by admin | Oct 12, 2019 | Software Testing, Fixed, Blog |
In the context of a software product (as is the case of most products), the user is either the person utilizing the product or the person who asked to create such a product. Hence, UAT or beta/end-user testing is the testing conducted from the usability perspective of the user. This is tail-end testing done post system and regression testing and functional testing are completed. Any top company offering software testing services would inform their clients of the usefulness and importance of UAT. The aim of this form of testing is the validation of the software against the requirements and expectations of the client’s business. Validation is conducted by any end-user with an understanding of the specific requirements. UAT, alpha, and beta testing comprise the different types of acceptance testing.
When to Perform UAT?
The experts at software testing companies, who perform UAT, understand that as the last step before a product goes to market, User Acceptance Testing must be meticulous. The following steps are required for top-quality UAT:
- A clear outlined strategy for UAT is prepared in the planning stage
- The next stage would be designing test cases that cover functional scenarios in the real world. These test cases must be simple to understand language and ensure that the testing process for testers is simple and swift
- The testing team must comprise of real-world end users
- The next step is executing the test cases, with some random but relevant tests. Post this the results and bugs need to be properly documented
- Post the finding of the bugs, the next step would be to make the necessary adjustments and remove the bugs, ensuring a high-quality bug-free software
- The testing team provides the go-to-market approval for the software
User Acceptance Testing – Who conducts it and why is it important?
The team would comprise of beta testers and or someone buying the product or who may have asked for the software to be created. In addition, the customers could have a say in which members should be part of the testing team to ensure that every user role is tested as required. The software testing companies with expertise in this domain stand by the fact that UAT is critical to ensure that the software is operating as per the business functions, and would be suited to real world usage and scenarios.
User Acceptance testing plays a crucial role to validate business requirements, by using live data and real use cases. Rather than suffer losses and embarrassment, post-release, due to issues, it is wise for businesses to ensure User Acceptance Testing is conducted by experts. These domain experts know that the cost of fixing defects post-release is a lot higher and extensive, as compared to fixing the bugs prior to release.
In Conclusion:
Several businesses might skimp on User Acceptance Testing since their products would have already undergone several systems, integration, and regression testing. However, experts contradict this thought by explaining that UAT is the most important phase of any project since it is here that actual users validate the system and confirm that the software functions as required. Expert testing companies actually recommend involving end-users in the early stages of the project, in order to gain their views and recommendations thereby enabling a better software product. UAT is the perfect way to find out whether your product would be acceptable to the target audience – it is the ‘Agile’ way of conducting and delivering business. Business users are now keen on being closely involved in projects and delivering their opinion and feedback. By partnering with an expert software testing company, your business will get all these benefits and more – connect with our experts today.
by admin | Oct 10, 2019 | E-Learning Testing, Fixed, Blog |
E-learning localization is all about modifying a product to suit a specific culture, language, and is an effort directed and adapting the “look-and-feel” to match a locale. E-learning localization is the approach of translating e-learning content to match the location in which the maximum target audience would be located. The idea is to reach the entire geographical spread of the target audience, and through E-learning localization, the possibility of engaging with a local audience is a lot higher. Despite all the advantages associated with e-learning localization, it is not an easy task, except for an expert. We at Codoid have been providing top-class e-learning localization services and have a large number of happy clients to our credit.
Why Work with an Expert for e-learning localization? Enterprises are expanding and branching out globally and there is also a rise in immigrant communities across locations. These factors necessitate that companies remain aware of the need to make websites and content that is inclusive, which further adds to the need for localizing training content, and e-learning testing plays a decisive role. E-learning domain testing is important to ensure that content localization does not cause any defects or hitches in the smooth working of the content for users across the globe. The demand for globalization means that companies must comply by ensuring their e-learning content is accessible and understandable to suit the needs of the target audience based on location.
As experts in this realm, we endorse the view that localization must never be afforded secondary status but must be part of the development phase of e-learning content. This is so because localizing content transcends the mere translation and or integration of the audio to a different language. Preparing e-learning content for global consumption is definitely no mean task, and there are several aspects to be kept in mind to ensure that localization hits the mark and is a smooth process.
