Systems Life Cycle: Testing

Testing A test plan will be included in the design phase to explain exactly how the new system will be tested and the expected outcomes for each test. Testing is important because computer software is usually very complex. Any mistakes made by the designers or programmer can have a dramatic effect depending on what the software is used for. Testing helps to ensure that the system always acts as expected.

Test data Usually software is tested with three distinct types of data. Typical data – this is normal data the system should be working with. Extreme data – this is data at the boundary between typical data and invalid data. Invalid data (sometimes known as erroneous data) – this is data that should cause the system to tell the user that there is a problem with data entered into the system.

Data for testing in a school database – Pupil’s date of birth Type of data Example Typical 16/05/1993 Extreme 16/05/2010 Invalid / erroneous 37/18/2929 For each of the examples of data decide why – in our school’s database – it should be accepted or rejected.