Software Testing Metrics

Welcome to Codoid blogs once again, in this blog we are going to see about software testing metrics. Below are the topics we will cover in this blog.

What is a Metric

Why Metric is required

Types of Metrics in Testing

Testing Metrics in Detail

What is a Metric

As per standard definition, A Metric is a quantifiable measure to track the progress of certain areas which we want to constantly monitor and report.

Metric is used to predict something which we wanted to measure and we can set a benchmark for it so that we can compare it with a certain interval of time. Example) Speed which we travel can be a metric and we can keep a benchmark as 48 kmph. We can constantly measure every day or every week and we can compare against our benchmark.

Why Metric is required:

1. Metric will help us to give us a prediction on how are we performing.

2. It gives us direction on how we perform release after release to ensure we are constantly improving. If there is a decline in performance, we can take corrective steps to improve that particular factor

3. It helps us to uncover potential risks in our project.

(Example, We are targeting to go live on a date assuming 10 days of Test Execution with 20 TC / Day productivity, Let’s assume for consecutive 5 days productivity is only 10 TC / Day, this could eventually delay our execution by 5 more days and will delay the release. It is a potential risk to the project. On tracking this execution productivity on a day to day basis during execution timeline, will tap the project in our control, we could take action on 2nd day itself and keep the project on track.)

4. Improves the Test Coverage and Automation coverage.

5. It helps in continuous process improvement, once we become mature in a way of tracking, we could add a few more metrics and helps in coming up with continuous improvement in our project delivery.

6. It helps to plan for release in a better way. As with each and every release, if we track metrics, we could use predictions and with the lessons learned from previous releases, we can come up with better planning.

7. It overall improves the Cost, Quality and Time in delivering the project.

Types of Metrics in Testing

Based on the STLC phases, we can define metrics for each phase of Testing. Let us see them in detail in this section.
STLC Phases are:

Requirement Analysis

Test Planning

Test Design

Test Execution

Test Closure

And for each of these phases we have multiple metrics to track.

Testing Metrics in Detail

Requirement Analysis

Requirement Quality:

Requirement Quality defines the correctness/accuracy of the requirement.

IRQ – is the quality of Individual requirements which signifies whether the requirement is valid (value 1) or invalid (value 0). It can be measured in percentage as well.

Correctness of Requirement:

This metrics helps us to determine if the requirement is correct/valid/is not a duplicate.

IRC will be 1, if it is a valid requirement, else it will be 0

Requirement Creep:

This metric helps to understand how much percentage of requirements added post requirement gathering phase.

Test Planning

Metrics in Test Planning is used to arrive at how effective testing is carried out. We track and tap the control of the project by taking various measurements during Test Design and Test Execution activities. Below are the few measurement criteria that help in the effective Test Planning

Resource Requirement Vs Fulfilment

Effort burnt VS Progress

Cost Spent Vs Work Done

Cost Spent Vs Requirement Coverage

Overhead Cost

Team productivity

Test Design

Test design is the most important phase in Software Testing. There are a lot of metrics that can be generated in Test Design phase and will be useful to management for tracking purpose.

Some of the Metrics with formula are given below:

Test Execution

Below are few standard metrics used in Test Execution phase:

Test Closure:

Defects by priority and severity will be tracked as a part of Test closure report

Conclusion:

Testing Metrics are helping us to track our progress and improve our delivery quality in a better way. There are so many metrics available to track the progress and Test Management tools nowadays are better equipped with various features to track these metrics and it also has various customization mechanism to track custom metrics rather than following standard metrics, we should first finalize KPI and Metrics for our measuring the performance and utilize these tools features to satisfy our requirement.