Tips for Enhanced Localization of E-Learning ContentAs an ELearning Testing Company, we know and understand the many benefits that localization in eLearning brings. The two most important benefits are being able to reach employees and a specified target audience across countries in the language they understand and would be at ease when learning the courses. Through localization, a business would gain access to a broader audience and wider market – those that might not have been accessed so far.
Our experts offer some relevant and important tips to accelerate and enhance localization in e-learning content:
Make localization a part of the design phase – This is important since translations can expand the content by up to 30%, and it is necessary to ensure flexibility in design to accommodate these changes. The onscreen content and videos too must be taken into consideration – localization would be a lot simpler and effective when incorporated in the design stage.
Incorporate the Best Practice of Single Worldwide Binary – This is the technical theory of the language-neutral model of testing any localized technology-based training programs. By using this model one of the major issues associated with localization testing can be done away with – that is, to create distinct versions of the source code for each language for the target audiences in varying locations. Through this method, the core functionality of the e-learning material, including support for individual languages and globalization, would require only one round of testing. This in turn is a great way to save time and is highly cost-effective too. As experts in the realm of software testing, we affirm that time and cost savings can prove to be game-changers.
Share All Source Materials with the Software Localization Partner – It is important to view your e-learning testing vendor as your partner in success. By providing a complete set of files, storyboard information, and every workflow process, your vendor partner would be able to present you with proper costs, fixed timelines, and resource requirement details. This is beneficial for a business since it eliminates ambiguities and any unpleasant surprises – irrespective of the industry within which the business operates.
Easy to Adapt and Translate Content – The fact is that words, colors, and even images have different connotations in various countries and regions. If neutral content is not a possibility, there must be enough flexibility to ensure that all these features can be adapted in a manner that would be culturally and by way of language, suitable for the target audience.
Use pseudo-localization – This is a test run within the website or application to ascertain whether the content in the target audience language is being displayed properly. Additionally, this will enable thorough checking of whether there are any issues with contractions and expansions and character encoding in the pages.
Finalize Course-Source Version First – As experts, we know that launching localization through several languages must never happen prior to finalizing the source version of the course. Course content should be properly developed, tested, and finalized in the main language such that any bugs would be restricted to a single language, rather than dealing with the same problem multiple times.
Important to Automate GUI test – Automation testing software is extremely useful for testing GUI components in any language and this significantly reduces the cost of GUI testing while elevating the efficiency of localization. As experts we recommend the use of contemporary cloud-based automation testing tools since they are scalable and well-suited for agile projects, eliminating the need for a full-fledged in-house IT infrastructure for a business.
Combine Recurring Elements – Elements/components such as next or back buttons should be part of the page template such that localization is a one-time activity for these elements. This cuts down on turnaround time while reducing effort on desktop publishing since the elements would function properly across the module in several languages.
Managing Audio Considerations – Localization would be incomplete without taking into account both text and lip-synch VO and developing a complete and meticulous pronunciation guide with the translation terminology. It is necessary to make a final assessment, smoothen out changes and ensure that the voice-over script is adjusted as per the language before the final approval and recording. As experts, we highly recommend this process since we know it saves costs and time-consuming retakes.
Partnering with an Experienced Partner – Despite all the tips provided, there are no absolutes, and issues are bound to crop up. As an experienced and expert partner, we will manage every part and step of the project, taking out the guesswork of the critical localization projects. In addition, our team will provide guidance on how to elevate organizational workflow and help your business to manage cultural issues such that the brand image and goals of your business remain at the fore.
