Following the system test cycle

About this task

The system test cycle includes the following:

The system test cycle enables you to do more in-depth testing on a specific set of tasks, insulated from ongoing changes by developers. The goal is to produce an installation area or to produce release media that meets a quality standard.

Because you can select which tasks to add to the system testing project, they are insulated from ongoing changes. This gives you the ability to build, fix, and test the software apart from ongoing changes until it meets an agreed-upon quality standard.

The system test area is more stable and easier to build because most of the integration problems will be resolved before the software is at the system test level.

The system test cycle usually is used in preparation for a milestone, such as a release. The frequency of the system test cycle and the level of testing will depend on several situations, such as:

The following overview should give you an idea of what the system test build cycle includes:

Procedure

  1. Update the system test build management project hierarchy, show conflicts, resolve conflicts, then build. Because you are trying to obtain a very clean system test area, be sure to show and resolve conflicts carefully. You then will need to create a new system test installation area or media to be tested.
  2. Test the resulting products. If defects are found, create tasks.
  3. To fix the defects necessary to meet the quality standard for the system test area, do the following:
    • The project team decides which problems to fix.
    • Developers are assigned tasks to fix the problems.
    • Developers will set the new task as their current task and fix the problem.
    • Developers complete their current task. They might notify you when they complete their tasks.
    • The build manager adds the completed tasks to the system test folder (back to 1).
  4. When the system test area meets the agreed-upon quality standard, make it available for general use or release it to customers. See Creating a baseline to learn how to contain the projects at this point in the release.

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