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In this article you'll learn how to identify & evaluate Parameter candidates in your systems under test and how to optimally include them in your Test Case Designer models.

An overview of variation ideas

Variables for software tests can be described in these general categories. It is important to remember that when you’re entering variables into the “Parameters” screen, you should include test inputs only. You should not include outcomes or expected results (as a general rule; we will talk about exceptions in the “How to handle Expected Results” article).

Environmental Variations

Environmental variations relate to different potential combinations of hardware and software that people might use, as well as the different locations of data that might be pulled from when a given transaction is executed. Imagine you’re creating some end-to-end tests for a flight reservation system, like https://www.expedia.com/Flights. As a web application, you would probably want to include multiple combinations of hardware and software configurations.

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• Flight schedule information for flights is stored: Database Huey, Database Dooey, Database Louie
• Frequent Flier Mileage data stored in: United database, (Frontier Airlines database; not yet transferred into post-merger database), N/A

User Variations

User Variations relate to how different people might navigate through the System Under Test based on their particular habits as computer users. They can also include, as in the case of an “Admin User” with special rights, the particular features of the system that they have available to them based on the kind of user that they are.

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• User navigates primarily using: keyboard (hot-keys wherever possible), keyboard (no hot-keys), mouse
• User rapidly clicks multiple times on submit buttons and next buttons: no, yes, no (Note: double-weighting ‘no’ will make it appear twice as often as ‘yes’)
• User enters information from top of screen to bottom of screen: always, usually, never
• User enters all required information the first time they submit information: always, usually, never

Usage Variations

Usage Variations relate to what different features of a system people might use, as well as how they might use those features, and the different types of data that might be used in different scenarios.

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• Date format: mm/dd/yy, dd/mm/yy, mm/dd/yyy, dd/mm/yyyy
• Number of passengers: 1, 2-4, more than 4
• Special characters included in customer name?: no, yes, no (Note: recall double-weighting)

Tips

“Hendrickson Variables”

“Hendrickson Variables” offer a great checklist to tick through as you think about possible variables to add.

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• Countable Things
• Relative Positioning
• Files and Storage
• Formats
• Size
• Geographic Locations
• Depth
• Timing, Frequency, and Duration
• Input and Navigation

"Rule of thumb" based on likelihood of relevance and effort

A “rule of thumb” to guide you as you decide what things should be included and excluded in the Parameters screen:

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