Packaging experiences for improving testing technique selection

One of the major problems within the software testing area is how to get a suitable set of cases to test a software system. A good set of test cases should assure maximum effectiveness with as few cases as possible. There are now numerous testing techniques available for generating test cases. However, many are never used, while just a few are used over and over again. Testers use little (if any) information about the available techniques, their usefulness and, generally, how suited they are to the project at hand, upon which to base their decision on which testing techniques to use. Using a characterisation schema is one solution for improving testing techniques selection. The schema helps to choose the best-suited techniques for a given project based on relevant information for the purpose of selection, assuring that testers’ selections are systematic. However, a characterisation schema is only part of the solution. We have found that a critical aspect for making a good selection is the availability of the necessary information and the sources of information that have to be consulted to access this information. Any organisation wishing to use characterisation schemas to select SE techniques needs to first address the issue of packaging the information that the schema contains.