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Thursday 12 June 2008

Static Testing - Do you have a requirement?

Static Testing is the first form of testing that can be applied during the software development life-cycle. Once the requirement document has been produced it should be checked against the 8 points identified below. This will ensure the removal of defects prior to other departments or resources becoming involved and therefore minimise costs.

60% of all defects are attributable to the requirement specification.





The 8 point check applied in order to perform static testing against a requirement document is as follows:
-Singular: One requirement that does not refer to others or use words like "and".
-Unambiguous: Not open to more than one interpretation. Clear and easy to understand.
-Measurable: Avoids use of words like instant, approximately. Specifies given units, such as hours minutes and seconds.
-Complete: The requirement is not lacking information or supporting data.
-Developable: The developers will be able to implement the requirement.
-Testable: The testers will be able to test the requirement.
-Achievement Driven: A benefit is associated, which is tangible.
-Business Owned: A member of the business owns each requirement, providing a point of reference and approval.

Within the testing discipline, 60% of defects are believed to be attributable to the requirement specification. This means that one of the largest contributors to poor software quality can be remedied at project initiation. It is also widely accepted that each phase later in the software development life-cycle that a defect is found, it costs 10 times more to resolve. In the simplest form, this means that for every £1 it costs to resolve a defect at the point of the requirement being defined, if missed until the resulting application is live, will cost 10,000 time more. This is due to the effort that will have been spent designing, developing and testing something which was wrong, but the real cost comes when a problem in live causes an outage affecting large volumes of users and perhaps even stopping them working. Not only does this impact the individual, but dependent on what they are doing, could stop income to an organisation's other departments: Sales, Billing, Payroll. All of these become disasters and if in the public eye can lead to bad press for the organisation.

It is 10,000 times cheaper to fix a defect in the requirement compared to live!

We are trying to make static testing for organisations as easy and affordable to achieve as possible to achieve for organisations. Without complexities of billing and non-disclosure, the document can be e-mailed to either of the contacts detailed below. Our pricing is fixed so there are no surprises along the way.

Grant.Obermaier@TransitionConsulting.in or Mick.Morey@TransitionConsulting.in


Testing will be scheduled and will take between 5 and 30 working days. If a faster turn around is required please specify any deadlines and we will advise on achievability.

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