Entries Tagged 'Questions & answers' ↓

This article is the part software testing question and answer series. Here I will answer some reader’s questions asked to me in comments or using contact form. If you have queries on software testing, quality assurance or career in testing then you can ask me these questions in comment section below.

It’s not possible to address each and every question in detail as I observed the questions are on vast topics, for which detail answers will itself require a new article. I will answer such questions in brief here and will also write detail articles separately if required.

So let’s get some questions answered:

Naresh A. asks:

“My past experience was related to “Test Engineer”. Recently I am appointed as Test Lead in a product based company. Currently there is no Pre-established testing process. As a TL am meant to define a standard process for the entire testing flow and I will maintain certain documents for each product.
Can you help me out in establishing a process for testing, and make me know the entire responsibilities of TL and what documents I am supposed to prepare and maintain?”

As a team leader you are responsible for project planning, scheduling, communicating your project status to your manager and most important task of assigning and monitoring the project work. Your main responsibility is to build a team to achieve your project goals. You need to focus on handling the challenges in your project so that your team and project will grow and perform well.

As far as the standard testing process is considered, it’s depends on you – what procedure you want to establish. Yes some people might blame me for this point but I prefer to establish my own processes that work for me. I don’t stick to those old process definitions that are written and managed in some 90′s and most of which might not applicable nowadays.

Test lead is responsible for ensuring project plan changes are incorporated in test plan. You might write a test plan and test strategy (In some cases it might be written by senior test team member or even by project test manager) Ensure the work is going according to this test plan. Identify the risks and try to mitigate them. At the end of project testing life cycle ensure that all test objectives are accomplished and acceptance criteria is met.

More TL responsibilities includes: Test Case Review, Requirements Validation, Monitoring the execution of manual and automated test cases, Prepare test summary report and Communicate test status to seniors and prepare corresponding documents.

To know more on SQA processes read this article “SQA Processes- How to Test complete application“. Hope from this answer you will get good idea of testing processes and TL responsibilities.

Pavan Ankus asks:

“I am appearing for the QA positions in US. I would kindly request you to mail me the suitable challenging situations in manual testing and also since I don’t have domain knowledge in Insurance, finance and other financial domain experience I am finding hard to explain to the interviewer as an experienced person. In this regard I need your suitable answer as to how to face the interviewer?”

In every testing interview you will get this question: “Tell me any challenging situation you faced in your previous projects or Tell me any bug that you feel proud to find it?”

I think answers to these questions depend on your testing career. I know every one of you might have faced many challenging situations where exceptional thinking is required to solve such problems.

I will suggest to pick any such situation from you career and explain it in better way. At least it should sound challenging This will help you to face further questions from interviewer depending on your answer.

The broad challenges in manual testing are: How to ensure complete test coverage? Testing without an automation tool is itself a big challenge. You can also explain non-technical challenges in manual testing like managing the testing work in critical time (Llink to testing under time limit) i.e. completing testing before deadline and even worst case if the deadline itself is not feasible.

Explaining a challenging bug you found in your career can be also a good answer for this question. For example the bug that was difficult to find or reprove or having big impact on customer revenue etc.

Pavan you mentioned that you don’t have knowledge in banking and finance domain then how you expect from yourself to give answer on that? If you don’t have experience in banking and finance domain then do not put this as a skill in your resume just for the sake of matching your profile with employer requirements. If you really want to get into testing of BFSI (Banking, Financial services and Insurance) domain then first study this domain. Know the basic concepts in BFSI domain. See the resources I have listed on BFSI domain on our resource page. Keep in mind you can answer in detail about any question if you have worked on that.

Mitch asks:

“What is the best way to go about getting a pay rise? Is reporting and graphing bugs found compared to other team member a good idea?

Comparing the bug count with other team or team member is very bad idea to ask for pay rise. If you are working for the organization for long time then your employer know your value and importance in organization. There is no need to show how your bug count graph is higher than your counterparts.

So what is the best way to ask for good salary rise?
At the time of your performance appraisal you should be able to convince to your reviewer that how you worked hard for your organization, How you succeeded in managing difficult tasks and how you enhanced your skills to better match your current work profile. If you succeed in this negotiation then you will definitely get good pay rise.

Other factors considered while giving you pay rise:
Your relevant skills, Complexity of application you are working on, problem solving skill, total and relevant experience, education and certifications.
Ask your questions in below comment section.

