Test Metrics and Measurement

Metrics derive information from raw data with a view to help in decision making”
Relationship between Data Points
Pointers for future planning

Why Metrics are needed for testing?
When to release the Product
What to release
Whether the product is being released with known quality

Types of Metrics:
Broadly classified in to two
Product Metrics
Process Metrics
Product metrics
Project Metrics
Progress Metrics
Productivity Metrics

Progress Metrics :
Project can be tracked from two angles
How well the project is doing with respect to schedule and effort
How well the product is meeting the quality requirements for the release

Test Defect Metrics:
Defect metrics can be calculated by using the below factors
Defect Find rate
Defect Fix rate
Outstanding defects
Priority out standing defects
Defect Trend
Defect classification trend
Defect cause distribution

Defect Find rate:
Defect find rate can be defined as number of defects arrived for a certain period of time (Day or weekly) in an Product development cycle”.

Defect Fix Rate :
If the goal of the testing is to find defects as early as possible then it is natural to expect that the goal of development should be to fix the defects as soon as they arrive”
Last minute fixes – Risk to release date and quality

Outstanding Defects Rate:
= Total Defects Found – Total Defects Fixed
Curve close to zero - Developer fixes the defect as soon as the defect arrives.

Priority Outstanding Defects:
Filtering low priority defects and plotting outstanding defects by priority defects is called priority outstanding defects”
This will help us to find how many serious issues are uncovered in the product
Normally high priority defects are tracked during the period closer to release

Defect Trend :
Defect trend is the graph obtained by plotting the above discussed test defect metrics
Defect Classification Trend:
a chart to represent defects by classification
common defect classification
Extreme, Critical, Important, Minor, Cosmetic
Defect Cause Distribution:
Reasons for defects and the root cause
Area of focus to uncover more defects

Productivity Metrics:
What is Productivity Metrics?
Productivity metrics combine several measurements and parameters with effort spent on the Product.

What are the uses of Productivity Metrics?
Productivity metrics help the organization in finding the capability of the team as well as for other purposes, such as
Estimating for the new release
Finding out how well the team is progressing.
Estimating the number of defects that can be found
Estimating release date and quality.
Estimating the cost involved in the release.

Productivity Metrics Depends on the following factors
Defects per 100 hours of testing
Test Cases Executed per 100 hours of testing
Test Cases Developed per 100 hours of testing
Defects per 100 Test Cases
Defects per 100 failed Test Cases
Closed Defect Distribution