In the extremely competitive software development sector, establishing and preserving a solid customer reputation depends on producing software that is both high-quality and functional.
Quality assurance (QA) teams, however, typically have a limited amount of time and resources to devote to their testing activities.
Because of this, test case prioritisation can swiftly establish itself as QA managers’ go-to tactic for making the most of their limited resources. It enables them to organise test cases according to their importance, functionality, and possible effects on the programme.
Why Prioritising Test Cases Is Essential for Efficient QA Testing
- Test case prioritisation may appear like a simple activity, but it can really be the foundation of a successful QA testing process. QA teams can maximise testing efficiency by giving QA managers and their teams an organised method for strategically allocating scarce resources.
- After completing the project, QA teams can focus on thoroughly testing and mitigating any potential risks in the development process to ensure comprehensive coverage of all necessary features and security components.
- Prioritizing test cases also enables QA teams to efficiently release new versions of their products, anticipate potential development obstacles, and uphold high levels of quality despite time constraints or limited resources
- QA managers are well-versed in managing the demands and expectations of various stakeholder groups. However, committing to a written plan and prioritizing testing can be challenging. To effectively sort test cases for quality assurance, there are five key ways to do so
To prioritise their test cases and create a more efficient testing process, QA managers can apply the following five best practices:
1. Ensure that priorities are in line with business needs
Start by determining the programme under review’s essential features and business functions. Establish requirements and either create test cases based on them or connect test cases to them. QA teams may guarantee that they target areas that have the most influence on revenue, user experience, or compliance.
2. Make Prioritisation Based on Coverage
By arranging test cases according to code coverage, coverage-based prioritisation aims to guarantee that the most important portions of the code get tested first. Methods like total branch coverage and total statement coverage assist in determining and ranking the most important test cases and effectively arranging them:
Total Statement Coverage: This method provides a thorough evaluation of the functionality of the code and identifies any potential flaws or holes by making sure that each line of code in the software is run at least once during testing.
Total Branch Coverage: This method assesses the software’s logical flow and helps identify any branching situations or decision pathways that could result in unexpected behaviours or mistakes by attempting to run every branch or decision point within the code.
3. Evaluate Your Risk Exposure
Testing will make it evident that not all flaws and features are equally important and can be deprioritized as such.
One way is to evaluate the risk exposure linked to various test cases and rank the efforts according to how a failure might affect the end-user experience. For example, even though we pay less attention to small cosmetic or “nice to have” elements, we should pay more attention to fundamental functionalities and security vulnerabilities and conduct rigorous testing to avoid any potential negative repercussions.
4. Determine Interdependencies
Dependencies and interactions between other modules or systems may impact workflows and other processes downstream.
QA managers prioritize test cases based on system dependencies to evaluate related functions effectively and identify critical integration points.
5. Use a Platform for Test Management
Test management platforms simplify test case creation by offering a library of validated test cases.
TestMonitor and similar tools facilitate collaboration, task prioritization, scheduling, and tracking for QA teams.
Summary
- QA teams can streamline resource allocation decisions by categorizing test cases in TestMonitor based on relevance, complexity, and risk level.
- TestMonitor provides real-time visibility of testing status, helping QA teams identify bottlenecks and urgent areas.