Read the previous article on testing questions and answer part1.
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This post is in continuation with QTP interview questions series. Following questions will help for preparing interview as well as learning the QTP basics.

Quick Test Professional: Interview Questions and answers.

1. What are the features and benefits of Quick Test Pro(QTP)?

1. Key word driven testing
2. Suitable for both client server and web based application
3. VB script as the script language
4. Better error handling mechanism
5. Excellent data driven testing features

Continue reading →

This article will give you general idea about CSTE certification exam paper pattern. I have included some sample questions and answers for the CSTE mock test paper. You can refer these questions and can judge the pattern of descriptive answer paper. If you need objective type questions from CSTE paper you can refer our previous article on CSTE objective type question answers . Also you can download some more sample papers from our ‘Downloads’ section.

CSTE mock test paper – Questions and Answers:

1. Define the following along with examples [25 Marks]
a. Boundary Value testing
b. Equivalence testing
c. Error Guessing
d. Desk checking
e. Control Flow analysis

Answer:
a) Boundary value Analysis: – A process of selecting test cases/data by identifying the boundaries that separate valid and invalid conditions. Tests are constructed to test the inside and outside edges of these boundaries, in addition to the actual boundary points. or A selection technique in which test data are chosen to lie along “boundaries” of the input domain [or output range] classes, data structures, procedure parameters, etc. Choices often include maximum, minimum, and trivial values or parameters.

E.g. – Input data 1 to 10 (boundary value)
Test input data 0, 1, 2 to 9, 10, 11

b) Equivalence testing: – The input domain of the system is partitioned into classes of representative values, so that the no of test cases can be limited to one-per-class, which represents the minimum no. of test cases that must be executed.

E.g.- valid data range: 1-10
Test set:-2; 5; 14

c) Error guessing: – Test data selection technique. The selection criterion is to pick values that seem likely to cause errors Error guessing is based mostly upon experience, with some assistance from other techniques such as boundary value analysis. Based on experience, the test designer guesses the types of errors that could occur in a particular type of software and designs test cases to uncover them.

E.g. – For example, if any type of resource is allocated dynamically, a good place to look for errors is in the de-allocation of resources. Are all resources correctly deallocated, or are some lost as the software executes?

d) Desk checking: – Desk checking is conducted by the developer of the system or program. The process involves reviewing the complete product to ensure that it is structurally sound and that the standards and requirements have been met. This is the most traditional means for analyzing a system or program.

e) Control Flow Analysis: – It is based upon graphical representation of the program process. In control flow analysis; the program graphs has nodes which represent a statement or segment possibly ending in an unresolved branch. The graph illustrates the flow of program control from one segment to another as illustrated through branches .the objective of control flow analysis is to determine the potential problems in logic branches that might result in a loop condition or improper processing.

2. You find that there is a senior tester who is making more mistakes than the junior testers. You need to communicate this aspect to the senior tester. Also, you don’t want to loose this tester. How should one go about the constructive criticism? [10 Marks]

Answer:
In the quality approach, it is the responsibility of the supervisor to make His/Her subordinates successful. The effective use of criticism is a tool for improving subordinate performance.

In giving constructive criticism, you should incorporate the following tactics: -

• Do it privately.
• Have the facts.
• Be prepared to help the worker improve His/Her performance.
• Be specific on Expectations.
• Follow a specific process in giving the criticism.

3. Your manager has taken you onboard as a test lead for testing a web-based application. He wants to know what risks you would include in the Test plan. Explain each risk factor that would be a part of your test plan. [20 marks]

Answer:
Web-Based Application primary risk factors:-

A) Security: anything related to the security of the application.
B) Performance:- The amount of computing resources and code required by the system to perform its stated functions.
C) Correctness:-Data entered, processed, and outputted in the system is accurate and complete
D) Access Control:-Assurance that the application system resources will be protected
E) Continuity of processing:-The ability to sustain processing in the event problem occurs
F) Audit Trail:-The capability to substantiate the processing that has occurred.
G) Authorization:-Assurance that the data is processed in accordance with the intents of the management.

