Essential Testing Metrics For Measuring Quality Assurance (1)

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Essential Testing Metrics For Measuring Quality
Assurance
A new software product must be tested before it
is released to the market. If we were to quote
management thinker Peter Drucker on, you can't
manage what you can't measure, then we would
agree that no organization can be successful
without quality assurance metrics. Therefore,
it's imperative to understand QA metrics and know
which ones to adopt. And that is exactly the
topic of this post. Quality assurance What it
is why it is important QA stands for quality
assurance, which is the process of ensuring the
highest possible standard a company offers in
its services or merchandise. QA doesnt aim to
find every bug since its impossible in the
normal course of software development. Instead,
a product's quality assurance aims to give you
confidence that it meets a high standard. Whats
sufficient? Why measure quality assurance?
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• QA metrics can provide various insights into a
  company's testing procedures. Using them,
  managers can estimate test efficiency and
  effectiveness of the test design, execution, team
  members, and budget allocation by answering
  these questions
• Are all parts of the software tested?
• Is it possible to run in predetermined time
  periods, and can more be done simultaneously?
• Is it going to require more test effort?
• Approximately how long will testing take?
• How much does testing cost, and what is the
  budget?
• What is the severity of the product defects?
• How many flaws has the team found?
• How many errors do the tests miss?
• Identifying the right metrics, and applying them
  correctly, is essential to planning and
  implementing QA that yields desired outcomes.
  Precise and targeted metrics allow testers to
  stay focused and understand where to improve.
• If the pipeline does not improve, managers and
  executives need to reorient it. After all, making
• investments without knowing whether they are
  working or not does not make sense from a
  business standpoint.
• Types of testing metrics
• There is no single set of metrics for software
  testing each business requires its own software
  testing metrics. The first step in evaluating a
  test process is to determine what software
  testing metrics you might need.
• Test coverage
• The test coverage metric is used in software
  testing to measure how many tests are executed.
  This metric ensures that the testing is
  completed correctly and facilitates code flow and
  functionality testing.
• Consequently, defects can be prevented during the
  early stages of product development, thus
  reducing maintenance costs.
• Test effort
• Two factors are considered when measuring test
  effort the number of tests performed and the
  amount of time spent on each test. By dividing
  the number of tests performed by the total
  testing time, you can determine the number of
  tests per time period, allowing you to plan
  future testing accordingly.

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Test team metrics Such metrics can be used to
determine whether the work allocation for
individual test team members is uniform and
whether anyone requires clarification about the
process or project. Test tracking and
efficiency A QA team must be efficient in
carrying out all testing activities, from plan
and execution to reporting and monitoring
software, even after the release. Such efficiency
is measured by Test tracking efficiency. Test
effectiveness Testing effectiveness refers to the
ratio of the defect count found before releasing
a program relative to the total number of
defects found before and after the program's
release. Naturally, test effectiveness metrics
are concerned with the quality of the test set.
In other words, testing effectiveness addresses
questions like, Did the tests perform well? or
Do our test cases deliver high value? Test
execution This metric shows how many tests have
been executed compared to the total number of
test cases. It provides a measure of test
coverage in absolute terms and numbers. Using
this method, you can calculate the pass or fail
rate of a test build. Time to test This metric
shows the speed with which a team or tester can
design and conduct tests without compromising
software quality. Time to fix The time spent
investigating, fixing, or unit testing a defect
that has already been addressed counts as
bug-fixing time. Code coverage In software
testing, code coverage refers to lines of code
that have been validated as part of the test
process, thereby helping to assess how thoroughly
a software has been tested. Code coverage metrics
can help your team review automated test results
so you can focus your efforts where they are
needed in the future. Defect management and
resolution The purpose of defect management is to
find and resolve defects. The process starts with
detecting and categorizing a defect which is
soon resolved by the developer and verified by
the tester. Defect distribution It is possible to
categorize defects based on their type, origin,
source, impact, urgency, system area, software
platform, test environment, testing team, project
type, and so on. This metric effectively
understands the distribution of defects and
pinpoints the areas that need the most
improvement.
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Escaped bugs Quality assurance exists mainly to
keep the majority (or, preferably, all) of bugs
out of production. As a result, your entire
software quality assurance process can easily be
judged by the number of escaped bugs. Escaped
defects found Escaped defect counts the defects
found after the release date of your software.
The main difference between defect leakage and
escaped defects is that the latter is seen by the
users and not the test team. Defect leakage In QA
testing, the defect leakage metric is used to
identify how efficient the testing is by checking
the number of defects that were overlooked or
slipped through the testing process. Basically,
this refers to how many bugs appear during user
acceptance testing when the app has gone through
multiple levels of testing. Defect category The
majority of quality control experts divide
quality defects into three main categories
minor, major, and critical. Defect severity
index As the name implies, this is the degree to
which a defect impacts a process or part of a
software application under test. Tips for
deciding on QA metrics In some cases, metrics can
become paradoxical. As soon as you tie certain
outcomes to metrics, they cease to be useful
measurements and become merely a means to an end.
In other words, they can also be dangerous if
misused, despite their effectiveness. Conclusion D
evelopers use different metrics to create and
assess their testing. We recommend that you
educate yourself on these metrics if you're
looking to enhance your software's quality. QA
metrics are particularly important in Agile
processes as managers must pay close attention to
even the most infinitesimal details. At PixelQA,
a software testing company, we use a variety of
metrics to provide you with the latest tools and
methods for the best possible output. Interested
for QA Consulting? Contact us. Read More
Essential Testing Metrics For Measuring Quality
Assurance