Activities of the validation phase

Planning

Defining the scope and objectives, identifying the team and developing a plan

Test Case Design

Develops test data to cover functional and nonfunctional requirements of the system

Test Execution

Executing test cases and documenting results

Defect Tracking

To identify, track and report defects to the development team

Validation Reporting

Prepare validation report that summarizes the findings

 

Tools used in the validation phase

Test case management tools

Help testers manage their cases

Test automation tools

Help automate the execution of test cases

Defect tracking tools

Help track defects and assigning them to developers

Reporting tools

Tools to help generate reports and summaries

 
Techniques used in the validation phase

Black-Box Testing

Testing without knowing internal structure

White-Box Testing

Testing knowing internal structure

Static Testing

Reviewing code and documentation

Dynamic Testing

Testing by executing it

Destructive Testing

Testing with unexpected and invalid inputs

 

Deliverables of the validation phase

Test Cases

Detailed instructions on how to test the system

Test Results

Results of executing test cases

Defect Reports

Defects that were found during testing

Validation Reports

Summary of findings

 

It is important to help ensure the system meets the requirements of the customer and is free of defects.

TESTING

Test Plans

• Software Inspection

Reviewing code to find and fix defects conducted by experienced software testers.

• Static Inspection
• Dynamic Inspection

• Software Testing

Executing software to find and fix defects conducted by experienced software testers.

• Unit Testing

Testing functions or classes

• Integration Testing

How units of code interact with each other

• System Testing

Testing entire system

• Acceptance Testing

Ensure it meets requirements of customer

• User Testing

Users test to find and fix usability problems

• Alpha testing

First stage conducted on a small group of internal users

• Beta testing

Second stage conducted by a larger group of external users

• Acceptance testing

Final stage conducted by customer