This tutorial explains what is Efficiency Testing, techniques to measure Test Efficiency, Formulae to calculate it, Test Efficiency Vs Test Effectiveness, etc.:
Testing plays a very important role after the software is developed.
No software can be deployed in production until the testing team gives a sign-off. To provide a successful product/application, different testing techniques are used.
Efficiency Testing comes in to calculate the efforts put in along with the resources utilized to test a function.
What You Will Learn:
What Is Efficiency Testing
Efficiency testing tests the number of test cases executed divided by the unit of time. The unit of time is generally in hrs. It tests the measure of code and the testing resources that are required by an application to perform a specific function.
It evaluates how many resources were planned and how many were actually utilized for testing. It is all about getting the task done with minimal effort. Test efficiency considers people, tools, resources, processes, and time while calculating efficiency. Creating test metrics plays a vital role in measuring the efficiency of the test processes.
Techniques Used For Test Efficiency
Both the techniques, given below, can be used for evaluating test efficiency:
#1) Metric Based Approach
Metric based approach helps to get an idea of enhancing the testing processes when it is not progressing as expected. The prepared Test Metrics must be analyzed properly, as it helps to estimate the efficiency of the testing process.
Commonly used test metrics:
- A total number of bugs found/accepted/rejected/resolved.
- A total number of bugs are found in every stage of the development.
- A total number of automation test cases written.
The mostly used metric is:
The total number of bugs found in different phases of testing:
( Total number of bugs resolved )/ ( Total number of bugs raised ) *100
There are several metrics but the best one can be created by experienced testers themselves based on knowledge and analysis.
Certain Metrics like written automation test cases, and the number of bugs found are of not much use as the number of test cases can be higher. However, if the major cases are missing, then it is not useful. In the same way, the number of bugs raised can be higher but missing the major functionality bugs can be an issue.
Let’s go through a few metrics that can be used in a project.
- Rejected bugs
- Missed bugs
- Test coverage
- Requirement coverage
- User feedback
#1) Rejected Bugs
The percentage of rejected bugs gives an overview of how much the testing team is aware of the product that is under testing. If the percentage of rejected bugs is high, then it clearly exhibits a lack of knowledge and understanding of the project.
#2) Missed Bugs
A high percentage of missed bugs points to the testing team’s capability especially if the bugs are easily reproducible or the critical ones. Missed bugs refer to the bugs that are missed by the testing team and are found by the user/customer in the production environment.
#3) Test Coverage
Test coverage is used to determine how much the application has been tested. It is not possible to test each and every test case when the application is complex or too large. In such cases, all the important and critical features should be tested properly and the focus should be to deliver bug-free applications with a happy path.
#4) Requirement Coverage
For efficiency testing, the requirement covered by the application, and the number of requirements tested & passed for a feature play an important role.
#5) User Feedback
Testing efficiency can be calculated based on the feedback provided by the user. If critical bugs are found or if easily reproducible bugs are reported by the user, then it clearly points to the bad quality of the product and the bad performance of the testing team.
If the user/customer provides positive feedback then the efficiency of the testing team is considered good.
Enlisted below are the 3 aspects of Test Efficiency:
- Client requirements are being fulfilled by the system.
- Software specifications to be achieved by the system.
- Efforts were put in to develop a system.
Thus, Metric based approach is based on the calculations.
#2) Expert-Based Approach
The expert-based approach is based on the experience of the tester who tests the software along with the knowledge gained from his previous projects.
Test effectiveness is measured by how well the system behaves as per the user’s expectation. If the system is effective, the user easily achieves the goals set for testing.
Factors That Affect Test Efficiency
There are a number of factors that affect test efficiency as mentioned below.
The below points should be considered to get 100% efficiency.
- The resources working on the project should be expertise technically as well as in domain knowledge. They should have the capability to think logically and go out of the box to find scenarios that are rare and critical. If a telecom domain tester is put in a banking domain project, then efficiency cannot be obtained. To get as much efficiency, it’s necessary to align the right resources to the project.
- Another important factor is project-related training. Before starting to test, a project tester should have a good knowledge of the project. The tester should know the purpose of the project and understand how it will work. Regular training for the testers will help them to enhance their skills and the results can be much better.
- Testers should have access to the latest tools and technologies. They should have the leverage to automate the tests so that their effort and time can be saved. This will give ample time for the tester to look out for critical and rare scenarios.
- To make a project successful, the complete team should be created with the required number of resources i.e. domain experts & experienced testers. The project should be tracked on a regular basis so as to ensure delivery on time. Project tracking also impacts efficiency if not done properly.
