Test Monitoring and Test Control is a management activity. Test Monitoring is a process of evaluating and providing feedback on the “currently in progress” testing phase. Test Control is an activity of guiding and taking corrective action based on some metrics or information to improve efficiency and quality.
Test Monitoring activity includes:
- Providing feedback to the team and the other concerned stakeholders about the progress of the testing efforts.
- Broadcasting the results of testing performed, to the associated members.
- Finding and tracking the Test Metrics.
- Planning and Estimation, for deciding the future course of action, based on the metrics calculated.
Points 1 and 2 basically talk about Test Reporting, which is an important part of Test Monitoring. Reports should be precise and should avoid “long stories”. It is important here to understand that the content of the report differs for every stakeholder.
Points 3 and 4 talk about the metrics. The following metrics can be used for Test Monitoring:
- Test Coverage Metric
- Test Execution Metrics (Number of test cases pass, fail, blocked, on hold)
- Defect Metrics
- Requirement Traceability Metrics
- Miscellaneous metrics like level of confidence of testers, date milestones, cost, schedule, and turnaround time.
Test Control involves guiding and taking corrective measures activity, based on the results of Test Monitoring. Test Control examples include:
- Prioritizing the Testing efforts
- Revisiting the Test schedules and Dates
- Reorganizing the Test environment
- Re prioritizing the Test cases/Conditions
Test Monitoring and Control go hand in hand. Being primarily a manager’s activity, a Test Analyst contributes to this activity by gathering and calculating the metrics that will be eventually used for monitoring and control.