SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ANALYZING ALTERNATIVES IN TEST PLANS

• US 20110066890A1
• Filed: 09/11/2009
• Published: 03/17/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/11/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: HESS, Howard M., BASSIN, Kathryn A., LI, Zhong J., LI, Shao C., SKRABANEK, Susan E., LIU, He H., ZHU, Jun, TAN, Hua F., KAGAN, Steven
• Granted Patent: US 8,689,188 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/37
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3672 Test management

Abstract

A method includes creating an initial test plan including initial estimates of effort and defect distributions, creating an alternative test plan including alternative estimates of effort and defect distributions, and displaying at least one metric of the initial test plan and the alternative test plan side by side for comparison by a user.

Claims

1. A method implemented in a computer infrastructure having computer executable code tangibly embodied on a computer readable storage medium having programming instructions operable to:

create an initial test plan including initial estimates of effort and defect distributions;

create an alternative test plan including alternative estimates of effort and defect distributions; and

display at least one metric of the initial test plan and the alternative test plan side by side for comparison by a user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the first test plan is generated using initial input data, and

the alternative test plan is generated using alternative input data.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the programming instructions are further operable to permit a user to define the alternative input data by changing at least one parameter of the initial input data.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the at least one parameter comprises at least one of:

organization maturity level;

code size;

activities performed during testing;

estimated effort for a trigger and activity;

estimated defects for a trigger and activity;

total test effort for all activities; and

number of field defects.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the alternative test plan is generated by recalculating values of the initial test plan based upon the changing the at least one parameter.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the programming instructions are further operable to limit a changed value of the at least one parameter to a determined range.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein:

the creating the initial test plan includes generating an initial test schedule, and

the creating the alternative test plan includes generating an alternative test schedule.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein:

the programming instructions are further operable to receive from a user a definition of a test team and an assignment of the test team to a testing activity, and

at least one of the initial test schedule and the alternative test schedule is generated based on the definition and the assignment.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein at least one of the initial test schedule and the alternative test schedule includes:

a duration per test activity, and a total test duration of all activities.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the displaying the at least one metric comprises displaying at least a portion of the initial test schedule and the alternative test schedule.

11. The method of claim 3, wherein:

the creating the initial test plan includes generating an initial cost estimate, and

the creating the alternative test plan includes generating an alternative cost estimate.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein:

the initial cost estimate includes an initial test cost, an initial defect-fix cost, and an initial business cost, and

the alternative cost estimate includes an alternative test cost, an alternative defect-fix cost, and an alternative business cost.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the displaying the at least one metric comprises displaying at least one of:

the initial cost estimate and the alternative cost estimate;

the initial test cost and the alternative test cost;

the initial defect-fix cost and the alternative defect-fix cost;

the initial business cost and the alternative business cost.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the initial estimates of effort and defect distributions and the alternative estimates of effort and defect distributions are defined in terms of orthogonal defect classification (ODC) triggers and activities.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein a service provider at least one of creates, maintains, deploys and supports the computing infrastructure.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the computing infrastructure is provided by a service provider under a subscription and/or fee agreement and/or based on advertising content to one or more third parties.

17. A system comprising a test planning optimization workbench including a processor, a memory, a defect projection engine operable to estimate an effort distribution and a defect distribution for an initial test plan and an alternative test plan, a schedule generation engine operable to generate a schedule for the initial test plan and the alternative test plan, a cost calculation engine operable to determine a cost of the initial test plan and the alternative test plan, and a dashboard operable to display at least one aspect of the initial test plan and the alternative test plan for comparison by a user.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein:

the initial test plan is based on initial input data, and

the alternative test plan is based on alternative input data that is different than the initial input data.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the test planning optimization workbench further includes a changeable parameters configuration engine operable to determine changeable inputs and restrict a user to changing only the changeable inputs.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the effort distribution and the defect distribution are defined in terms of orthogonal defect classification (ODC) triggers and activities.

21. A computer program product comprising a computer usable storage medium having readable program code embodied in the storage medium, the program code when executed on a computing device causes the computing device to:

receive initial input data from a user;

create an initial test plan including initial estimates of effort and defect distributions based on the initial input data;

receive alternative input data from a user;

create an alternative test plan including alternative estimates of effort and defect distributions based on the alternative input data; and

display at least one metric of the initial test plan and the alternative test plan side by side for comparison by a user.

22. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the initial estimates of effort and defect distributions and the alternative estimates of effort and defect distributions are defined in terms of orthogonal defect classification (ODC) triggers and activities.

23. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein:

the alternative input data comprises a change to the initial input data, and

the creating the alternative test plan includes propagating the change through the initial estimates of effort and defect distributions to calculate the alternative estimates of effort and defect distributions.

24. A computer system for providing an alternatives analysis for a test plan, the system comprising:

a processor, a computer readable memory, and a computer readable storage media;

first program instructions to estimate an effort distribution and a defect distribution for an initial test plan and an alternative test plan;

second program instructions to generate a schedule for the initial test plan and the alternative test plan;

third program instructions to determine a cost of the initial test plan and the alternative test plan; and

fourth program instructions to display at least one aspect of the initial test plan and the alternative test plan for comparison by a user,

wherein the first, second, third, and fourth program instructions are stored on the computer readable storage media for execution by the processor via the computer readable memory.

25. The system of claim 24, further comprising fifth program instructions to determine changeable inputs for generating the alternative test plan and restrict a user to changing only the changeable inputs.