In Conclusion
When e-learning was fairly new, creating top-quality content alone was an onerous, manual, and lengthy process, and hence localization was an insurmountable task. However, now with automation, tools, and several strategies localization of e-learning is a lot simpler. We at Codoid are your go-to partner to ensure that you reach the global audience without ‘any loss in translation’. Connect with us to stay ahead of the crowd.
by admin | Oct 8, 2019 | Performance Testing, Fixed, Blog |
When customers walk into a brick-and-mortar store/shop they expect to be greeted warmly and enter clean and well-stocked premises. Most businesses also have an online presence and the websites serve as the store in a digital world – it is the face of a business. A good website is one that allows speedy and easy navigation and ensures that customers remain happy with their experience. Customer happiness is directly proportionate to the ROI of any business – there is a proven connection between the loading speed of a website and gaining new customers and retaining existing ones. Fast loading pages will keep visitors and customers coming back, and they would be more likely to conduct business on the site. However, as a company excelling at Performance Testing Services we know the converse of this truth as well. A slow loading site is one of the top reasons for customers/visitors to skip a website and abandon shopping carts midway. Customers expect websites to load within a few seconds and if a business expects them to remain engaged, the customer wishes must be granted.
We at Codoid consistently help clients to keep a strict watch on how their website functions and perform – and ensure that all functionalities and features run optimally, even under load conditions. There are times when every business experiences peak loads such as during holidays, major announcements or events, and other such times. It is necessary for a business to know the peak volume/load their website can withstand else it may shut down leaving customers furious. When existing and new customers are unable to access services and products, a slump in revenue and reputation are expected outcomes. Keep your business safe from these risks – speak with our experts.
The Importance and Best Practices of Load Testing
Load testing is a critical method that helps to alleviate risk. A fast-loading site is a great way to ensure customer happiness, bring peace of mind for the stakeholders, and add significantly to the bottom line of a business. We, therefore, put forth some of the best practices that we as a leading performance testing company follow, and apply to the projects entrusted to us.
Understanding Business GoalsWe help businesses understand the correlation between their goals and the testing environment, such that the right aspects of the application are tested to ensure performance under load. Businesses must pay attention to the user experiences that would be the drivers for engagement, revenue, advertising, and other such metrics, and know what expectations users have that would accelerate these metrics.
Understanding Web and Application Key Performance IndicatorsKnowing business objectives would not suffice without establishing some indicators of performance – real-time performance compared to expected performance. Some of the KPIs would be response time, the number of requests the system processes per second, utilization of resources (memory and CPU consumption and other resources)
Selecting the Right Tool for Load Testing Since the success of load testing depends on the kind of tool and methodology, your business would need the best-in-class partner to deliver proactive service. It is important to understand the possible issues even before they affect the performance – this will ensure an optimally functioning website and ultimately happy customers consistently doing business and spreading the word of mouth to others, which would create more customers.
Putting Together the Best Test CaseA test case that simulates the user behavior in the real world will be best equipped to predict the performance of the website under a similar load. Experts create these test cases with virtual users on emulators or even physical devices.
Ascertaining the Load EnvironmentThe premise of load testing is the similar replication of the production environment – we understand that a test environment can never exactly duplicate the production environment, but it is important to gain as much accuracy as possible. It is necessary for a business to understand the limits of the hardware and through that ascertain the possible defects before they occur.
Load Tests to be Run GraduallyIt is never wise or feasible to test everything at once – beginning to test a smaller number of scattered users is a better way to identify any problems and the breakpoint of the system. Post running the first set of tests, it is necessary to check the results and remedy any defects/obstacles, before moving to the next set of testing scenarios.
Load Testing is Best Done from the End User PerspectiveThe entire objective of load testing is to ensure that the end-user/customer is happy with their experience when using the website and or application of a company. Load testing must revolve around the aim of elevating these experiences, such that customers remain engaged and continue to do business with the company thereby maintaining a good bottom line.
