehensive testing plan, testing cases, and metrics for your product.
It is interesting to note that a range of factors can affect these parameters. For instance, effective project management and domain expertise can ensure the achievement of test planning and execution efficiency optimally.
To achieve higher error discovery rates and lower defect rejection rates, one cannot question the importance of professionals. These people are technically proficient and possess adequate domain knowledge and exposure to automate efficiently and handle unforeseen test scenarios.
To increase the efficacy of the QA process, it is vital that you document and structure your strategy well. It should use tools for tracking and managing defects and for the creation and execution of test cases.
HIRING AN EXPERT OUTSOURCED QA TESTING AGENCY
Hiring an expert outsourced QA testing agency can be a strategically important business decision so that you can focus your energies on the core product while leaving the rest to the experts.
While considering an outsourced QA partner, you need to ensure that your partner has an understanding of the QA process. He should have the resources to implement an effective and comprehensive QA testing strategy to track and measure.
QAOnCloud’s services are specifically to help businesses achieve goals faster while ensuring the fastest onboarding, guaranteed cost reduction, and improved product performance.
Write to us to know more about our software testing services and how they can help you.