Analysis of ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119 Software Testing Standard

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Research on Software Testing and
Standards

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. An introduction to standards and a brief description of the research paper and chosen
standard........................................................................................................................................1
2. Responses to questions for the standard..................................................................................3
3. listing and a discussion of commonalities and differences between the two documents........5
4. A conclusion summarizing the report findings........................................................................6
References........................................................................................................................................7

1. An introduction to standards and a brief description of the research paper and chosen standard
Introduction to standards
Software testing standards are mainly considered as the set of the standards and rules which are
expected for meeting the particular services or products that are offered by the organisation.
With the help of the standards it becomes easy for the organisation to test their software and its
accuracy and reliability to manage the information. As per the Australia standards the standards
are published documents which are set out procedures and specifications that are designed to
ensure about the safety and quality of the services, systems and products (Garousi . and Mäntylä,
2016). The software testing as per the standards helps to analyze the consistency and reliability
of the software that are using by the organization.
Brief description of the research paper
In the research paper some of the problems related to the software testing are covered along with
the solutions to overcome the issues. The research paper has describe that code execution of
system found some errors due to which information that are stored in the system are not safe and
secure. The research paper has explained that current standards are quite inadequate for giving
the confidence as per the user. Some tools and techniques are also discussed in the research
paper which included that research in the software testing mainly focused on coverage of
software aspects like- control flow and data flow features (Sánchez-Gordón et al, 2018).
For testing the control flow in the software it is essential to follow the three level such as-
execution of the statement, execution of branches and execution of the linear code sequence and
jumps (LCSAJs). Accredited Testing is essential to check the output from every test as it is
significant for cost factor. Guidance for software testing has also discussed in the research paper
which shows that as per the British Standard BS 5887 (BSI, 1988) the test is undertaken to test
the software but not for independent tests and measurement. The existing formal standards that
are discussed in the research paper are- BS 5887, MOD 00-55, IEEE, JM178B, IEC/WGB and
IEChJuclear.
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Chosen standard
For the current report, ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119 is the standard selected which is also used to test the
software that is used by the organisations. ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119 is the software which is used for
software testing and has series of the five international standards to test the software using in the
industry. This standard defines the processes, vocabulary, techniques, documentation, testing
process assessment which is used in the lifecycle of software development (Pröll and Bauer,
2018). The development of ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119 set for software testing is starts in the May of
2007. This is based on the existing standards like- IEEE 1008 (unit testing), Institute of Electrical
and Electronics Engineers's IEEE 829 (test documentation) and BSI Group's BS 7925-1
(vocabulary).
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2. Responses to questions for the standard
1. What is the standard name?
For testing the software the chosen standard name is ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119 which is the
internationally agreed standard that is used by an organization and within software development
life cycle.
2. Who holds the copyright for the standard?
The copyright of the standard is hold by ISO/IEC/IEEE 42010:2011 that defines the
requirements on system description, enterprise and software architectures. The aim of this
standard is to standardize the architecture description practice by defining the standard terms,
reviewing and communicating the architectures, also presenting the conceptual foundation as
well as specifying the requirements which apply to the architecture description language,
architecture framework and architecture descriptions (Chen et al., 2018). The standard has been
developed and introduced by the group which is known as the working group 26 in may 2007
3. Amongst the acknowledged contributors to the document, which universities were
involved (if any)?
The test process documentation, dynamic test process documentation and test management
process documentation are the contributors which acknowledge the organization test policy,
strategy, status, completion, specification and requirements.
4. What is the scope or intent of the standard?
The part of this standard is defines to test the design techniques which is used during the
implementation process and test design process which is defined in the ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119.
This standard part is intended for but it is not limited to the developers, test managers and testers
particularly those who are responsible mainly for implementing and managing the software
testing.
5. What are key terms and understandings needed for the standard to be understood and
applied?
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For this document purpose the understanding and terms is given in ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119 and
following apply are use of this terminology in this standard is not mandatory and ease of the
reference for the conference with this standard. The terms are provided for assisting the
readability and understanding of this standard part (Pröll and Bauer, 2018). The terms which is
critical in understanding is only included in this standard. It is also not intended in providing the
complete testing terms list.
6. In your own words, what does application of the standard result in? Or, in other words,
what does the standard do?
The standard application results in provide the international standard which defines the test
design techniques of the software that is also used within implementation process and test design
which is defined in this standard. This standard not only prescribes the implementation and test
design process rather this describes the set of a techniques which is used within this standard.
7. Finally, what specific relevance to software testing is the standard?
