Conference Presentations

How to Thoroughly Test Your Data Warehouse

The purpose of this paper is to describe general data warehouse structure and background, as well as specific situations encountered during the testing effort for our project. Our project was to test a data warehouse and data mart for a large research department of a pharmaceutical manufacturing company. This was a pilot project and our efforts, if successful, would pave the way for
future data warehouse projects within the company.
Our role on the project team was to provide quality through validation of the business rules. We met this challenge by determining if the extract/transform/load (ETL) process was functioning in the approved manner. We created basic principles that were used as a starting block
for our process.

Suellen Arbuckle, Eli Lilly & Company and Rebecca Cooper
Web Log Analysis for Performance Troubleshooting

Web server logs contain powerful-but often hidden-information about the performance of your Web application. In this session, you'll learn how easy it is to enlarge your toolkit for Web performance testing. For instance, Web Performance Log Analysis is a new activity that's based on performance information of Web server logs (elapsed time, bandwidth, number of hits, and more). Giuseppe Cassone shows you all the information you can extract from the log (with a focus on performance) and how you can best use it.

Giuseppe Cassone, Telecom Italia Lab SPA
Test Automation with Pure Data

While Web-based GUI testing is all the rage, lots of us still operate in a world of UNIX shells, command lines, and scripts. Automated testing in this world traditionally consists of executing the command being tested, then running a series of additional commands that perform validation. But how do you automate the test when the command being run expects answers? The solution: an Intelligent, Interactive Testing Tool (IITT). An IITT requires no scripting to write or maintain as it's completely data driven, meaning non-programming folks can create and maintain their own automated tests. This presentation demonstrates the ease with which an automated test can be developed using IITT's logic for non-GUI interactive applications.

Brian Brumfield, Hewlett-Packard Openview
Testing The Chain: End-to-End Integration Test

When processes include several applications, the testing process is complicated in many ways. Possible complications include: organizational issues because of the multitude of test teams and their interdependencies; processes and transactions that span the chain which require new test scenarios; integral design, information analysis, and process design documents that aren't fit for the purpose of chain testing; and test execution that demands integral knowledge of the chain. This session gives you a list of all the variables that need to be considered, then offers solutions for successfully organizing chain testing.

Gerard Numan, POLTEQ, B.V.
Basis Path Testing for Structural and Integration Testing

Basis path testing is a structural testing technique that identifies test cases based on the flows or logical paths that can be taken through the software. A basis path is a unique path through the software where no iterations are allowed; they're atomic level paths, and all possible paths through the system are linear combinations of them. Basis path testing uses a Cyclomatic metric that measures the complexity of a source code unit by examining the control flow structure. Basis path testing can also be applied to integration testing when software units/components are integrated together. You'll see how the use of the technique quantifies the integration effort involved as well as the design-level complexity.

Theresa Hunt, The Westfall Team
Calculating the Return on Investment of Testing

While revenues, cash flow, and earnings are vital statistics of a company's well-being, they're the by-product of what the company actually offers up as a product or service. Therefore, if the offering doesn't produce ROI for the customer, it doesn't represent a viable business opportunity. In this session, take a look at testing from the perspective that it's a service provided to your company. Since testing impacts not only your company, but also your company's customers, then you, as a tester, must provide and prove ROI to succeed in a business environment. Having the ability to discuss, define, manage, and demonstrate the ROI of testing is an invaluable skill. This session gives you the information and tools you need to define and demonstrate models of testing ROI, then translate them into upper management's terms.

James Bampos, VeriTest Inc/Lionbridge Technologies and Eric Patel
The Guided Inspection Technique

Early detection of faults is a cost-effective technique for ensuring quality. The guided inspection technique described in this presentation uses explicit test cases to guide the inspection process rather than leaving the coverage of the model to chance. Learn how this technique systematically determines whether the model is complete, correct, and consistent. Gain an understanding of how to integrate this technique into the typical, iterative, incremental process.

Melissa Russ, Korson-McGregor
Requirements Are Requirements Are Requirements - Not!

"This isn't what I need," states Customer Bob. "But it's what you said you wanted," replies Engineer Joe. "It's not right. I need something else." We've all encountered this classic users-don't-know-what-they-want scenario. The fact that software professionals continue to have this same experience over and over again suggests that we're overlooking the real reasons for the user/engineer disconnect. This presentation contrasts the different uses of the term "requirements" as it explores the possible solutions to improving understanding between business people and technical people.

Robin Goldsmith, GoPro Management, Inc.
Get Real! Creating Realistic, Actionable Project Schedules

The preparation of a realistic, practical project schedule is an essential management function for obtaining stakeholder commitment, setting expectations, and communicating within the team and organization what is achievable. Doing this preparation well is another challenge-one that must be conquered. Rex Black helps participants see the bigger project scheduling picture by focusing on issues such as constituent tasks, the underlying dependencies between them, and the risks attached to the completion of those tasks.

Rex Black, Rex Black Consulting Services, Inc.
Using a Test Lab Effectively

"Outsourcing" testing-or use of external test labs to perform some or all of a testing effort-is becoming common within the software industry. Using a test lab has advantages as well as disadvantages. Advantages might include objectivity, expertise, specialization, and time to market. Some disadvantages may involve lack of familiarity with the software, geographic distance, and simply lack of control. Explore some of the technical issues that need to be examined to help you use a test lab effectively. Learn how to document your results, and discover the keys for success as well as the ingredients for failure.

Howie Dow, Compaq Computer Corporation

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