General risk or secondary risk’s:-

A) Complex – anything disproportionately large, intricate or convoluted.
B) New – anything that has no history in the product.
C) Changed – anything that has been tampered with or “improved”.
D) Upstream Dependency – anything whose failure will cause cascading failure in the rest of the system.
E) Downstream Dependency – anything that is especially sensitive to failures in the rest of the system.
F) Critical – anything whose failure could cause substantial damage.
G) Precise – anything that must meet its requirements exactly.
H) Popular – anything that will be used a lot.
I) Strategic – anything that has special importance to your business, such as a feature that sets you apart from the competition.
J) Third-party – anything used in the product, but developed outside the project.
K) Distributed – anything spread out in time or space, yet whose elements must work together.
l) Buggy – anything known to have a lot of problems.
M) Recent Failure – anything with a recent history of failure.

4. You are in the contract stage of a project and are developing a comprehensive proposal for a safety critical software system. Your director has consulted you for preparing a guideline document what will enlist user’s role during acceptance testing phase. Indicate the key roles you feel that the user should play during acceptance stage. Also indicate the categories into which the acceptance requirements should fall. [10 Marks]

Answer:
1) Ensure user involvement in developing systems requirement and acceptance criteria.
2) Identify interim and final products for acceptance their acceptance criteria and schedule.
3) Plan how and by whom each acceptance activity will be performed.
4) Plan resources for providing information.
5) Schedule adequate time for buyer staff to receive and examine the products and evaluation prior to acceptance review.
6) Prepare the acceptance plan.
7) Respond to the analysis of project entitles before accepting and rejecting.
8 ) Approve the various interim software products.
9) Perform the final acceptance activities, including the formal acceptance testing at delivery.
10) Make an acceptance decision for each product.

5. What is parallel testing and when do we use parallel testing? Explain with
example? [5 marks]

Answer:
Testing a new or an altered data processing system with the same source data that is used in another system. The other system is considered as the standard of comparison. OR we can say that parallel testing requires the same input data be run through two versions of the same application.
Parallel testing should be used when there is uncertainty regarding the correctness of processing of the new application. And old and new versions of the applications are same.
E.g.-
1) Operate the old and new version of the payroll system to determine that the paychecks from both systems are reconcilable.
2) Run the old version of the application system to ensure that the operational status of the old system has been maintained in the event that problems are encountered in the new application.

6. What is the difference between testing Techniques and tools? Give examples. [5 marks]

Answer:
Testing technique: – Is a process for ensuring that some aspects of the application system or unit functions properly there may be few techniques but many tools.

Tools: – Is a vehicle for performing a test process. The tool is a resource to the tester, but itself is insufficient to conduct testing

E.g.:- The swinging of hammer to drive the nail. The hammer is a tool, and swinging the hammer is a technique. The concept of tools and technique is important in the testing process. It is a combination of the two that enables the test process to be performed. The tester should first understand the testing techniques and then understand the tools that can be used with each of the technique.

7. Quality control activities are focused on identifying defects in the actual products produced; however your boss wants you to identify and define processes that would prevent defects. How would you explain to him to distinguish between QA and QC responsibilities? [10 Marks]

Answer:

Quality Assurance:
1) A planned and systematic set of activities necessary to provide adequate confidence that requirements are properly established and products or services conform to specified requirements
2) An activity that establishes and evaluates the processes to produce the products.
3) Helps establish processes.
4) Sets up measurements programs to evaluate processes.
5) Identifies weaknesses in processes and improves them.
6) QA is the responsibility of the entire team.
7) Prevents the introduction of issues or defects

Quality Control:
1) The process by which product quality is compared with applicable standards; and the action taken when nonconformance is detected.
2) An activity which verifies if the product meets pre-defined standards.
3) Implements the process.
4) Verifies if specific attribute(s) are in a specific product or service
5) Identifies defects for the primary purpose of correcting defects.
6) QC is the responsibility of the tester.
7) Detects, reports and corrects defects

8 ) Differentiate between Transaction flow modeling, Finite state modeling, Data flow modeling and Timing modeling? [10 Marks]

Answer:
Transaction Flow modeling: -The nodes represent the steps in transactions. The links
represent the logical connection between steps.

Finite state modeling:-The nodes represent the different user observable states of the software. The links represent the transitions that occur to move from state to state.

Data flow modeling:-The nodes represent the data objects. The links represent the transformations that occur to translate one data object to another.

Timing Modeling:-The nodes are Program Objects. The links are sequential connections between the program objects. The link weights are used to specify the required execution times as program executes.

