Statistics: (2822 Views) (0 Comments) Print Posted: Sunday, March 02, 2008 Categories: Use Cases, Testing & Quality Assurance (QA)

Test organizations can realize significant gains in test quality by harnessing the power of use cases. For years, developers and business analysts have employed use case models to capture requirements. Test organizations can greatly benefit by using these same use case techniques. Well-constructed use cases provide value to testing efforts in terms of coverage efficiency, ease of traceability, and accuracy in estimation. They can also mitigate some of the challenges of globally distributed virtual teams. But the greatest benefit, quantitatively, is in test case generation.

Use cases and the supporting artifacts are invaluable drivers for identifying and creating Unit, Function, System Integration, and User Acceptance tests. Each of these test levels has unique objectives and requires different sets of inputs to achieve solid test coverage, but all can draw value from the project's use cases. By implementing use case methods, workshops, and reviews, test organizations can deliver well-defined and appropriate testing with greater precision and greater efficiency. 

Authors: Debra Sheldon, Sylvia Lenters