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Software testing overview

How do you currently test your software?

Scenario 1 - Serial Testing:
In the example below, you might have only a single QA engineer to perform tests on your software across various versions of windows, languages or browsers. The reason you may only have one QA engineer may be due to the fact that they are the product specialist and innately know the product inside out, or it may be due to budget restriction.

Each test is performed by the QA engineer in serial, that is, after testing on one platform, they will move onto the next.

Example of serial QA

The problems associated with this are:
  • QA Fatigue – Same tests are repeated.
  • Schedule pressure - Often QA of this type can be a bottleneck in a schedule.
  • Risk taking - Due to time limits, assumptions (shortcuts) are often taken (Particularly on minor updates).


Scenario 2 - Multiple Engineers:

In the next example, we have 6 QA engineers, each testing a platform, browser or language.

Example of multiple QA

The problems associated with this are:
  • Cost – each engineer is paid to test each system.
  • Testing consistency – Some engineers are better, faster and more detailed than others.
  • Training – Each engineer has to be trained how to test the software
  • Downtime – Downtime costs are multiplied by the number of idle engineers.


Shadow™ - Better, Faster & Smarter

Scenario 3 - Shadow™ QA System

In the final example, we have 1 QA engineer, using the Shadow™ QA System. This engineer can test and control multiple systems simultaneously. Their product expertise is leveraged, and their productivity is multiplied.

Example of Shadow QA

The benefits:
  • Cost effective.
  • Time effective.
  • Minimum training - one engineer only.
  • Consistent QA on all systems.
  • Detailed reports on all systems
  • Gets software faster to market.
  • Lends well to 'agile development'.

As you can see Shadow™ can control several machines at the same time. In a typical setup a user might have as few as 1 or as many as 5 or more machines configured to be viewed from one single location. Each keyboard and mouse for a machine can be controlled at the same time, each following the actions taken on a particular machine. Alternatively the user can interact with each individual machine separately.









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