9) List what you think are the two primary goals of testing
[5 Marks]

Answer:
1) Determine whether the system meets specifications (producer view)
2) determine whether the system meets business and user needs (Customer view)

Today I am going to answer some reader’s questions. Actually I am thinking to start a weekly column on “Software Testing Questions and Answers”. Usually I get dozens of mails daily asking me on some software testing queries. Instead of answering them privately I will put them collectively in posts so that many similar questions of other readers will also get addressed. You can submit your questions in comment sections of posts. Before submitting question I will strongly recommend you to search here on this site if your queries are answered previously.

So I will kick it with some questions in this post.

Shivika asks:
“I have been given the assignment to test a UI based application page. They want me to break the functionality in any way. The first page is Sign up page containing fields like username password, email, url address field and some check box selection options . I have tried all the ways in which I can test the page. Can you also please suggest that what can be possible ways in which we can test the page?”

I will cover some major negative test cases to break the sign up page:

1) See the limit of username field. I mean the data type of this field in DB and the field size. Try adding more characters to this field than the field size limit. See how application respond to this.
2) Repeat above case for number fields. Insert number beyond the field storage capacity. This is typically a boundary test.
3) For username field try adding numbers and special characters in various combinations. (Characters like !@#$%^&*()_+}{“:?><,./;’[]). If not allowed specific message should be displayed to the user.
4) Try above special character combination for all the input fields on your sign up page having some validations. Like Email address field, URL field validations etc.
5) Many applications crash for the input field containing ‘ (single quote) and ” (double quote) examples field like: “Vijay’s web”. Try it in all the input fields one by one.
6) Try adding only numbers to input fields having validation to enter only characters and vice versa.
7) If URL validation is there then see different rules for url validation and add urls not fitting to the rules to observe the system behavior.
Example urls like: vijay.com/?q=vijay’s!@#$%^&*()_+}{“:?><,./;’[]web_page
Also add urls containing http:// and https:// while inserting into url input box.
8 ) If your sign up page is of some steps like step 1 step 2 etc. then try changing parameter values directly into browser address bar. Many times urls are formatted with some parameters to maintain proper user steps. Try altering all those parameters directly without doing anything actually on the sign up page.
9) Do some monkey testing manually or automating (i.e. Insert whatever comes in mind or random typing over keyboard) you will come up with some observations.
10) See if any page is showing JavaScript error either at the browser left bottom corner or enable the browser settings to display popup message to any JavaScript error.

These are all the negative test cases. I assume that you already tested the same sign up page with all valid cases to check application is working fine as per requirements.

If above cases are not breaking the application page then don’t forget to praise the developer

If you have some killer test cases to break such applications that you learned from your experience, you can specify them in comments below.

Jayant asks:
“Normally freshers pass out have a state of their mind as “we are freshers”, recently pass outs from college and expect that the companies to recruit them should consider the knowledge base they have and further should impact them training. In true terms what is meant by fresher for an industry?”

Good question. When I was fresher I was thinking on the similar lines. But think from employer point of view. Employer will think like “Why should we hire candidates having little knowledge base and experience? and need training first before assigning any work? Well, fortunately not all employers think like this and that’s why frehsers are getting the jobs and training on the board. Thanks to the booming IT industry. Demand will continue for freshers having good educational background and appropriate problem solving skill.

Tremendous growth in number of engineering colleges resulted in significant increase in number of graduates passing out each year. And the gap is also increasing between the skill of graduates and the expectations of the companies.

Now I will focus on what industry look specifically in fresh graduates? Typically it will include:

• Problem solving and Analytical skill
• Technical skills
• Communication and interpersonal skill
• Leadership skill
• Extra activities like foreign languages, organization skills etc.

So it will be always better if you try to achieve any experience or skill before trying for any graduate jobs. You are one step ahead than those freshers having no experience at all.

This work experience typically includes:
Internship -
Internship work done in any company during or after the graduation. It may be free or paid internship

Sandwich courses -
In some courses industrial training is included in curriculum itself. It is typically of 6 months to 1 year in most of the universities. You can include this project training in your resume.

Special skill achievements through classes or companies:
Training taken from some institute or companies can be included in your work experience.

Projects:
Projects accomplished for commercial or research purpose. These are the paid or certification projects accomplished for companies during the graduation years.

All above-mentioned work will definitely count as a experience as you get actual idea of company, team work and company working culture. Find out your skill areas and what you can offer to employer before hunting for jobs. Companies always look for all-rounded candidates who can effectively utilize their skill into projects from universities, experience and extra activities.

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