ITECH7409 Software Testing

Assignment 1

Research on Software Testing and StandardsOverview

According to Standards Australia:
“Standards are voluntary documents that set out specifications, procedures
and guidelines that aim to ensure products, services, and systems are safe,
consistent, and reliable. They cover a variety of subjects, including consumer
products and services, theenvironment, construction, energy, water utilities,
and more.
To ensure they keep pace with new technologies, standards are regularly
reviewed by Standards Australia technical committees.1”
There are several standards: international, regional, and national, some relate specifically to software
testing. Standards formalize industry best practice, and they are agreed upon by professionals in the
industry in which the standards apply.
This assignment is an investigation into those standards. The purpose of the assignment is to help you
to:
• improve your research and comprehension skills;
• develop a good understanding of professional industry standards for software testing;
• appreciate the value of various processes and methods used in industry to testand evaluate
software systems.

Timelines and Expectations

Marks and Percentage Value of Task: 90 marks (30%)

Due: Fri, Week 7 at 17:00
Minimum time expectation: 10 hours

Learning Outcomes Assessed

K1. Critically evaluate software requirements as inputs toward testing of the final solution;

K2. Analyse and critically evaluate appropriate tools and techniques to support the testingprocess;

K3. Develop a good understanding of selecting and applying measures and models used fortesting that
are compliant with the appropriate professional industry standards such as the ACS and IEEE;

S1. Analyse and critically evaluate software requirements and proposed solutions;

1 https://www.standards.org.au/standards-development/what-is-standard

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 S2. Apply complex decision making to select appropriate testing techniques;

S3. Write professional level management, planning, quality assurance and testing
documentation for a software system;

S4. Apply effective testing techniques to software systems of varying scales and test levels

A1. Develop and maintain plans for scheduling quality assurance tasks including softwaretesting;

Assessment Details
You will need to:
• locate a research paper related to software testing that refers to at least
one standard;
• ensure that you can download a copy of this standard;
• research, comprehend and analyse each document (both the paper and the
chosen standard) to find relevant details to answer a set of questions, and
• prepare a written summary report of findings.

As a suggestion, commence your search for a research paper at the Federation University website.
There is a QuickSearch link on the library home page:

There is also a listing of Databases A-Z http://libguides.federation.edu.au/az.php which has a link for
Australian Standards Online.

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Requirements:

Questions for the standard that has been used in the research paper:
• What is the standard name? Title and number.
• Who holds the copyright for the standard?
• Amongst the acknowledged contributors to the document, whichuniversities were involved (if
any)?
• What is the scope or intent of the standard?
• What are key terms and understandings needed for the standard to beunderstood and applied?
• In your own words, what does application of the standard result in? Or inother words, what does
the standard do?
• Finally, what specific relevance to software testing is the standard?

Discuss the paper and how it relates to the standard. For example: does the paper suggest how to
improve the standard? Does the paper highlight issues in applying the standard?
Attached is a sample paper (Wichmann and Cox, 1992) which refers to the ANSI2/IEEE3 Standard 8294
and ANSI/IEEE Standard 1008. Although this paper is somewhat outdated, it serves to illustrate the task
for this assignment.

Prepare a report of no more than 1,500 words answering all questions. The report should have the
following structure:

• an introduction to standards and a brief description of the research paper and chosen standard;

• responses to questions for the standard;

• listing and a discussion of commonalities and differences between the two documents;

• a conclusion summarizing the report findings.

2 American National Standards Institute

3 Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers
4 Current versions of both these standards are available online at Federation University library

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Marking Criteria/Rubric
Student ID:
Student Name:

Assessment component Mark

Introduction 10
Responses to questions 20
Listing and discussion of commonalities and differences between the research
paper and the chosen standard 30

Conclusion 20
Spelling, grammar, and report presentation 10

Total 90

Final /30
Comments:

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Submission
You are required to submit three (3) separate files:
• the research paper you chose;
• the standard used in the research paper;
• your final report

The files should be in Microsoft Word DOCX or PDF format.

Your final report should be named in the following manner:

<GivenName_FAMILY-NAME>_<ID>.[docx or pdf]
e.g., John_SMITH_30000000.docx

It should contain the front page indicating:

• the title of the assignment;

• the course ID and course name;
• student name and student ID;
• a statement of what has been completed;
• acknowledgement of the names of all people (including other students and people
outside of the university) who have assisted you and detailson what parts of the
assignment that they have assisted you with;

• a list of references used (APA style).

Submission link is located under the assignment specifications file in the Moodle shell.

Feedback
Assessment marks will be made available in fdlMarks, feedback to individual students
will be provided via Moodle or as direct feedback during your tutorial classor arranged
meeting.

Plagiarism:
Plagiarism is the presentation of the expressed thought or work of another person as
though it is one's own without properly acknowledging that person. You must not allow
other students to copy your work and must take care to safeguard against this happening.
More information about the plagiarism policy and procedure for the university can be
found at:
http://federation.edu.au/students/learning-and-study/online-help-with/plagiarism

Your support material must be compiled from reliable sources such as the academic
resources in Federation University library which might include, but not limited to: the main
library collection, library databases and the BONUS+ collection as well as any reputable
online resources (you should confirm this with your tutor).

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Students are encouraged to explore the resources available online in the library, for
example:
https://federation.edu.au/library/guides
https://federation.edu.au/library/guides/referencing

References
Wichmann, B. A., & Cox, M. G. (1992). Problems and strategies for software component testing
standards. Software Testing, Verification and Reliability, 2(4), 167-185.
doi:https://doi.org/10.1002/stvr.4370020403

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