Testing can be the responsibility of:

 

• The Developers
• The Development team
• One person within the team
• A dedicated test team
• Internal Test Consultants
• A separate organization

 

Test Team Composition

It is important to understand that there are many people that have valuable input into the test team. Not everyone is necessarily involved all the time, but multi-disciplinary team with specialist skills is usually necessary. The team will usually consist of the following:

 

• The Client - project sponsor
• The Project Manager
• The User
• The Business analyst
• The System analyst
• The Technical designer
• The Developer
• The Tester
• The Auditor
• The Trainer
• The Technical Author/Writer

 

Configuration Management

This is a disciplined approach in the management of software and the associated development, maintenance and testing practices.

 

A system consists of many components, both software and hardware, and it is the combination of these that make up the configuration. Configuration management is the management of these items.

 

Symptoms of poor configuration management

 

• Unable to match program source code and object code
• Unable to identify source code changes for a particular version of software
• More than one person changing the same source code at the same time for different reasons
• Source documentation changes made without developers being aware
• Application changed without testers being aware
• Source document changes without saving previous version
• Unable to determine what testing was performed for a release of software

 

Results of poor configuration management

 

• Missed project deadlines
• Error prone codes
• Application that do not reflect changed requirements
• Applications that is difficult to maintain

 

There are four activities of Configuration management

• Configuration Identification
• Configuration Control
• Status Accounting
• Configuration Auditing

 

Configuration Identification

This is the identification of all items within a project that are to be controlled. The name description, physical and functional characteristics and versions are recorded for each item. These Items are:

 

• Program code
• Program specification
• Requirements documentation
• Test data
• Test cases
• Hardware’s

 

Configuration Control

This is the maintenance of all identified items to be controlled.

A process will be put in place whereby all items will need to be:

 

• Requested for Check out
• Checked out
• Requested for check in
• Checked in

 

Status Accounting

This is the process of recording and reporting on the status of the configuration items. This is easier if a good control process is in place. It will include the initial approved version, status of requested changes and implementation status of approved changes and gives the ability to see the current state of a configuration item.

 

Configuration Auditing

This is the verification that the configuration management process is being adhered to and that the configuration items actually reflect their defined physical and functional characteristics as recorded.