Monday, March 7, 2011

Compatibility Test Report

I was asked to-do compatibility testing for an upcoming large consumer website. Compatibility testing is a part of software non-functional testing. This testing is conducted on the application to evaluate the application’s compatibility against browsers in respect to different computing environment.

I'm extremely delighted to do compatibility testing for the 8th time, in close to 5 years of my experience in this testing craft. However, when about to do compatibility testing for a new large customer website I was thinking how good am I going to report this time, when compared to my previous test experiences?. Usually I do create a check-list of tests that I perform during my test activity, basically it’s kind of recording my tests in an Microsoft office excel during test execution and fail the respective tests across browser/OS if bugs are discovered or pass the tests if I'm happy that the current .html file works fine with the updated design specification. I know I'm following a conventional method of reporting to which the management is already happy with. But I now wanted to try something new, which I haven't tried so far. Thereby I can learn new things from the planned test activity. That's when I received a tweet from Lisa Crispin pointing to Christin's blog on Going to the extreme - xBTM. I started to read Christin's blog, I liked the way she used mind map for creating test reports. Her reports impressed me a lot and it amplified my right brain thinking to create my own Compatibility Test Report. Isn't that sounding interesting?

Compatibility Test report using Mind map:
The mind map can be used to easily understand in which all operating systems and browsers the html pages works well with the design specification we referred to match with and in which all browser/OS it doesn't work as expected. This will be an on-going mind map which we can update in consecutive test-iteration as well. The static html pages marked with ‘X’ symbol denotes it has bugs, those marked with 'tick' symbol has passed through QA. And No Entry ‘(-)’ symbol denotes it has not assigned for testing. Smiley denotes we, the development team have developed perfectly matching the design specification. Look what I have created from below snapshot. It may serve you're purpose as well if you would like to create one for your organization! :)

Compatibility Test Report_encompassing first-Iteration results
I got great appreciations for this compatibility test report initiative. If it also serves your purpose, then please do let me know. Also, I would love to hear your hurdles while creating this test report. So together we can learn better!

Best Regards,
Shiva Mathivanan

PS: The .html files mentioned are not real file names. I had purposefully hidden the project name and relevant html pages of the website I test for authentication issues.  

29 comments:

  1. Nice post, Shiva.

    First time I got a design of "Mind Map" when I paid attention to Ajay @ Bugdebug Conference. I started to effort on it to demonstrate my testing approaches to my team mates.

    Your post is a magnificent instance to demonstrate to my teammates.

    Thanks for the Post,
    Sudhamshu
    http://testingdisciple.wordpress.com

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  2. @Sudhamshu: Glad I could be of help. Please do let me also know your hindrances when you try creating such test reports using mind map, so I can extend my help.

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  3. Great work Shiva – thanks for sharing your experiences!

    I can really identify with what you say about using the right half of your brain - I find that the visual mind map makes me more creative. Did you work alone or in a team? Did you run scripted or unscripted tests?

    I am always happy to see another tester embrace mind maps!

    /Christin

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  4. Hi Shiva,

    It's good to see more people making good use of mind maps. The visual aspect makes it much easier to communicate results with others, hence why management like them so much.

    Excellent stuff, thanks for sharing.

    Cheers,

    Darren.

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  5. @Christin Wiedemann: Welcome to my blog space.

    Thanks for recognizing my work with great attitude. I adore you for observing the brainual stuff. Yes, at one stage I found this visual mind map has great power it in that it regenerates the visual capacity of the actual minds to a greater creative level. All the most, it helps everyone in the development team to understand where we stand at each test iterations.

    Yes, I lead a team of 4 co-testers along with me for this new customer. We ran a list of scripted check-list. The check-list had the list of .html files that was required to test and thus we recorded all observations, and finally converted to mind map forms. Thanks for asking!

    Thanks a lot for being a great tester who really helped me to use mind map thru your blogs.

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  6. @Darren McMillan: Only from you I got introduced to Mind map through Week Night Testing #2: Testing models & mind mapping-http://www.bettertesting.co.uk/content/?p=645. However, I didn’t have a chance to use it in real time testing. My dream of creating such test reports using mind mapping came true when I happened to read Christin Wiedemann blog on testing.

    Thanks for sharing your views. I appreciate it! :)

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  7. This is fantastic.. every website's management should have a top-level wallposter with your map on it

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  8. @Pradeep V: That's actually not a bad thought. It's a fantabulous idea!

    I hope you too work in testing craft, because I cannot determine who you're from the link (http://www.cricket-game.com)which redirects from your name.

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  9. Asif Iquebal SarkarMarch 23, 2011 at 8:15 AM

    Thanks Shiva. Liked the Mind Map a lot.
    Thanks to Christin also.
    I've done this [with excel sheet], but never think this far. Thanks again.

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  10. Cool work :) Keep it up.

    -- http://tuppad.com/blog/

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  11. @Asif Iquebal Sarkar: Good to know you liked it. You're statutory is with most of the test professionals in the software industry. Soon mind-map will conquer customer’s hearts and thereby people who work for customers starts to adopt.

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  12. @Santhosh Tuppad: Thank you for the continuous feedback & support. :)

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  13. Hay shiva, outstanding efforts! thanks for the screen shot, big help! please keep them coming!
    questionnaire

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  14. @Chandra: Glad to know that the compatibility test report screen grab aided you. It's always good to hear feedback. Thanks!

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  15. Hay Shiva, I was exited to find compatibility test report.Thank you so much for your professional and effective help.
    Brother HL 1430 driver

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  16. @go4download: Glad you liked it. Thanks.

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  17. Very Nice and useful post. Thanks for sharing this.

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  18. thanks for sharing this informative post. check our Compatibility Testing Services

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  19. Good article. I like the article and post. Thanks for sharing this post.
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  21. Thanks for your article, one of the best report on compatibility testing

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. @Unknown - Thank you so much for taking your time to comment. I'm glad it could be of help to you.

      Delete
  22. hello,

    Good job, for me one of the easy article on Compatibility Testing

    ReplyDelete