SEVERITY & PRIORITY RELATIONSHIP

DEFECT SEVERITY Fundamentals Defect Severity or Impact is a classification of software defect (bug) to indicate the degree of negative impact on the quality of software. ISTQB Definition severity: The degree of impact that a defect has on the development or operation of a component or system. Severity is denoted as: S1 = Critical S2 = Major S3 = Minor S4 = Trivial CAUTION: Defect Severity is one of the most common causes of disputes between Testers and Developers. The Tester classifies the Severity of Defect as Critical or Major The Developer doesn’t accept that: They believe that the defect is of Minor or Trivial severity.

Severity Types Severity defines how severe will be the impact of a defect on the performance of the system. Critical: Such a defect does not allow the application to work properly due to system failure or corruption of data. Critical defects do not allow the user to move any further and puts them in a miserable position. Example: Unsuccessful installation, complete failure of a feature.

Severity Types Major: The major defects are little less severe than critical defects. They can cause system to fail There is another possible way of achieving the desired result The user need not get trained for this. Example: A feature is not functional from one module but the task is possible to do if 10 complicated indirect steps are followed in another module/s.

Severity Types Moderate: These defects do not cause the system to fail but produce wrong or contradictory output. Minor: Defects that do not cause system failure or affect the usability of the system It is possible to rectify easily Example: A minor feature that is not functional in one module but the same task is easily possible to do from another module. Cosmetic (Trivial): Defects related to the outlook or appearance of the system are called cosmetic defect. Example: unimportant layout discrepancies, spelling/grammatical errors.

Priority Types When a defect is reported, the test report mentions priority along with the severity of the defect. Priority actually tells the developer the order in which defects should be resolved. Priority can be of the following types: Low: The defect does not require immediate attention and should be rectified after the defects with higher priority have been resolved. Medium: The defect should be resolved soon after the defects with higher priority have been resolved. High: Priority requires immediate attention and should be resolved as soon as possible.

According to these.. If a defect has high priority and high severity There is a problem in the basic functionality of the system The user is not in a position to use the system. Such defects should be rectified immediately. Defects having high priority and low severity can be something like spelling mistake in the company’s name or issues with logo. Such defects are of low severity But they must be rectified immediately and should be considered as high priority defect.

According to These… High severity and low priority defect means that there is a major defect in some module but the user would not be using it immediately the defect can be rectified a little later. Low priority and low severity defects are generally cosmetic in nature They do not affect the functionality of the system such defects are rectified in the end

Severity And Priority

What is Software Quality ? According to the IEEE Software Quality is: The degree to which a system, component, or process meets specified requirements. The degree to which a system, component, or process meets customer or user needs or expectations.

Software Quality Factors

External Quality Factors A software quality is defined based on the study of external and internal features of the software.

Software Quality Factors Correctness – accuracy, completeness of required output –datedness, availability of the information Reliability – maximum failure rate Efficiency – resources needed to perform software function Integrity – software system security, access rights Usability – ability to learn, perform required task

Software Quality Factors Maintainability – effort to identify and fix software failures (modularity, documentation, etc) Flexibility – degree of adaptability (to new customers, tasks, etc) Testability – support for testing (e.g. log files, automatic diagnostics, etc)

Software Quality Factors Portability – adaptation to other environments (hardware, software) Reusability – use of software components for other projects Interoperability – ability to interface with other components/systems

What is Software Quality Assurance? According to the IEEE Software quality assurance is: A planned and systematic pattern of all actions necessary to provide adequate confidence that an item or product conforms to the established technical requirements. A set of activities designed to evaluate the process by which the products are developed or manufactured. Quality Assurance Contrast with Quality Control.

Software Testing vs. Quality Assurance In IT industry , people generally don’t differentiate between the software quality assurance and software testing. Testers are often looked upon as Software Quality Assurance professionals The objectives of software testing as well as quality assurance are the same . Software quality assurance processes are carried out to supply the quality of the product

Software Testing vs. Quality Assurance The quality assurance professionals work on development and implementation of all the necessary processes to ensure that all the necessary procedures of software development lifecycle are followed correctly. Quality assurance is a proactive activity that is focused on: Defect Prevention Processes Continuous improvement of this processes

Software Testing vs. Quality Assurance Software testing is carried to identify or uncover defect and errors in the software. It involves actual testing of the software to see if there are any defects or variations from the client’s requirement that needs to be fixed. Software testing is a part of quality control process and it focuses only on product oriented activities. Software testing is carried out during the testing phase and only defects are identified and not corrected in this process. Fixing defects is not a part of software testing.

Quality Assurance vs Quality Control While quality assurance is all about preventive activities, quality control focuses on corrective processes. Software testing is a subset of quality control and quality control is a subset of quality assurance. Quality Assurance is the implementation of processes and procedures that are required for the verification of the software under development and the requirements of the client.