In today’s competitive era, Quality Assurance (QA) is a must for software testing companies. The performance of an application defines its success or failure in the market. History has proven that enterprises spend more on fixing bugs as compared to developing robust software applications. Quality assurance is possible by ensuring maximum test coverage. When talking about test coverage, it poses challenges for QA teams to deliver projects within their deadlines. Since software testing is not a one-size-fits-all solution, testers have to ensure more bug fixes that can adversely affect the quality of an application. They utilize different tools including task management tools, defect management tools, test management tools to address the issue that QA teams face while working remotely.
Importance Of Test Coverage
Let’s learn more in detail about test coverage:
Test coverage is a technique that determines whether the test cases actually cover the application code and how much code is exercised when those test cases are run. It helps in evaluating the effectiveness of testing by providing data on various coverage items. Test coverage can also help in monitoring the quality of testing and assist testers in creating test cases that cover areas that have not been tested. Following are a few more points to support the significance of test coverage:
- Identification of gaps in test requirements, test cases and defects at early stages
- Prevention of defect leakage by using test coverage analysis
- It also supports regression testing, test case prioritization, test suite augmentation and test suite minimization.
Challenges in Test Coverage
Inadequate test coverage can cause bigger problems for testers. It is often a result of too few test cases written for each user story and lacks visibility into a code that was changed unexpectedly. It poses a huge challenge for testers as they should have a clear understanding of the features being delivered in a release. They should also understand how each feature is supposed to work, its constraints and validations, and its functions. By creating test scenarios at the user story level gives testers to achieve optimal test coverage.
Remote Testing Teams
In the current scenario, where Covid-19 pandemic is posing threats globally to the lives of millions of professionals – testing teams are expected to work remotely. This shouldn’t come as a surprise since many software-oriented enterprises have supported their staff with remote working to remain safe from the spread of the pandemic. However, when team members are not working in the same space, and may even be spread out among different time zones, it can make the QA process more challenging with respect to communication.
In the wake of the current situation, remote working is highly promoted However, teams adopting Agile methodologies, DevOps and Continuous Integration, are already prepared for collaboration between different stakeholders to ensure an enterprise’s overall success.
Utilizing Test Management Tools
To ensure smooth and swift remote working, QA teams use test management tools and its features to collaborate with each other. These tools offer the convenience of ensuring that all the project stakeholders are on the same page. These key features include task management, where testers, developers, QA managers and other project members can manage their work without losing track.
Test management tools support effective communication, especially, when communicating about issues and having discussions that involve critical interpretations. By utilizing video conferencing, testers and developers can easily interpret the tone and urgency of some tasks. Similarly, remote testers can also use defect management software to update the identified defects at an early stage in the development process, while developers are on the same page too. These tools support maximum test coverage and it totally depends on how resources (testers, developers, etc.) utilize them.
Conclusion
For optimal test coverage, teams are encouraged to use test management tools when they are pushed to work remotely. There is still no clear picture of how and when the world is going to take control of the current pandemic situation. But for professionals in the software testing industry, the good news is – that they are equipped with a number of software apps and tools that can support them while they remain isolated from their teams physically. This is why enterprises are encouraging their employees to work from their homes, stay safe and keep their families safe too. We hope that medical researchers come up with a cure for this wide-spreading disease that has taken millions of lives since December 2019. And that those who are safe can be vaccinated to remain healthy in the coming future.
