Tag: QA

The Importance Of Mobile Quality Assurance

Posted on by Jay

Mobile phones are being designed for the needs of urban warriors who want to do everything on the go. The mobile ecosystem has gone beyond the boundaries of telephony.

It records activities, provides event alerts, keeps users in touch with their personal lives and assists in business processes like closing transactions and completing payments. These advanced smartphone capabilities are giving rise to novel ways which addresses the needs of customers, employers and partners.

Mobile Application Marketplaces are becoming very popular day by day, and many companies are facilitating users to download various app. Websites are also being built as responsive for better browsing experience on various handheld devices.

Challenges of Mobile Application Testing :

Now-a-days, people are accessing the Internet and digital content in general more and more frequently from mobile rather than a traditional device. Mobile devices are built on a variety of operating systems that include multiple versions of iOS, Android, Windows, BlackBerry, Symbian, Bada and Brew, etc. Many years ago, the importance of Mobile Quality Assurance became apparent to the mobile development community.

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Mobile Quality Assurance has needful key focus areas such as “Functionality”, “Performance”, “Usability”, “Automation”, “Security”, “Compatibility (Responsiveness)”, “Interface”, “Services” and “Device Proliferation”.

Mobile QA testing is nothing but a process by which mobile devices are being tested for its functionality, usability and consistency for better performance.

Mobile Application testing is categorized into two phases; such as “hardware or Device Testing” and “Software Testing”. Now this process is maximizing to support iPhone, Android, Windows Mobile, Symbian, Blackberry, tablets, including other operating systems with minimizing the testing cycle up to 50% as well.

As more and more mobile apps are coming out as well as Smartphones and it might be finding too many challenges or risks like variety of mobile devices, diversity in Mobile Platforms/OS, Mobile network operators and Scripting.

So, Mobile QA Testing is becoming very necessary part of Mobile Application Development Ecosystem.

Summary:

It is inescapable that your business will adopt mobile technologies to improve efficiency and become a regular business.

However, in a fast-changing mobile environment, application testing must be done in days instead of weeks, to ensure that your business remains agile, productivity is increased, time, money and customer satisfaction are not impacted.

I hope you liked this post. You must get a clear idea about the real challenges in mobile application testing. I would like to know your invaluable suggestion on this topic.

Recommended Blog: Andolasoft launched service on QA Automation

Defect Management Process in Software QA/QC

Posted on by Jay

A defect is an error or bug found in the application. A programmer while designing and developing the software could make mistake. These mistakes or errors are also termed as faults in the software.

While testing a software application or product, if the actual result deviates from the expected result then it is termed as defect.

A Software defect / bug is a condition in software which does not meet the requirement or end-user expectation.

Defect Management Process:

Defect management process includes the following steps:

Identify
This step involves detecting a defect. The person noticing the defect is mostly someone in the testing team. In the real world, it can be anyone including individuals in the project team, or even the end-user(customer).

Category
When a defect is reported, it is assigned to a designated team member to confirm that the defect is actually a defect as opposed to an enhancement, or other appropriate category. Once categorized, the defect moved into the process flow and the next step is to prioritize it.

Priority
Priority is based on combination of the severity of impact on the usability, relative effort to fix, along with a comparison against other defects. The priority should be determined with representatives of the customer and the project team.

Assign
Once a defect has been prioritized, it is then assigned to a developer or other technical person to fix.

Resolve
The developer fixes (resolves) the defect and follows the organization’s process to deploy the fixed code to the environment where the defect was originally identified.

Verify
Depending on the environment where the defect was found and the fix was applied, the software testing team or customer verifies that the fix is actually resolved the defect.

Close
Once a defect has been resolved and verified, the defect is marked as closed.

Defect report or Bug report consists of the following information:

  • Defect_ID – Every bug or defect has its unique identification number
  • Defect Description – This includes the abstract of the issue.
  • Product Version – This includes the product version of the application in which the defect is found.
  • Description – This includes the detailed steps to be followed to re-create the issue with the screenshots attached so that developers can recreate it easily.
  • Date Raised – Date when the bug is reported
  • Reported By – This includes who reported the bug like tester Name and ID
  • Status – This field includes the Status of the defect like New, Assigned, Open, Re-test, Verification, Closed, Failed, Deferred, etc.
  • Fixed by – This field includes the details of the developer who fixed it like Name and ID
  • Date Closed – Date when the bug is closed
  • Severity: Based on the severity (Critical, Major or Minor) it tells us about impact of the defect or bug in the software application
  • Priority: Based on the Priority set (High/Medium/Low) the order of fixing the defect can be made.

See Also: How to identify Cross Site Scripting (XSS) Vulnerabilities threat

Defect management process or bug tracking is an integral part of our Quality Assurance process. Avail our QA services not just for projects done by us but also for projects done by you or your vendors.