This standard replace the number of an existing standard of software testing that is now retired.
The software testing is important as it required in pointing out the errors and defects which is
made during development phase. The specific relevance to the software testing is essential
because it make sure towards consumer reliability along with their satisfaction (Sánchez and
Colomo, 2018).
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3. listing and a discussion of commonalities and differences between the two documents
The previous document has discussed about Problems and Strategies for Software Component
Testing Standard using standards like ANSI/IEEE Std 829 and ANSI/IEEE Std 1008. For any
software testing software test documentation is considered as an important part, in the previous
report it has been mention that the for quality assurance and management ANSI/IEEE Std 829
has been used that is a set of document with eight defined stages for effective software and
system, with separate documents for each stage. ANSI/IEEE Std 1008 has been used as a
standard for performing Software Unit Testing. The standard has document related to
information regarding completion of testing, process and activities t be included for effective
testing approach (1008-1987 - IEEE Standard for Software Unit Testing).
In the current paper discussion has been made regarding ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119 which is a new
ISO standard that has been introduced exclusively for effective software testing. The current
software testing standards can be used in any organization associated with software testing and
development or during SDLC or software development life cycle (ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119
Software Testing, 2019). ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119 is an internationally accepted and recognized
standard that offers high quality approach for providing quality assurance of the
software.ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119 consist of series of standards including 29119-1, 29119-2, 29119-
3, 29119-4, 29119-5. The main purpose of this standard is to overcome the drawback of the
former standards and to attain consistency of testing and documentation. ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119-1
is related to definition and concept, the provides a informative baseline for adopting and
understanding software testing under the series of ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119.
The next standard that is ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119-2 defines that the software testing using generic
process model in SDLC. This provides testing standard for risk mitigation through prioritization.
ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119-3 is yet another software testing standard that lays stress mainly on
documentation and offers a standardized templates covering SDLC with unique requirements.
This standard has similarity with that of IEEE 829 standard (ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119). The next
standard is ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119-4 which mainly covers the information regarding various
techniques related to software test design for SDLC models. This standard is the successor for
BS-7925. ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119-5, the last standard is defined as underneath the keyword driven
testing.
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4. A conclusion summarizing the report findings
In the current report the analysis of the research paper has done through which it is identified that
some of the errors are analysed in the software testing which affect the information and data
stored in the system. The current report has selected ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119 standard for testing
the software that is used in the industry as this standard mainly introduce the vocabulary and on
that whole standard is created or build and then provide some examples of application in the
practice. The report has also done comparison between ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119 and ANSI1/IEEE2
Standard 8293 and ANSI/IEEE Standard 1008 and it is concluded that ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119 is
more accurate and efficient as compare to ANSI1/IEEE2 Standard 8293 and ANSI/IEEE Standard
1008 (Sneed and Seidl, 2017).
It is compared and analysed that ANSI1/IEEE2 Standard 8293 and ANSI/IEEE Standard 1008
have many documentation and error found due to which consistency of these standards get
affected but the current standard ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119 cover quality and safety criteria.
ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119 provides multilayer model for testing the software through which
management of testing is more effective as compare to the previous standard (Pröll and Bauer,
2018).
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References
Books and Journals
 Garousi, V. and Mäntylä, M.V., 2016. A systematic literature review of literature reviews
in software testing. Information and Software Technology, 80, pp.195-216.
 Pröll, R. and Bauer, B., 2018. Toward a Consistent and Strictly Model-Based
Interpretation of the ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119 for Early Testing Activities.
In MODELSWARD (pp. 699-706).
 Sneed, H. and Seidl, R., 2017. Software Testdokumentation nach den IEEE und ISO
Standards. Softwaretechnik-Trends, 37(1).
 Chen, N., Chen, E.W. and Chen, I.S., 2018. Integrating Software Testing Standard
ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119 to Agile Development. In Proceedings of the International
Conference on Software Engineering Research and Practice (SERP) (pp. 89-95). The
Steering Committee of The World Congress in Computer Science, Computer Engineering
and Applied Computing (WorldComp).
 Pröll, R. and Bauer, B., 2018. Toward a Consistent and Strictly Model-Based
Interpretation of the ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119 for Early Testing Activities.
In MODELSWARD (pp. 699-706).
 Sánchez-Gordón, M.L. and Colomo-Palacios, R., 2018, September. From Certifications
to International Standards in Software Testing: Mapping from ISQTB to ISO/IEC/IEEE
29119-2. In European Conference on Software Process Improvement (pp. 43-55).
Springer, Cham.
 Sánchez-Gordón, M.L. and Colomo-Palacios, R., 2018, September. From Certifications
to International Standards in Software Testing: Mapping from ISQTB to ISO/IEC/IEEE
29119-2. In European Conference on Software Process Improvement (pp. 43-55).
Springer, Cham.
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Online
 1008-1987 - IEEE Standard for Software Unit Testing, 20019 [Accessed
through]<https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/27763>[accessed on 2nd May, 2019]
 ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119 Software Testing, 2019[Accessed
through]<https://softwaretestingstandard.org/>[accessed on 2nd May, 2019]
 ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119, 2019 [Accessed
through]<https://www.scitepress.org/papers/2018/67496/67496.pdf>[accessed on 2nd
May, 2019]
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