Software Testing - Estimation Techniques

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Estimating the efforts required for testing is one of the major and important tasks in SDLC. Correct estimation helps in testing the software with maximum coverage. This section describes some of the techniques that can be useful in estimating the efforts required for testing.

Functional Point Analysis

This method is based on the analysis of functional user requirements of the software with the following categories −

• Outputs
• Inquiries
• Inputs
• Internal files
• External files

Test Point Analysis

This estimation process is used for function point analysis for black-box or acceptance testing. The main elements of this method are: Size, Productivity, Strategy, Interfacing, Complexity, and Uniformity.

Mark-II Method

It is an estimation method used for analyzing and measuring the estimation based on end-user’s functional view. The procedure for Mark-II method is as follows −

• Determine the viewpoint
• Purpose and type of count
• Define the boundary of count
• Identify the logical transactions
• Identify and categorize data entity types
• Count the input data element types
• Count the functional size

Miscellaneous

You can use other popular estimation techniques such as −

• Delphi Technique
• Analogy Based Estimation
• Test Case Enumeration Based Estimation
• Task (Activity) based Estimation
• IFPUG method