Test schedule estimator for legacy builds

• US 20050066307A1
• Filed: 09/19/2003
• Published: 03/24/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 09/19/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies General IP PTE Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: LSI Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Patel, Madhu C., Ecton, William W.
• Granted Patent: US 7,305,654 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/124
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3688 for test execution, e.g. scheduling of test suites

Abstract

A test schedule estimator for performing fixes on released software. In a preferred embodiment, historic data from similar builds are used with other data to estimate a time required to perform testing and release based on the number of fixes implemented.

Claims

1. A method of estimating a schedule for testing software, comprising the steps of:

estimating a number of test cases based on a number of received problem reports for the software;

modifying the estimated number of test cases using historic data from similar projects to produce an estimated time.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of estimating a number of test cases includes raising the number of received problem reports to an exponent less than one, and then adding a number thereto.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the historic data includes data indicating the amount of resources dedicated to testing the software.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the steps of estimating and modifying are performed on an information processing system.

5. A method of estimating a schedule for testing software, comprising the steps of:

estimating a number of test cases based on a number of received problem reports for the software;

scaling the number of test cases by a first factor to produce a first result;

scaling the first result by a second factor to produce an estimated time.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the step of estimating a number of test cases includes raising the number of received problem reports to an exponent less than one, and then adding a number thereto.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the first factor is derived from historic data from similar projects.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the second factor is derived from data including the amount of resources dedicated to testing the software.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein the steps of estimating a number of test cases, scaling the number of test cases, and scaling the first result are performed on an information processing system.

10. An apparatus for estimating a schedule for testing software, comprising:

first data indicating the number of problem reports received for the software; and

second data indicating the amount of resources dedicated to testing the software;

wherein the first data are used to estimate a number of test cases;

wherein the number of test cases is scaled by historic data to produce a scaled number of test cases; and

wherein the scaled number of test cases is scaled by the second data.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the number of test cases is estimated by raising the first data to an exponent less than one, and then adding a number thereto.

12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the historic data is gathered from testing of similar software.

13. An information processing system for estimating a schedule for testing software, comprising:

first computer readable instructions for estimating a number of test cases based on a number of received problem reports for the software;

second computer readable instructions for scaling the number of test cases by a first factor to produce a first result;

third computer readable instructions for scaling the first result by a second factor to produce an estimated time.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the step of estimating a number of test cases includes raising the number of received problem reports to an exponent less than one, and then adding a number thereto.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the first factor is derived from historic data from similar projects.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the second factor is derived from data including the amount of resources dedicated to testing the software.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the steps of estimating a number of test cases, scaling the number of test cases, and scaling the first result are performed on an information processing system.