In Conclusion
As experts we know that there are several things that are strictly unacceptable to run load tests – for instance running tests in a real environment. There are several factors and network traffic that affect a website, and running tests in such a scenario is sure to skew results. Another thing that must not be done is trying to break down the tested server – this is not the objective of load testing – but rather to check the performance of a website under varying load conditions. The best practices mentioned do not constitute an exhaustive list but do provide a clear indication of how to ensure meticulous load testing. Connect with our load testing champions and leave the worrying to them.
by admin | Oct 7, 2019 | QA Outsourcing, Fixed, Blog |
QA Managers role often in an agile environment is perplexing: How do you comprehend your role as a QA Manager, in a hardcore agile environment setup, it has never been defined. QA management professionals always have a distinction of working in traditional waterfall backdrops with so much ease. Comprehending what is actually expected out of them as soon as they move into an agile environment is key to every QA manager’s accomplishments. Blueprint is as follows
In Agile environments, quality is governed by development team managers and development testers also known as (SDETs) within the same team and not by outsiders. Their reason is: the team is solely responsible for and its performance measured by the quality of the code, delivering a high-quality code becomes a topmost priority. Quality has become an inevitable part of the team’s agenda during every team’s planning, development, and status meetings. Code quality endowed by quantifiable results becomes a target for the entire team. The outcome is better code.
But the flip side of an agile transformation is an end-to-end process that takes a huge amount of time and effort before quality becomes an innate trait of the whole team. Development testers and developers tend to focus on the technical aspects such as test automation and tools. They disengage themselves from functional aspects, such as the business aspects behind the code, integration, and customer engagement activities.
Unlike software development QA is a distinctly different profession. QA professionals must possess the proper technical background and keep themselves updated with the cutting edge tools, trends, technologies, and best practices —something which makes them a way out of league of developers.
Set up a level playing ground
QA managers should offer agile teams a great sense of independence and responsibility to manage themselves, the organization, on the whole, should work as a comprehensible unit. The QA Manager sets a few basic ground rules, such as what testing tools to be used, methodologies to be adopted, defect statuses defining methodology, build categorization, and so on. Every QA manager, should work in tandem with the R&D managers in defining QA standards to be used, and determining how methods to be introduced to the teams, how training to be imparted to them, and how to monitor progress and quality throughout the development process. These in turn will become the standard operating procedure the R&D managers use to implement QA processes within their development teams.
Building capabilities
Each team within the organization have their own areas of expertise. One team may work on the user interface (UI) part, while the other focuses on the back-end. Different fields of development require a different set of knowledge, as do manual and automation testing Services. Test automation may be very different, depending on whether you’re working on the user interface, REST API, or CSS implementation. Your role as QA manager is to build the team effectively, with the right proportion of development testers and QA architects, as well as to define their roles and responsibilities and how those roles work together in conjunction. QA managers should also ensure that development testers are properly equipped to meet their team’s development standards.
Determine quality metrics
Before a QA Manager evaluates the quality of deliveries, he/she must establish the metrics to measure it. As a QA manager, you should help the development teams ascertain quality metrics. For instance, defects classification, measure efficiency, calculate the regression ratio, causes of regression, initial quality assessment. A QA manager takes a comprehensive look at the quality by examining the trends in metrics across all teams within the organization. This not only gives a view of the quality of the organization’s code as a whole but also helps identify teams that aren’t working effectively.
There are so many reasons for a team’s sub-par performance. This includes not following testing methodologies correctly, and initial code quality may not be on par with the defined benchmark, resulting in a high number of defects. In addition to this, insufficient code coverage in automated tests will lead to regression defects. Whatever the reason, it’s the role of a QA manager to identify issues, delicately narrow down into the team’s work practices, and ensure that their performance remains on par with the rest of the organization.
Holistic approach
In most organizations, the development teams develop, test, and deliver user stories within their own domains, it is left to the QA architects to perform cross-functional testing to make sure that everything works well together. They test interactions between different modules in a variety of environments and configurations to ensure the system works end to end, without any integration, security, performance, or other issues. One role as QA manager is to reflect on overall system quality. In finding problems at the system level, acting as a bridge between the development testers, QA architects, and development teams. Since he receives input from all these teams and cross-system activities, he is uniquely positioned to have a holistic approach, reflect on the overall status of application quality, and identify bottlenecks.
Assessing the ROI of test automation
Test automation is necessary to meet higher demands for shorter schedules and bug-free releases. However, it’s critical that you continue to assess each of your investments in automation tools and processes.Trends like automation, continuous testing, and DevOps continue to raise the bar. With the potential for more flexibility, speed, and complexity, Maximizing speed and quality—while minimizing cost—is both a goal and a challenge.
