All About Test Monitoring and Test Control

Testing is an integral part of the software development lifecycle (SDLC); but do you know software testing lifecycle (STLC) itself has multiple phases? The phases of the software testing lifecycle are as follows requirement analysis, test analysis, test care development, test environment setup, test execution, and finally, test closure. Test monitoring and test control both are part of test execution. To ensure that the test execution is done smoothly, it is essential to monitor and control the process of testing. The only key to the success of the testing phase is to prepare a strategy to follow and line up the test development to ensure maximum accuracy and efficiency.

What is test monitoring?

Test monitoring in the test execution phase helps evaluate all testing activities and efforts. These testing activities and efforts further help track the ongoing process and testing metrics, assessing future actions based on test data, and highlighting the feedback based on the progress of the testing process to the concerned team and the shareholder. The main purpose of monitoring tests is to check if the test process produces the desired result. The testers, therefore, compare the concurrent state of testing activities to the expected to result of testing to validate the same.

Teams may gather the information used for test monitoring either manually or automatically, which is used as criteria to assess the test coverage. Organizations always set up benchmarks and objectives they wish to achieve during the testing process. Teams always have predefined benchmarks and objectives set for the testing process. Testers apply multiple techniques to track if the team achieve the benchmark and objectives.

Why do we monitor test?

No matter how well you plan your test process, no one can really predict that the test process will be secured and successful. There will always be unforeseen technical issues or human errors or natural errors that may send your test process from point 100 to 0. Test monitoring helps in tracking the test in progress and assess the actual result with the predicted ones.

With test monitoring team can keep a track of variations and deviations, discover, and address them at the early stage of test execution. It allows testing team to provide the actual status of the project to the management team to validate if the team is adhering to the perceived test goals.

Test monitoring helps the project in-charge track the project progression. They can also track the resource and budget requirements and adjust wherever there are requirements. Test monitoring can prevent the occurrence of serious issues. It allows the project managers to observe the testing activities and prepare plans and actions to mitigate risk and avoid loss.

How does test monitoring help in tracking the test process?

1. Provides feedback on the test processes status to the teams

2. Provides update on benchmark and test goals achieved in the ongoing projects

3. Tracks and identify significant test data

4. Preparing and projecting a course of action based on metrics tracked

How test monitoring can be measured?

The test monitoring is measured by following metrics:

· The amount of test case execution

· Preparing the percentage of scheduled test cases against the percentage of tests environment prepared for test cases, including executed or not executed, failed, or passed

· Defect information login considering the density of defects, discovered, resolved or unresolved, failure rate, and others

· Test coverage metrics

· Test project deadlines

· Cost of the test project based on an analysis of cost-benefit of detecting the next problem or the need of running the next test

· Tracking requirements

· Resources involvement in the project

What Is Test Control? Why the step of Test Control is important?

Test Monitoring is followed by Test Control. Test Control happens based on the result obtained in Test Monitoring. The step enables you to take corrective measures to enhance the quality and efficiency of the testing projects. After developing a test plan, the team can control the test activities. Test Control helps prioritize testing efforts in different ways. It re-organizes test schedules and deadlines and restructures the test environments. It also re-prioritizes the test cases and test conditions. Test Control enables the team to track the actual state of test processes and resource deployment and compare it with the original project plan.

The step test control helps in reviewing and analyzing the current state of the test cycle that includes the number of tests executed, the severity of the defects, the errors covered, and the number of tests passed or failed. Test control allows examining and recording the test cycle progress and inform the test status to the development team. It also allows you to identify the risk and plan the design and develop the risk metrics. Based on outcome of test monitoring, team takes corrective measures and decision to attain the required results.

Following are the corrective measures that the team can implement based on the test monitoring reports

· Testing efforts prioritization

· Test schedules organizations

· Test environment restructuring

· Test case and conditions prioritization

· Using the test monitoring reports to evaluate the process

· Errors retested that is required to be fixed

Test control modifies the testing process to make it appropriate for achieving testing goals. It helps to deploy resources as required, split releases into phases, simplify the process and more. The test control activities depend on other factors like the budget, project complexity, right skill sets and other resources.

Best practices for monitoring testing and controlling testing

1. It is important to set benchmarks, objectives, and standards right at the beginning of the test planning phase to monitor and control the testing process efficiently. Establishing a process guideline helps the team achieve specific objectives related project. A strategic process guideline also allows the team to follow a unified structure to execute testing. The team can easily analyze metrics, communicate better, and navigate the project more effectively.

2. It is critical to document the nitty-gritty facts like test results, measurement values, MOM of stakeholders, and control activities to fix bottlenecks. Proper documentation helps avoid complications and miscommunication and keeps all the project-related information in place.

3. The accomplishment of the testing project is incomplete without occasional requests for changes and feature integration. It is important to adapt to changes and resolve issues detected during test execution. Persisting product issues can be detrimental to budget allocations, time, product quality, infrastructure, scope, and human resources. Test monitoring and control help the team to remain ready for changes and address issues in time.

Conclusion

Test monitoring and control allow teams to calculate the possible risk even before the project starts, which is an effective QA risk management strategy if the project manager must contemplate the project budget, the deadlines, and the skills. The team must thoroughly do a QA risk assessment for an effective testing process. Once the testing project goals are defined, the team can monitor the performance and do a comparative analysis of actual and expected results. They can also take corrective measures wherever required. It is easy to release a product on time and as planned with a well-planned test monitoring and controlling that building a strategy becomes almost necessary for testing projects.