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# QA Terminology

Paperwork

Paperwork consists of the printouts and listings received with each media round: directory listings, file compares, label file printouts, and other reports produced with system utilities.

Project Plan

The project leader writes the QA project plan. It provides the framework for each project that the department tests. It aids in preparing the test plan and provides direction for the project.

The project plan consists of these sections: title, name of the QA project leader and other participants, list of pieces, notes to other departments, and QA tasks, which are grouped into five phases: design, testing, release, evaluation, and implementation testing. Include the QA person assigned to the task, the target and actual completion dates, and the estimated hours required to complete them.

QATR

The Quality Assurance Test Report is a form used to communicate problems, design issues, or questions that QA would like the programmers to address and are stored electronically in the QATR Tracking System Database.

Regression Testing

Regression testing requires that tests done in a previous round be redone to ensure that what was working correctly in the previous round is still working correctly. It is needed most often when there are many changes in a round, particularly in critical functions such as posts.

Round

Software is tested in rounds on a fixed set of media. A round begins when Software Development submits a product for a QA test cycle. A round ends when QA completes the test cycle or cannot continue, signaling that another round of media which addresses the problems discovered during the round which just ended must be submitted. QA reviews the paperwork and retests the QATRs to verify that all the corrections were made and no new problems occur. The process ends when all issues are resolved. The round number is incremented for each new set of media when it is handed off to QA.

Sample Data

Sample data is distributed with each application so that users can learn the system without worrying about their own “live” data. During installation, it is put into its own directory, \OSAS\SAMPLE, with company ID “H”.

Occasionally, sample data is used for test data, but it is not considered a good base because of the way it was initially built and because it may not be correct.

Specification

A specification is a document that describes an application’s functional and technical details. QA uses it to determine whether the product works as designed.

Surround Testing

Surround testing requires that you test events related to the function you are testing. For example, if the application’s post to General Ledger is changed, surround testing would include checking the post to verify that the other files updated at that time are updated correctly.

Systems Test

The systems test is usually done for implementations and updates, and need be only one month of processing. Systems tests are designed to test overall functionality to verify that the software still works as expected. It involves running nearly every program. Sometimes a piece of the systems test (such as a month’s or a period’s transactions) is substituted for the mini-systems test.

Test Data

Test data is used in testing applications. Generally, it is the specific data designed for the systems test or the mini-systems test. Sometimes sample data is used as test data, but usually only for special or miscellaneous tests. When sample data is used, it is commonly copied to the \OSAS\DATA directory to use as “live” data.

Test Plan

The test plan describes in complete and concise detail the tests and procedures that will be used in testing the features and performance of an application or a product. The test plan is a guide to aid in and a checklist for testing the product. The test plan serves an audit trail for the QA function.

The test plan should include these sections (as needed): the title page, a table of contents, test objectives, reference documents, hardware and software configurations, an approach to testing, test descriptions and a checklist. The test descriptions should include enough detail to define specifically what is being tested or refer to separate tests such as the systems test.

Unit Testing

During phased testing, some pieces of a function or application are tested while the other functions are nonfunctional or incomplete. QA does not look at the nonfunctional or incomplete pieces.