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Software Testing - Audit

The whole software development is an exhaustive process and it involves development, testing of complete software, and to enhance its quality. For achieving this, a regular audit needs to be conducted to get an idea of the overall health of the software.

What is a Software Audit?

A software audit refers to a detailed analysis of the software to evaluate its advancement, quality, regulations, and standards. It primarily examines the fitness of the software and checks if all its aspects are progressing as per the plans.

A software audit is conducted either by an external or internal team. In case, it is done by an external team, then it requires a dedicated budget, and time allocated for completing the process. This may lead to delay in the overall software development.

It is a good practice to perform internal audits on a periodic basis to ensure that the software is aligned with all the regulations, guidelines, licenses, standards etc so that the organization may not face any legal fines due to these violations in the future.

Benefits of Software Audit

The benefits of software audit are listed below −

It assists in verifying the testing process and suggests ways to streamline it.
It identifies deviations observed between the requirements and the functionalities developed in the software. There may be a gap in communications between the business analysts and the development team which may produce errors in the software. The audits are helpful in identifying these kinds of situations.
It confirms if the development of the software is as per the guidelines, checklists, standards etc. It also detects all the probable risks and suggests ways to mitigate them.
In case any significant deviations are observed in any process, proper feedback is provided for the improvements.

Objectives of Software Audit

The aim of a conducting software audit is to provide an independent evaluation of the software products and processes to applicable standards, guidelines, plans, and procedures against compliance.

Roles and Responsibilities of Formal Audit

Manager − The manager decides on what needs to be reviewed and ensures that there is sufficient time allocated in the project plan for all of the required review activities. Managers do not usually get involved in the actual review process.
Moderator − The Moderator, also known as lead reviewer, reviews the set of documents. The moderator will make the final decision as whether or NOT to release an updated document.
Author − The author is the writer, who develops the document(s) to be reviewed. The author also takes responsibility for fixing any agreed defects.
Scribe/Recorder − The scribe attends the review meeting and documents all of the issues/defect/problems and open points that were identified during the meeting.

Different Types of Software Audit

The different types of software audit are listed below −

Internal Audit

It is conducted from inside the organization.

External Audit

It is conducted from outside the organization.

Compliance Audit

It is conducted to verify if all the processes followed are as per the standards, and norms. In case the testing process requires additional guidelines, standards, and compliances to be followed, this type of audit takes care of that as well.

Process Improvement

This is done to examine all the existing processes in place, and detect issues in them. In case problems are identified in any stage, then improvements are suggested.

Root cause Analysis

This is done to identify the root cause of an issue by applying various testing techniques. It is conducted on particular issues which require additional scrutiny and require to be fixed.

Different Metrics used During the Software Audit

The different metrics used during the software audit are listed below −

Project Metrics

This is used to calculate the percentage of test case execution with the help of the below formula −

% of test execution = (Total count of passed test cases + Total count of failed 
test cases + Total count of blocked test cases)/ Total count of test cases.

Product Metrics

This is used to calculate the various parameters with the help of the below formula −

% of critical bugs = Total count of critical bugs/ Total count of bugs.

The above formula helps to determine the existing quality of the software.

Bug Distribution across modules = Total count of defects/ Total Functional areas.

The above formula helps to determine the modules in the software which are error prone to bugs rather than the other modules. Naturally, more attention should be given to those modules while testing.

Bug Priority Distribution is done to measure the efficiency of the complete testing process. The modules which bear higher priority bugs need to be taken up first for testing rather than other modules.

People Metrics

This is used to calculate items listed below −

Defects Reported per Tester − This is used to calculate the count of defects reported by each tester and their categories namely if they are regression defects, or new defects.
Test Cases Executed by Individual Testers − This is used to get an idea of the overall performance of individual testers.

How to Perform a Software Audit?

The software audit is performed with the help of steps listed below −

Clearly come up with the objectives of the audit and what is its purpose. By being explicit about the problem statement, we can get the maximum benefits of an audit, and resolve the majority of the problems.
Analyze the complete testing methodologies, and to evaluate if it is going as per the plans, and guidelines agreed upon before starting the process.
After completion of testing the complete software, all the test artifacts namely the test plans, test scenarios, test cases, test execution reports, defects, test coverage, traceability matrix etc form the part of the review.
Speaking to various stakeholders, and team members at various phases of the testing process to get an idea of the overall progress are also conducted to perform review.

Conclusion

This concludes our comprehensive take on the tutorial on Software Audit. We’ve started with describing what is a software audit, what are the benefits of software audit, what are the different types of software audit, what are the different metrics used during the software audit, and how to perform a software audit. This equips you with in-depth knowledge of Software Audit. It is wise to keep practicing what you’ve learned and exploring others relevant to Software Testing to deepen your understanding and expand your horizons.

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