Test tool

A system supporting test activities and test processes to ensure quality when developing software.

Why do we need a tool when we don’t test?

A waste of money you might say, if you do not test - the need for testing does not exist? – or does it? Unfortunately, many of todays companies developing software, have not yet acknowledged the importance of testing. Often and very frightening, somewhat similar to the lacking of backup procedures, these activities do no receive priority until failure has arrived. When looking at Denmark, being one of the leading IT nations in the world, it is even more frightening, that software companies are having trouble accepting, that testing must be carried out to ensure quality of those products and systems, which are being developed – even our close brother nations Norway and Sweden are ahead of Denmark, though they also still have some miles to travel. Sadly, the customers are often the ones paying the price when things do not work the way they were supposed to. We have seen countless examples in this small country. But, today there is a tendency that if people find the products they are using, to be containing a large number of errors, they will soon be using software from our competitors instead. Companies tend to forget how expensive it can be to get a new customer – instead of the relatively small investment needed for keeping and existing. Not to mention all of the potential customers you will never get, if the rumour travels that you are delivering bad quality software. This article is not referred to these companies, but all those who have acknowledged the need for software testing.

Which kind of tools do we need?

If your company has acknowledged the need for testing, the next step will often be to establish a structured process, which everyone in the organization must follow. In short you must prepare a template - a procedure that everyone knows and follows. It makes things a lot easier and more effecient when everyone involved uses identical terms, structures and flows. At first, some will believe that they do not need a tool for doing this. Yet others will say that you do need a tool already from the beginning. You need a tool to build up your structure, your flows – your processes. The tool do not necessarily contain process descriptions, but it should be the place where you build up your structures, your tests and your flows. A test management system should be purchased and implemented. According to the TMMi foundation, you should be at level 2 or 3 when purchasing such testing tools. 

Isn’t it fine just to use Excel?

Absolutely, as a matter of fact Excel is an excellent tool to use for many tasks – that is if you are working by yourself. If more than one person needs to work on the system at the same time it can lead to problems in Excel, because it is not a multi user system. There are several good tools on the market, so why bother investing time and resources in inventing the whole thing again, when the systems are already there? Much the same reason why we use Excel and not Notepad for the everyday arrangement of tables and calculations.

What does it cost?

As mentioned before there are many excellent tools on the market, some better than others and some more expensive than others. Unfortunately price and quality does not always accompany each other as seen among other product types. The reason for this is simply supply and demand. Software testing has been known and performed through the last 30-50 years, but has just recently begun to accelerate - over the last 5-10 years. Earlier software did not have the same complexity as today, so software testing has naturally just started to be important. In this period there have not been many test tool suppliers, and when the market started to grow the suppliers could without problems overcharge the price as much as they wanted, because they did not have any, or only few, competitors. As time goes by more competitors have set their foot on the market, but the price has still been too high. This situation can also have it's background in the fact that so far only larger companies have started testing. Testing has therfore been seen as a cost and not a benefit for the small and medium-sized companies. With new competitors on the market, like BBLsolutions, everyone, big or small, now has been given the possibility of economically being able to invest in a test tool, and to get started testing - ensuring quality in their software. A good test management system can be purchased for same price it would cost to pay 2-3 monthly wages, which was unrealistic just a few years ago. At this time the increased competition has been the reason why the tools have become even better.

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