Course Length:

3 Days

Course Description:

This course will introduce the Business Analyst to the fundamentals and principles of software testing. It emphasizes those features of testing that are of primary concern to the BA. Specifically this course explores the basics of quality and quality management. It examines test types that are generally the responsibility of the BA, such as regression testing and user acceptance testing.

Who Should Attend:

This course is for Business Analysts, System Analysts, Project Managers, and Developers.

Benefits of Attendance:

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Explain the philosophy of quality and the purpose and role of quality assurance.
• Discuss Risk Management with respect to quality management.
• Describe the process of Test Management.
• Distinguish the various test levels and types.
• Describe and apply various test techniques.
• Explain test management artifacts and their importance to testing.
• Examine and create test plans and test cases.
• Perform User Acceptance Testing, Regression Testing and Error Reporting.

Prerequisites:

Students should have a general knowledge of the role of the Business Analyst — gained through experience or taking courses that precede this course in this curriculum path. They should also have a general understanding of the software development lifecycle. A basic understanding of software testing is desired, but not necessary.

Course Outline:

• Introduction
  1. The definition of Business Analysis and a Business Analyst
  2. Skills of, and work performed by, a Business Analyst
  3. Project framework
  4. Development methodologies
  5. Requirements and requirements engineering
• Quality and Quality Assurance
  1. The definition of quality and quality assurance
  2. The quality assurance process
  3. Quality initiatives
  4. Samples of quality assurance artifacts
  5. Quality control
  6. Role of the Business Analyst in the quality process
• Risk Analysis and Management
  1. The definition of risk
  2. Risk management
  3. Risk analysis
  4. Risk identification techniques
  5. Prioritizing risk
• Overview of Testing
  1. Software testing defined
  2. Definition of terms - bug, defect, failure, and inspection
  3. The characteristics of a good Tester
  4. Testing Guidelines
  5. Components and artifacts of the testing process
• Test Management
  1. Test management defined
  2. Test management best practices
  3. Test artifacts
  4. A software testing life cycle
• Test Levels
  1. Strategies for test selection
  2. Test selection criteria
  3. Test levels: Unit, Integrated, System, Functional, Nonfunctional
• Test Types
  1. User Acceptance Testing (UAT)
  2. Regression
  3. End to End
  4. Performance
  5. Load/Stress
  6. Usability
• Test Techniques
  1. White / Glass
  2. Grey
  3. Black
  4. Ad Hoc
  5. 'Smoke'
  6. Static
  7. Dynamic
• Test Plans
  1. Writing and managing test plans and procedures
  2. Test plan structure
  3. Test design specifications
  4. Test Procedures
• User Acceptance Testing
  1. The role of the BA in user acceptance tests
  2. A UAT test template
  3. Types of acceptance tests
  4. UAT deliverables
• Regression Testing
  1. Regression testing defined
  2. Goals of regression tests
  3. Techniques for establishing regression tests
  4. Sources of regression test cases
• Error Reporting
  1. Error report content
  2. Tips for writing error reports and descriptions