Developer/Tester Support for Developing a Defect Repository

Developer/Tester Support for Developing a Defect Repository

The focus of this chapter is to show with examples some of the most common types of defects that occur during software development. It is important if you are a member of a test organization to illustrate to management and your colleagues the benefits of developing a defect repository to store defect information. As software engineers and test specialists we should follow the examples of engineers in other disciplines who have realized the usefulness of defect data. A requirement for repository development should be a part of testing and/or debugging policy statements. You begin with development of a defect classification scheme and then initiate the collection defect data from organizational projects. Forms and templates will need to be designed to collect the data. Examples are the test incident reports as described in Chapter 7, and defect fix reports as described in Chapter 4. You will need to be conscientious about recording each defect after testing, and also recording the frequency of occurrence for each of the defect types. Defect monitoring should continue for each on-going project. The distribution of defects will change as you make changes in your processes. The defect data is useful for test planning, a TMM level 2 maturity goal. It helps you to select applicable testing techniques, design (and reuse) the test cases you need, and allocate the amount of resources you will need to devote to detecting and removing these defects. This in turn will allow you to estimate testing schedules and costs.

The defect data can support debugging activities as well. In fact, as Fig shows, a defect repository can help to support achievement and continuous implementation of several TMM maturity goals including controlling and monitoring of test, software quality evaluation and control, test measurement, and test process improvement. Chapter 13 will illustrate the application of this data to defect prevention activities and process improvement. Other chapters will describe the role of defect data in various testing activities.