QA managers must understand that test automation is a toolset. As with any other tool, test automation increases productivity and process efficiency. This opens up the possibility for a series of creative solutions to all the predicaments. Most importantly, keep the following in mind: the team needs an experienced QA professional to craft an automation strategy. A good strategy depends on solid leadership ability. The leader must prioritize the implementation across the entire functional spectrum
Diligence in Resource allocation
QA Manager should be in a position to balance internal testing demands of the team. If there is a sudden surge in extra test cycles, the person who handles the development may deploy additional software testers from within the team. In an agile team, all members should have some basic level of understanding and capability to run tests. In reality, however, this is next to impossible.
In those instances, the QA manager moves developers or development testers between teams to address an immediate need for extra testing. This approach is known as “swarming.” This often happens during the feature freeze phase of programming, during which the team conducts intensive regression testing to stabilize the product. At that point, above all, a QA manager’s role in an agile organization should be to have a shared vision and set strategy. He should stay abreast of new developments in the QA domain, assess new tools, and learn new methods. He must implement QA processes within the group and constantly improve on those by defining activities, setting priorities, and balancing resources at the group level. In this way, all teams in your group can work together to consistently produce the highest-quality code
Conclusion
We @ Codoid follow a pragmatic approach towards the QA process and ensure that our QA deliverables invariably far-outstrip the industry set the benchmark. Connect with our eminent team of QA engineers for all your QA service needs.
by admin | Oct 3, 2019 | Regression Testing, Fixed, Blog |
Customer expectations are rising and become increasingly stringent as technology improves and apps become better, and companies have no choice but to comply. The reality of software testing too, therefore, is evolving to match pace, becoming exceedingly speedier and smarter. Testing has moved from the post-development stage testing of the Waterfall Model to the more responsive and frequent Agile and DevOps methods.
At Codoid, even though we have come a long way in the realm of software testing, we constantly endeavor to get better by looking at tools and building proofs of concept. Companies usually embark on user interface automation projects given the fact that regression testing is cumbersome and extremely time intensive. There are so many steps involved when a new product is being developed – time to develop new features, testers work on the new code and uncover and resolve any bugs, and continue with some investigation to ensure that the new code works as intended without any hidden problems. This last portion is regression testing and usually, testers either go through it meticulously meaning long hours of effort or cut it short for lack of time, which could have disastrous results. This is why as a Regresstion Testing Services company we believe that regression testing must be automated in order to alleviate the problem of time, and in-sprint test automation is the answer.
In-sprint test automation simply put is when the complete process of testing – creation, implementation, execution, and reporting – all happens in a single run/sprint. As an expert Automation Testing Company, we know that there are several reasons why some believe that in-sprint automation, does not work, however, we provide ways that would ensure it works very well to speed up regression testing.
Checking the code early within the sprint This is the job of developers and is an important method to ensure that in-sprint automation is possible and works well, and is not a step that should be overlooked. Unfortunately, this is a neglected step with most stakeholders testing only when they ‘hit a bump’, and not focusing on the actual cause of the problem. We at Codoid understand the importance of checking early since it is imperative to provide enough time for testing and investigating previous versions. It is a critical mistake to cram all testing towards the end when all features are complete. As a company with experts in the realm of automation testing services, we understand how important it is to deploy code early on in a test environment and within the sprint. This ensures that testers can begin scripting automated tests, and are able to continuously build features and tests as an increasing number of features are installed.
Development Scrum Teams Must Include Automation Experts When setting up regression testing suites, most often automation engineers are on a separate team. This is an incorrect manner to approach in-sprint automation if the focus is to speed up regression testing. If automation experts are part of the development scrum team, they would be able to demonstrate better ways to run automated tests and within the sprint, while ensuring that every stakeholder understands that test automation is an indispensable part of the sprint.
