Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
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Fig. 6.2
Principle of conformance tests
• Conformance Test Specification
The conformance test specification lists test cases (TCs) as well as constraints for
the tester implementation and the test execution. When generating the conformance
test specification, the derivation and precise definition of the TCs are important as
well as formal requirements such as the independence of the test description from
any specific implementation, from test houses, as well as from any specific test
environment, if not explicitly required.
6.1.2
Purpose, Benefits and Intention of Conformance Tests
Distributed systems consisting of components from different suppliers can only op-
erate reliably if all components provide a compliant functionality in a correspond-
ingly timely manner. Any deviation from that functionality and timing may lead to
failures in a distributed system.
As such, a conformance test directly aims at the interpretation deviations as pre-
viously mentioned. However, not to be misunderstood, conformance tests too are
derived from requirements, descriptions and specifications by humans. Therefore,
conformance tests possibly may contain false interpretations. However, it is good
to know that conformance tests typically are generated under the supervision of a
group of users, cooperating companies or consortia of the related standard. Insofar,
quality of conformance test specifications is comparable to the quality of the related
component specifications. Particularly, long discussions take place on restrictive,
demanding TCs, which, at the end, result in how the related parts of the component
specifications are to be understood. As such, the precise meaning is clarified and put
into a binding conformance test.
