Software Testing and Quality Control

Re-testing (or confirmation testing) runs the same test cases to confirm a specific defect is fixed. Regression testing runs tests on unchanged parts of the system to ensure no new defects or side-effects were introduced by changes.

Inspection is the most formal review type, characterized by peer examination, defined entry/exit criteria, formal roles, and collection of metrics. Walkthroughs and management reviews are less formal and lack strict entry/exit metrics.

Reviews and inspections are static testing techniques that examine documentation or code without execution. Like dynamic testing, their purpose is detecting defects and improving quality, making them part of the broader testing discipline. Static testing finds faults earlier and cheaper than dynamic testing, complementing test execution. The testing lifecycle includes both static and dynamic techniques.

Error guessing is an experience-based, informal technique. It is most effective as a complement after formal, systematic techniques (like boundary value analysis) have been applied to ensure no obvious gaps remain uncovered.

Testing should stop when defined exit criteria (completion criteria) are met, ensuring objective quality goals are satisfied. Running out of time or tests is resource-based, not quality-based, and finding no faults may just mean tests are ineffective.

In HP Quality Center's Test Plan module, deleting a folder does not permanently delete the tests immediately; instead, the tests are moved to the system-created 'Unattached' folder, allowing recovery. They do not go to the Subject folder, and they are not permanently deleted right away.

Quality Center Dashboard provides executive-level visualization with graphs, charts, and summary metrics across the testing lifecycle. Foundation is the backend database, Business Process Insight isn't a QC module, and Service Test is for service testing - none give executive overview.

In the Requirements module, you select requirements and use the 'Cover' or 'Add Test' buttons to link tests to requirements. While you can see requirements on test details, the actual linking happens from Requirements module. Test Lab is for execution, not linking.

Quality Center is fundamentally a repository - it stores and manages test assets (requirements, tests, defects, cycles). 'Testcases' and 'Defects' are items within the repository, not its main function. Load testing is separate functionality.

A release folder in the Releases module contains the releases themselves (version releases of your application). It doesn't contain test plans (those are in Test Plan), cycles (those are within releases), or requirements (those are in Requirements module).

Predefined graph templates are available in Requirements, Test Plan, Test Lab, and Defects modules. You can generate analysis graphs in all four. The Releases module doesn't have graph templates, which eliminates options B and D.

In the Releases module, you can link cycles directly to requirements - this creates traceability from requirement through cycle to test execution. The release tree is the structure, cycle progress/details are views, not linkable elements.

The release tree is the hierarchical foundation of the Release module - it organizes releases, cycles, and folders in a tree structure. Release folders are containers within this tree, cycles are within releases. The tree structure comes first.

In Quality Center/ALM, defects can be logged from multiple modules to provide flexibility throughout the testing lifecycle. The Defect module itself is the primary location, but you can also log defects directly from the Requirements module (when reviewing requirements), Test Plan module (during test design/execution), and Test Lab module (while running tests). This integrated workflow allows testers to capture issues immediately upon discovery, regardless of which module they are working in.

In the Test Plan module of Quality Center/ALM, the Design Steps tab contains the detailed test steps where you can specify manual or automated execution. This tab provides the option to convert a manual test (with defined steps) into an automated test by associating it with an automated test script or tool. The Details tab contains general test metadata, Test Script is for actual automation code, and Req Coverage shows requirement mappings.