I hope you enjoyed this topic, if you have any questions or comments please share below!

Serious threats from Heartbleed Bug

Posted on by Jay

Heartbleed-bug-150x150What is Heartbleed(CVE-2014-0160 ) issue?

Heartbleed is a serious vulnerability through which attacker can easily steal the sensitive data like login credential, card number and other encrypted information used in online banking and e-commerce site.  It was found In early April, and available in the software library OpenSSL which is considered as most secure and used by many web application for secure transaction.

How this bug works?

Heartbleed virus was basically tricking the computer with fake information. The computer then responded to hackers by giving them the stored memory. This compromises the secret keys used to identify the service providers and to encrypt the traffic, the names and passwords of the users and the actual content. This allows attackers to spy on communications, take information straightforwardly from the services and users and to imitate services and users.

Things to worry about?

Many cyber experts consider that Heartbleed is the worst vulnerability found (at least in terms of its potential impact) since commercial traffic began to flow on the Internet. Why it so?

  • Open SSL(secure socket layer) basically provides communication security and privacy through encryption functionality over the Internet for applications such as web, email, instant messaging (IM) and some virtual private networks (VPNs). As this bug available to this layer so It has been undermine around half a million secure websites, email, instant messaging and likely a variety of other programs and applications
  • Discovered in early April, Heartbleed lets attackers steal data from computers whereas recent report showed that it can also access to forum and chat-rooms which is very hard to penetrate.
  • The big problem is that it is undetectable and you don’t know it is happening. If your Gmail was hacked and they tell you to change your password and you do, the hacking still doesn’t go away.
  • Heartbleed.com had attacked their own server from attackers perspective and they found that the bug can able to steal sensitive data without using any privileged information or credentials, which make situation more severe.

Typically, OpenSSL implementations are present on servers running Apache and nginx. Unfortunately, Apache remains the dominant web server today with more than half of the internet’s active sites running on it and nginx has about another 14%.  The Heartbleed bug was introduced in December 2011. The bug affects OpenSSL version 1.0.1 which was released in March 2012 through to 1.0.1f which hit on Jan 6 of this year.

What to not worry about?

Heartbleed has no effect on

  • DOD classified networks, and minimal effect on DOD unclassified sites.
  • Common access cards and the PIN numbers associated with them
  • The products which do not include OpenSSL in their server
  • Applications which use OpenSSL 1.0.1g, OpenSSL 1.0.0 branch, OpenSSL 0.9.8 branch and OpenSSL 0.9.7 branch.

How we stopped it?

To address this vulnerability, we followed the steps mentioned below.

Step#1 : We checked the version of openSSL in server.

# yum info openssl.

Step#2 : Then, we updated the version of it to the version which is not affected by Heartbleed.

# yum update -y openssl

Step#3: After updating OpenSSL, reboot the services using the library or server itself.

To combat with such type of bugs or vulnerabilities, you require an expert and accomplished QA engineers. You can also offshore QA Services which provides you savvy and smart solution to your goal.  Andolasoft also launched free security testing where you can check your web app health report at no cost.

Like this blog? I’d love to hear about your thoughts on this. Thanks for sharing your comments.

Andolasoft launched service on QA Automation

Posted on by Jay

We are excited to announce launching of QA Automation service at Andolasoft.
QA is an important phase of SDLC (Software Development Life Cycle) for releasing quality software.

Why QA Automation?

While manual testing is appropriate in some cases, it is a time-consuming and tedious process that is inefficient and conflicts with today’s shorter application development cycles.

As a result, it impedes the ability to thoroughly test an application. Whereas, Automated testing creates new efficiencies that accelerate the testing cycle and promote software quality.

Automated tests are quicker to run than manual tests as there’s no lag time between input and checking, as a result you can run more tests in multiple browsers rapidly.

Manual testing has a high risk of missing out of any test case, whereas Automated tests have zero risk of missing out a pre-decided test case.

Automation_Testing

Benefits of Software Automation Testing

Saves Time :
As automated tests are run by tools, it runs tests significantly faster than human users which adds to the first benefit of saving time.

Cost Effective :
Software automation tools are expensive for short-term, but you can save money in long-term. With the help of Automation tool, you can easily find bugs in less time. This allows your team to react more quickly, as a result it saves your precious time and money.

Consistency:
Automated testing offers a level of consistency, which is not achievable through use of manual testing.

Repeatable:
Testers can test how the software reacts under repeated execution of the same operations.

Reusable:
Tests can be reused on different versions of an application, even if the user interface changes.

Reliable:
Tests perform precisely the same operations each time they are run, thereby eliminating human error.

Comprehensive: You can build a suite of tests that covers every feature in your application.

Programmable:
Testers can program sophisticated tests that bring out hidden information from the application.

