TEST SOLUTIONS - Diagnostics & Control

IT Assessment

In large scale development that employs a distributed development model, a significant challenge to successful release is the ability to ensure that the various parts of system do integrate well. It is typically taken for granted that the smaller components (or units) and larger sub-systems (integration of components/units) have been well-tested and therefore will not pose serious issues in integration phase to produce the final product. The trouble commences when this is not so. When components (or units, modules) are delivered by software development entities, the quality of these can cause the project to slip and derail. One of the prime causes is the lack of effective testing/review done on the units/sub-systems. Also typically the development entities deliver the final unit/sub-system code and hence it becomes difficult to ascertain the lack of quality and therefore the risk in integration phase.

This solution is targeted for the software development unit that consumes the various units/subsystems to produce the larger solution. The objective of this solution is to provide a rapid assessment of units/subsystems via a static examination of the specification, structure and the test scenarios/cases used to validate the units/subsystems. The outcome of this assessment is the “Dirtiness Index” that gives an objective measure of the risk to fitness-for-integration and also possible suggestions on how to overcome this.