Why and How do we Test our Business Software?

We have all at some point purchased some new kind of software as a business or individual for many needs, like word processing, email, photo editing, the list is almost endless! Have you ever wondered how Quality Assurance (testing) is performed on these tools?

We are amazed at the amount of energy, hard work and imagination that goes into the software we use, which is why it is eternally frustrating when we come across a part of the software that doesn’t work the way it should. These issues have many names but we call them “bugs”.

Bugs are the result of many things but normally are the result of small changes in new versions or updates. Lets say you add a new link into your armour but in doing so it pulls apart a link else where, not good! Most of the time companies don’t even realise these bugs appear which is why we test!

Testing is a process completed by lots of people and companies from the small to the mighty and happens in many ways. Some people use a testing script that they have used for years and it is their “bread and butter” and some even go free style randomly testing different areas (that is called “smoke testing”). Now both of these examples will give you a result sometimes positive and sometimes negative.

However put yourself in your customers shoes, how happy would you be using a software that has been tested with a potentially  out-of-date test battery or knowing that only 50% of the whole software functionality has been tested? I think we know the answer.

Here at Docuo we take the much more professional approach because we do not want our customers to be stopped in their tracks because we “missed” something.  We not only test new and key features added to our already award winning software but we also test our bread and butter, the basics which we and our customers use daily to make our and there working day just that little bit smoother and this takes time because we are perfectionists and want to get it right first time. For example when we started testing for a out latest version it took a team of two over seven working days to complete a full test.

We recently teamed up with TestRail by Gurock who allow us to create custom and detailed professional tests specific to our software from the very basics of installing to the deeper more complicated functions offered, allways focusing tests in the new features.

We get the developers, the people who build and maintain our software who know it inside out, to create what is called test cases, these test cases show us what and how to test and look for including the expected result a lot of testers look for what they think should happen and not what should happen by design.

These test cases give us the versatility to change and edit as we evolve our software further while still keeping the main goal in mind, which is to ensure the final result is perfect. The test cases allow 100% clarity in what is expected and also gives us much more valuable information on the process especially if dead lines are involved. They give us a percentage break down of passed, failed and tests to retest also the option to record the time it takes to complete a test meaning we get an overall time scale of testing and many other options. The tool is seamless integrated with our ECM Software Docuo to manage all detected defects (bugs) in order to retest them when they are fixed.

This also allows us to give our customers a greater insight into the software and its abilities to help them.

Testing is a vital part of our role here and finding a bug is not the end of the world, for us we simply squash it and move one its better we find the bugs and fix them than our end user does! So test your software and don’t be scared of your result.

See you in the cloud!

James Storey