Consistently and Adequately Trained Automation Engineers As a leading test automation company all our teams including testers and automation engineers receive periodic and relevant training. This ensures that our team members understand even the most complex requirements, which ensures that in-sprint automation is successful each time. It is important also that automation engineers are proficient not just in testing processes, but also can easily write high-quality code. It is our belief, and one that has helped us remain as forerunners in the realm of software testing, that automation engineers must be multi-skilled and possess knowledge of various functions. In our experience, automation engineers who are top of their class will be extremely deft, smart enough to write top-quality tests with matching automation features, and still manage to match pace with swift agile development. The reason we at Codoid have consistently succeeded at in-sprint automation is that we employ automation engineers and manual testers, and do not expect either to be the backup of the other. Manual testers have a specific role and are not always equipped with programming skills that are essential to write tests and specify testing components. The very premise of in-sprint automation is speed and without requisite skills, this would not be achievable.
Well Written Test Cases This means that test cases should be precise, explanatory, and short – meaning that each test should verify only one feature while elucidating the exact steps the test would accomplish. Maintaining clarity with regard to steps and possible results is essential since the process of writing test cases becomes less time-consuming and clearly written tests would ensure that automation engineers are able to at first glance ascertain what the test is expected to verify. At Codoid we ensure that to provide top-level in-sprint automation testing services, our automation engineers are involved in the test case process such that they would be well-equipped to write the best-in-class automation. In addition, this makes the automated testing processes a primary focus, and is ticked off as a done item.
In Conclusion We understand that in-sprint is a hard task, but it certainly can be mastered, if you have best practices and an expert team to manage every aspect. Becoming an expert at in-sprint automation is not an overnight process but is achieved by consistent training, dedication, the appropriate actions, and focus on the right tasks. Connect with us to gain all these advantages for your projects – we are a team dedicated to your success.
by admin | Nov 3, 2019 | Performance Testing, Fixed, Blog |
Performance Testing checks the ‘performance’ of an application or software under workload conditions, in order to determine stability and responsiveness. The objective of performance testing is also to discover and eliminate any hindrances that may lower performance. As an expert Performance Testing Services Company we conduct this type of testing using contemporary methods and tools to ensure that software meets all the expected requirements such as speed (response time of the application), stability (steady under varying loads), and scalability (load capacity of the software). Performance testing falls within the larger realm of performance engineering.
Why is Performance Testing Required?
Most importantly performance testing uncovers areas that may need to be improved and enhanced before launch, and ensure that the business is aware of the speed, stability, and scalability of their software/application. As an experienced software testing company, we understand that without this type of testing, software could contain several issues such as slow performance when being used by several users, inconsistent ‘behavior’ across varying operating systems and devices, and other such issues.
If a software/application were to be released with issues to the market not only would it not meet the sales goals, the company would also gain a bad reputation and customer ire. Performance testing is especially necessary for applications that would be critical to the mission of companies – applications need to run interrupted and without variations and divergent behavior.
Types of Performance Testing
There are different types of performance tests within the realm of software testing and fall under non-functional testing (determining the readiness of the software) and functional testing (focus on individual functions of the software). It is important for companies to partner with a professional and experienced service provider to undertake this type of testing, amongst others, for enhanced ROI in business.
Load TestingAs a highly proficient load testing services company we have helped several businesses to measure the performance of their software under increasing workload – a number of users or transactions simultaneously on the system. Load testing is about measuring the response time and stability of the system with the increase in workload – which is within the bounds of normal working conditions.
Stress TestingThis is also referred to as ‘fatigue testing’ and measures the performance of software beyond the bounds of normal working conditions. The software is loaded with users /transactions that would be beyond the capacity of the software, and the aim of this testing is to check the stability of the software under such ‘stress’ conditions. It helps to determine the point that software would crash and how soon it would be able to ‘recover’ from the crash.
Spike Testing This is a type of testing within the realm of stress testing and tests the performance of software when there are quick, repeated, and substantial increases in workloads. The workloads are beyond the normally expected loads in shorter timeframes.