Formulas For Calculating Test Efficiency
#1) Test Efficiency = (Total number of bugs found in unit+integration+system testing) / (Total number of bugs found in unit+integration+system+user acceptance testing)
#2) Testing Efficiency = (Number of bugs resolved / Total No. of bugs raised) * 100
Example Of Test Efficiency
#1) To launch software that is of high quality i.e. bug-free and is to be delivered on time.
To make the above expectation successful, the team must focus on efficiency i.e.
- Customer requirement to be fulfilled.
- To verify the number of resources allocated to the project and the actual number of resources utilized.
- The tools being used are the latest to increase efficiency.
- Team members being utilized are highly skilled.
#2) To test a form that has the validation of 10 characters on Name, Surname/City fields.
The tester can automate to test the form. The file with the number of inputs where Name/Surname/City details are mentioned with blanks, characters between 1-10, characters more than 10, spaces between the characters, special characters, numbers only, caps, small characters, etc can be created.
The tester does not have to test all the scenarios manually, they just need to create data and run the same in case of automation.
#3) To test a login page.
The tester can get the data for username and password with multiple scenarios such as correct username/incorrect password, correct username/correct password, Incorrect user/correct password, incorrect user/incorrect password, etc.
The list can be populated through SQL injections. Automation allows the tester to test more scenarios in less time. The tester themselves can decide the best technique to execute cases to increase efficiency.
Best Metric To Measure Software Testing Efficiency
Testing efficiency is related to end-to-end testing processes i.e. from test planning, test case creation, execution, and tracking of defects to closure. Following the best metric can help in delivering good quality and bug-free software to the client, which indeed is the main purpose.
Using a Test metric has both advantages as well as disadvantages:
Disadvantages
- To fulfill the metrics requirement, out of box thinking & creativity of the tester, and exploration testing can be hampered as the focus would remain to work as per the metrics only.
- The focus moves toward documentation rather than performing testing that results in inefficiency.
- Sometimes filing the metrics on a regular basis creates demotivation in the resources.
Advantages
- Test Metrics improve the productivity of the resources – as defining the metrics gives a clear objective to the tester.
- It improves the tracking system. Maintaining the metric helps to track the testing activities and progress.
- The testing efforts can be easily visible.
- The testing team can provide their efficiency anytime if asked for.
Test Efficiency Vs Test Effectiveness
| S.No | Test Efficiency | Test Effectiveness |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Test efficiency determines the efficiency of test processes. It checks the number of resources required and is actually utilized in the project. | Test effectiveness determines the effect of the test environment on the software/product. |
| 2 | It is the number of test cases executed /unit of time. Time is generally in hrs. | It is a number of bugs found/number of test cases executed. |
| 3 | Test efficiency = (Total number of bugs found in unit+integration+system testing) / (Total number of bugs found in unit+integration+system+User acceptance testing)*100 | Test effectiveness = Total number of bugs injected+ Total number of bugs found)/ Total number of bugs escaped*100 |
| 4 | Testing Efficiency = (Number of bugs resolved / Total No. of bugs raised)* 100 | Test effectiveness = Loss (because of issues)/ Total resources |
Frequently Asked Questions
Q #1) How do you Test Code efficiency?
Answer: Code efficiency can be calculated by using the below two formulas:
- Test Efficiency = (Total number of bugs found in unit+integration+system) / (total number of defects found in unit+integration+system+User acceptance testing)
- Testing Efficiency = Number of bugs resolved/ number of bugs raised *100
Q #2) How do you measure Test Effectiveness and Efficiency?
Answer: Test effectiveness can be calculated using the below formula:
- Test Effectiveness = Number of valid bugs fixed/( Bugs injected+ number of bugs escaped)*100
- Test efficiency = (Total number of defects found in unit+integration+system) / (Total number of defects found in unit+integration+system+User acceptance testing)*100
Q #3) What are Efficiency metrics?
Answer: Efficiency metrics can be used to measure the ability to use resources efficiently. There are a number of metrics that can be used and are effective.
Q #4) What is the Efficiency of the software?
Answer: Efficiency can be defined as obtaining the performance of the software with minimal resources. Resources here represent CPU, memory, database files, etc. Working on the efficiency aspect since the start of the project can help to reduce many issues in the initial stage itself.
Conclusion
Efficiency testing plays an important role as it helps to test the effectiveness of the software. Test metrics play a vital role in getting 100% efficiency.
There are a number of metrics, but the best metrics can be chosen by the tester himself based on experience and analysis. If the customer is satisfied with the software/product, only then we can declare the efficiency to be 100%.
100% efficiency is directly related to the quality of work the team has done.