ISTQB FOUNDATION 4.0 | Tutorial 21 | Maintenance Testing | Impact Analysis | CTFL

Summary

This tutorial delves into maintenance testing, an essential phase post-release for applications in production. It covers the concept, types, and execution of maintenance testing, including corrective, adaptive, and perfective changes. The video emphasizes the importance of regression testing in maintenance, the role of impact analysis to streamline testing efforts, and the factors influencing the scope of maintenance testing. It also discusses triggers for maintenance testing, such as modifications, upgrades, migrations, and retirements, providing a foundational understanding for those new to the field.

Takeaways

• 😀 Maintenance testing is a concept that occurs after the release of an application and is conducted whenever changes are made to an existing application.
• 🔧 It is defined as enhancement to a live application and includes both planned and unplanned changes, such as bug fixes and new features.
• 🔄 Every maintenance activity triggers a regression test, which is a type of maintenance testing aimed at ensuring that changes do not negatively affect existing functionality.
• 📝 There are different categories of maintenance, including corrective, adaptive, perfective, and preventive changes, each with specific purposes like fixing bugs or improving performance.
• 🧐 Impact analysis is crucial in maintenance testing to identify which areas of the application will be affected by a change, thus reducing the scope of regression testing.
• 🛠 Maintenance testing involves evaluating the success of the implemented change and checking for possible regressions in parts of the system that have not changed.
• 🔑 The scope of maintenance testing is influenced by the degree of risk associated with the change, the size of the existing system, and the size of the change itself.
• 👥 In organizations, there may be a dedicated team responsible for conducting maintenance testing, separate from the regular testing team that focuses on pre-release testing.
• 🔄 Maintenance testing can be triggered by modifications, upgrades, migrations, or retirements of the operational environment, each requiring specific types of testing.
• 📈 Updates and upgrades are common triggers for maintenance testing, where updates involve enhancements to existing features, and upgrades introduce new features.
• 🚫 Retirement of an application also requires maintenance testing to ensure data archiving and testing of restore and retrieval procedures if necessary.

Q & A

What is maintenance testing?

Maintenance testing is a type of testing conducted after the release of an application, specifically when changes, enhancements, or bug fixes are made to an existing live application. It is essentially regression testing to ensure that the changes have not introduced new issues.

Why is maintenance testing important?

Maintenance testing is crucial to ensure that updates or changes to an application do not negatively impact existing functionality. It helps maintain the quality and reliability of the application in production.

What are the different categories of maintenance?

The categories of maintenance include corrective maintenance (fixing known bugs), adaptive maintenance (changes due to environmental changes), perfective maintenance (improvements or additional features), and preventive maintenance (improving maintainability).

What is the purpose of impact analysis in maintenance testing?

Impact analysis is used to identify the areas of the application that will be affected by the changes. It helps in reducing the effort required for regression testing by focusing on the relevant test cases rather than running all tests.

How does the size of the existing system affect maintenance testing?

The size of the existing system influences the scope of regression or maintenance testing. Larger systems may have more complex interdependencies, requiring a more extensive testing effort to ensure that changes do not affect unrelated functionalities.

What is the role of a dedicated maintenance testing team in an organization?

A dedicated maintenance testing team is responsible for conducting maintenance testing on applications post-release. This team ensures that any updates or changes do not introduce regressions and that the application continues to function as expected.

What are the triggers for maintenance testing?

Maintenance testing is triggered by modifications such as plan enhancements, hot fixes, upgrades, migrations of the operational environment, and retirement of an application. These changes require testing to ensure they do not negatively impact the application.

What is the difference between an update and an upgrade in the context of maintenance?

An update refers to minor changes or enhancements to existing features, whereas an upgrade introduces new features or significant changes that were not part of the original application. Both updates and upgrades require maintenance testing.

What is migration in the context of software maintenance?

Migration in software maintenance refers to the process of moving an application from one platform to another. This often requires maintenance testing to ensure that the application functions correctly in the new environment.

Why is retirement testing necessary?

Retirement testing is necessary when an application reaches the end of its lifecycle. It involves testing for data archiving, restoration, and retrieval procedures to ensure that data is preserved and accessible if required after the application is retired.

How does the risk associated with a change impact the scope of maintenance testing?

The risk associated with a change influences the scope of maintenance testing by determining how extensively the application needs to be tested. Higher risk changes may require more comprehensive testing to mitigate potential issues.