Software Testing - Estimation Techniques

Estimating the efforts required for testing is one of the major and important tasks in SDLC. Correct estimation helps in testing the software with maximum coverage. This section describes some of the techniques that can be useful in estimating the efforts required for testing.

Functional Point Analysis                                                           

This method is based on the analysis of functional user requirements of the software with the following categories:

      Outputs

      Inquiries

      Inputs

      Internal files

      External files

Test Point Analysis

This estimation process is used for function point analysis for black-box or acceptance testing. The main elements of this method are: Size, Productivity, Strategy, Interfacing, Complexity, and Uniformity.

Mark-II Method

It is an estimation method used for analyzing and measuring the estimation based on end-user’s functional view. The procedure for Mark-II method is as follows:

      Determine the viewpoint

      Purpose and type of count

      Define the boundary of count

      Identify the logical transactions

      Identify and categorize data entity types

      Count the input data element types

      Count the functional size

Miscellaneous

You can use other popular estimation techniques such as:

      Delphi Technique

      Analogy Based Estimation

      Test Case Enumeration Based Estimation

      Task (Activity) based Estimation

      IFPUG method