Endurance TestingThis is also referred to as soak testing and evaluates the performance of software under normal work conditions but over an extended timeframe. The aim of endurance testing is to determine problems such as memory leaks in the system (a memory leak happens when the system is unable to release discarded memory, and this can significantly damage the performance of the system)
Scalability TestingThis testing determines whether or not the software is able to successfully handle increases in workloads, and is done by gradually enhancing data volume or user load while monitoring the performance of the system. In addition, factors such as the CPU and memory could be changed while workload remains constant – the system should perform well.
Volume TestingThis is also referred to as flood testing and is conducted to determine the efficiency of the software with projected large amounts of data – ‘flooding’ of the system with data.
Common Problems Occurring During Performance Testing
Apart from slow responses and load times, testers usually encounter several other problems while conducting performance testing.
Blockages: Data flow is interrupted or stopped when the system does not have the capacity to handle the workload.
Reduced Scalability: When the software is unable to handle the required number of simultaneous tasks, the results may not be as expected, there could be an increase in the errors and possible other unexpected results.
Issues with Software Configuration: The settings may not be sufficient to handle workload.
Inadequate Hardware: There could be poorly performing CPUs or even lowered physical memory of the system.
Steps within Performance Testing
Experienced testers use what is known as a ‘test bed’ or the testing environment, wherein the software, hardware, and networks are put up to run performance tests. The following are the steps to conduct performance testing within the testbed.
Ascertain the Testing Environment By ascertaining and putting together the required tools, hardware, software, network configurations, testers would be better equipped to put design the tests and also assess the possible testing challenges early on in the process.
Determine Performance Metrics Testers must determine performance metrics such as response time, throughput and constraints, while also assessing the success criteria for performance testing.
Meticulous Planning and Designing of Tests Experienced testers would take into account target metrics, test data, and variability of users, which would constitute test scenarios. In addition, testers would need to put together the elements of the test environment and monitor resources.
Put Together Test Design and Execute Tests The next step would be to develop the tests based on the above, followed by the structured execution of the tests. This would include monitoring and capturing all the generated data.
Lastly – Analysis, Reporting, and Retesting For successful completion of the testing, it is necessary to analyze and report the findings. Post analysis and reporting, a rerun of the tests using varying parameters – some same and some different, is essential.
Performance Testing Metrics Measured
Every round of performance testing would not be able to use all the metrics to measure speed, scalability, and stability. Some of the metrics for performance testing are:
Response Time – The total time spent to send and receive a response from the system
Wait Time – Developers are able to determine the time elapsed before they receive the first byte after sending a request – this is also known as average latency.
Average Load Time – From the user perspective one of the top indicators of quality is the average time the system takes to deliver their request.
Peak Response Time – This measures the longest time taken to complete a request, and a peak response time that goes above the average, could be an indication of a variance that could likely pose a problem later.
Error Rate – When compared to all requests, this would be a percentage of requests that end in errors, and usually occurs when the load goes beyond the capacity of the system.
Concurrent Users – Also referred to as load size or the number of active users at any point of time.
Requests per Second and Number of Passed / Failed Transactions – The number of requests handled and the measurement of the total successful and unsuccessful requests.
Throughput, CPU and Memory Utilization – Throughput displays the bandwidth utilized during testing and CPU Utilization is the time that the CPU need to process requests, and Memory utilization is the amount of memory required to process each request.
Right time to Conduct Performance Testing
There are two phases in the lifecycle of an application – the development and deployment phases – and this is true for both mobile and web applications. The performance testing during development focuses on components, and the sooner these components are tested the earlier would anomalies be detected, lowering the amount of time and costs required to rectify the errors. As the application is developed, performance tests must be more comprehensive and some should be carried out in the deployment phase.
In Conclusion
Performance Testing is an absolute necessity in the realm of Performance Engineering – and must be conducted prior to the release of the software. By ensuring that the software/application is working well, a business would be able to gain customer satisfaction and long-term engagement. Costs of poor performance of an application can be extremely high and would include damaged reputation, customer ire, bad publicity, and huge losses in sales. To protect your company from flawed products, connect with our experts and leave the worrying to us.
