Importance of Documentation in Software Testing

Article Written By: shrivcommedia

Software testing is an integral part of software development life cycle. With the type of innovative solution expected from developers, the frequency of bugs appearing in the final products has also increased. Bugs, as commonly known, are the errors in the code that prevent the software to run aptly. It is the work of tester to apply manual or automated testing to make the software error free.

The tester is expected to maintain a cooperative relationship with the developer and the non-technical (management, clients) as both the parties are involved and necessary for project completion. The software tester has to adopt a tactful and diplomatic approach for issues raised and should have the ability to communicate with both technical and non-technical people in most professional manner.

Tester is responsible for designing the plan, test cases, preparing the bug report, and status report included during the process. It is commonly seen that testers do not prepare formal documentation leaving it as a mundane job that can be done by anyone who is free. However, testing documentation is as essential as stating the project requirement specifications at the initial stage of project. In fact, it is not surfeit to say that documentation is an essential factor at all stages of any software development process.

Documentation is keeping record of steps taken and results obtained so that it can act as reference material of future citations. A project that is well documented has higher level of maturity and is more successful as compared to the un-documented project. As a tester, one main question arises is what should be documented and what can be omitted. As a rule each and every step, no matter how insignificant it might be, should be document.

During manual software testing, documentation will include specifications, test designs, test plan, prevalent business rules, reports, configurations details, changes in code, test cases, bug reports, user manuals, etc. Proper documentation helps an organization save its time, effort and money. Once the details are documented, they should be placed at a reservoir where easy search and timely availability of the records is feasible. These documents come handy in times of any dispute or comparing the requirement specification with the delivered product.

The documentation plays an important role in projects testing phase. It is not professional to rely on verbal communications. To be on safe side, it is advised to keep each step documented and the documents prepared handy. Documentation aids in a systematic approach to any testing process and on fixing issues that arise at a later stage.

About the Author

Shriv Commedia Solutions is manual software testing Company in India. The company focuses software development services with a round the clock uninterrupted support

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