Approaches to Manual Testing

Manual testing is an essential part of the testing approach, given the volume and diversity of the applications that will be developed, supported and utilized by GoR.

There are three test techniques to undertake manual testing which have been detailed below. Each technique can be utilized as appropriate. However, the points below give a standardized suggestion of which types of Projects / Changes these can apply to. Referring again to the philosophy of Context- Driven Testing, this is not meant to be a prescriptive approach to testing. The objective is to provide test representatives ideas which they can apply to their own project using one technique or a combination.

1. White-Box Testing - also known as Code Testing, focuses on the independent logical internals of the software to assure that all code statements and logical paths have been tested. 
2. Black-Box Testing - also known as Specification Testing, focuses on the functional externals to assure that defined input will produce actual results that agree with required results documented in the specifications.

• • Typically used when testing Web Based Applications and /or systems where there is a set of clearly defined and document requirements and associated design specification
  • This is the traditional method of designing test scenarios and test cases in advance of performing tests, ensuring an expected behaviour is defined in the test scenario and / or the test case.
    
  • During the execution of each test, the defined test steps (what the tester is required to follow to perform the test) would be followed systematically without diverging away from what the test is asking the tester to perform.
    
  • If the expected result matches the actual result (what the tester has observed) then the test would be marked as Passed.
    
  • If there is a difference between the expected result in the test and the actual result, then the test would be marked as Failed (regardless of suspected root cause).
    
  • Once a test is marked as Failed a defect would then need to be recorded and passed to the development team for triage and fixing.

3. Exploratory Testing - This is a relatively new technique that is utilized when the system under test has too many features to be systematically tested given the project's potential time and resource limits, or when the system can be accessed in multiple ways on multiple platforms by multiple devices.

As part of these guidelines, it is recommended that the exploratory technique is adopted particularly for any Projects involving Mobile application development.

Exploratory testing removes the dependency to create a list of cases in advance of performing tests, rather the testers explore and navigate around the system or software application.

It should be noted however that where possible script-based testing should be used in conjunction with exploratory testing.