A Full Software Development Lifecycle Testing Project - Software Testing: Testing Across the Entire Software Development Life Cycle - page 217

cases. The nn is an arbitrary sequential number usually beyond the range of the
use case numbering. For Case Study B, we started numbering the structural test
cases at 30.
The Case Study B Design stage test plan contains a draft schedule for writing
test cases to be executed in the Preliminary construction stage as the code becomes
available. To a great extent, the testing schedule is always dependent on the develop-
ment schedule because you cannot test what has not been written.
Where does the development schedule come from? Normally, the development
plan includes the order in which the new application components will be constructed
plus a construction effort estimate. Having developed a number of software applica-
tions, the CPI development team knows ways of prioritizing component development
that leverages each prior component completed to expedite the development of the
next component. Specifi cally, the CPI developers recommend the following priority
of component development for DCPS.

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

data entry screens
search screens
print screens
backup and archiving
menus

This priority allows the developers to achieve a certain amount of programming mo-
mentum. Once the data entry screens are fi nished, they can be used to enter enough
correct data to expedite the search screen coding and debugging. Once the search
screens are fi nished, there is suffi cient data reported to expedite the print screen
coding and debugging. The print screen output availability expedites the coding and
debugging of the backup, record transfer, and archiving features. Menus are last to
be constructed because they are needed only at the end of the development effort to
“package” all the action screens into a free-standing application that nonprogram-
mers can operate.
The priority list above does not track with the Case Study B Design stage test
plan schedule. What happened to the CPI developers' priority recommendation ?
In this case, DSA intervenes with its business risk concerns. Because completion
certifi cate printing is the reason for the software development project, DSA presses
the CPI team to show early achievement of this printing capability in the software.
Instead of seeing proof of the software's print capability later in the developer sched-
ule, DSA wants to see this proof very early in the developer schedule, perhaps as
early as week 2 or 3. Furthermore, the DSA management wants to operate the cer-
tifi cate print screens themselves as a fi nal verifi cation of the print capability. Here
are the development priorities fi nally negotiated between DSA and CPI to address
the certifi cate printing business risk.

1.
2.
3.

print screens
data entry screens
search screens