Mitigating the Impact of Software Test Constraints on Software Testing Effectiveness

Software testing is the one of the primary methods used in the validation and verification of output in the software development industry. It is seen as a key method for achieving software quality, reliability, fitness for purpose and customer satisfaction. Software testing is however an expensive process accounting for as much as 50% of the cost of developing software based systems. In recent years, software testing as a discipline has come under pressure due to time, cost and skills constraints. These constraints impact negatively upon software test effectiveness. Therefore it is critical to identify and implement test tools that reduce the negative impact of software test constraints on software test effectiveness. In this paper the researchers examines some of the most popular software testing tools such as test case prioritisation, test suite reduction and test selection criteria, to identify: Which individual test tools are most likely to yield optimal test effectiveness and, Which combination of test tools is most likely to yield optimal test effectiveness and mitigate the effect of test constraints An extensive review of the software testing literature was conducted and used to construct a survey instrument as the basis for examining the impact of test constraints on software test methodology. The survey was issued to expert software test practitioners from various locations globally; the sample consisted of 43 test cases. The main findings were that no one approach to testing would yield satisfactory results but a combination of two or more test types from Automated testing, Smoke testing, Test case prioritisation and Regression test selection could yield effective software testing results and mitigate the effects of test constraints.