How to Test Software
Learning how to test software is an important skill for quality assurance personnel. Other people who may be in a position to test software are potential software customers who are chosen as part of the beta testing group. A successful software testing process involves a thorough check of all features to ensure that the product is performing as intended.
1. Start with a list of core software features. These are the aspects of the software that are most crucial to the end user of the software product. If you are testing a data management system, for example, you want to ensure that the software saves data properly and returns data sets within organized reporting and list features.
2. Proceed through the software test in a methodical fashion. Develop a system for testing each feature. For example, if testing the functionality of instructional software, proceed through each lesson and take the test at the end of each section. Perform all of the actions and steps that a student would take when utilizing the software. Test the software by using both the keyboard and the mouse.
3. Circulate the same list of features among a team of alpha testers. Different people will notice different things. This is the reason that a product heavily tested in-house may still encounter bugs and issues after release to a client. The more people who interact with the software before release, the better it will be for catching and correcting programming errors.
4. Distribute the software to a team of beta testers. Beta testers are a select group of your sample clientele. Ask them to use the software to meet their daily goals. As they do, they can document all bugs and errors encountered. Train beta testers to take screen shots of each bug and error, and to write down which steps led them to encountering the issues.
5. Correct all bugs and errors and release the software again to the beta testers. Continue this process of review and correction until you arrive at a software product that is as free of bugs and errors as possible. It is generally accepted in the software development field that products will always be buggy to some small extent. The overall goal is to minimize the errors as much as possible.