Quality:
Automation tools cuts costs and reduces software product time, as well as it help to ensure high level of quality in software projects.

Why QA Automation from Andolasoft ?

We have worked on various test automation models empowering us to provide custom solution based on client needs. Andolasoft uses only the latest performance testing technology like

  • Selenium (For Automation Testing)
  • Load UI and Browsermob (For Load Testing)
  • Accunetix, N-stalker, Nsparker & Websecurify (For Security Testing)
  • Browserlab & IE tester (For UI Testing)
  • Our own product Orangescrum (For Bug Tracking)

Our approach to Automation Testing is as illustrated below:

  • Decide and Design the framework
  • Prepare Test Cases / Business flows
  • Based on the number of flows and their size, effort estimation is prepared
  • Testers are involved in effort estimation process
  • Implement the framework by developing user defined functions / procedures and reusable actions required by the framework
  • Begin automating the scripts by means of the framework
  • Review the completed scripts
  • Use the scripts to check the sanity of the script against the AUT(Application Under Test)
  • Defect found during regression logged in defect tracking tool(Orangescrum)
  • Test execution report submitted to the stakeholders
  • Preparing metrics analysis
  • Enhancements or GUI changes handled with proper documentation
  • Based on the enhancement / change, scripts tweaked
  • As and when need arises required set of scripts executed
  • Regression testing is run in a batch in unattended mode
  • Delivering results to client for approval

You can check out the latest trends for the Software Testers.

Andolasoft follows a test automation strategy where our testing engineers do analyse your applications and provides you all the possibility of test automation.

Read more on accessibility testing tools

This analysis helps our client to achieve the optimum return on their investment and provide real benefit to the projects in which they are working with. If you wish to avail of our test automation consulting services, please contact us.

Visit our Quality Assurance services for more information about the Manual and Automation testing. We look forward to your feedback/comment.

2013 will bring these 3 trends for the Software Testers

Posted on by Jay

QA

Mobile applications have emerged as the most frequently used software platform in the last year. Numerous Testers and Developers spent a substantial amount of their time, testing security related issues. And we also saw that some software testers took the role of business partners rather than bug fixers.

Software Testers will also face some major testing trends this year. Here we have outlined some upcoming trends to look after.

Mobile compatible web application

Since last year, mobile usage has been increasing at a very faster pace. People are using mobile phones more than ever, from checking emails to browsing the web. But most of the companies are still not ready for this trend. Because of the smaller screen size, it possesses the biggest problem of usability.

Developers have also created mobile websites but they are relatively slower when compared to a computer webpage. This year, performance testing of mobile sites is expected to be most promising trend.

Server Performance and cross browser compatibility Testing

The integration of third party apps and the success of JavaScript will deeply affect client side performance. The year 2013 will bring the testers attention towards browser performance and server performance testing.

Although all browsers are expected to behave the same way across all platforms, but this is always not true, therefore more emphasis will be given on automated cross-browser compatibility testing.

Agile Software Development

Agile software development practices are getting popular among the software companies. It is essential for the software testers to adopt a versatile approach. The design and execution of the tests are to be performed at the same time. The priority for most of the companies is to deliver the services quickly and creatively.

At Andolasoft we have expert team of quality analyst and testing engineers with strong market specific testing experience to provide extensive Quality Assurance Services throughout the product life-cycle. We also execute cloud based testing to provide the best in quality product services and always look forward to upcoming trends in Software Testing.

Role of Cloud Testing in Applications

Posted on by Jay

QA

All business applications are now becoming more dynamic and component-based. Industries are now shifting towards cloud computing for better productivity. But to ensure the functionalities of these cloud-based applications, Cloud testing plays a major role in the Cloud industry. 

Cloud testing is the testing processes which are executed with the use of cloud resources. It is helpful when the testing process includes many test machines like several workstations for load testing. It is also helpful while testing application that operates over a LAN or the Web like on a client’s server.

Now let’s take a look at some of the major requirement of Cloud testing

  • Sufficient test models and criteria

QA engineers should be provided with sufficient test models and criteria that support cloud and web application testing. These test models and criteria should be in areas like SaaS and Cloud-based application. This scalability model is used to validate or measure the performance of the system. It also requires Integration models and criteria to address cloud-based connectivity protocols and APIs for end-to-end application integration across the cloud.

  • Proper test methods and solutions

The requirements and features of cloud applications are in continuous change, for which it requires newer test methods and solutions. Methods like continuous validation and regression testing solutions for the applications which change continuously due to bug fixing and feature updates. Application tester should also be given automatic testing facilities for the multi-lease feature of cloud computing.

At Andolasoft we have expertise team of quality annalist and testing engineers with strong market specific testing experience to provide extensive Quality Assurance services throughout the product life-cycle. We also execute cloud-based testing to provide the best in quality product services.