Pre-Conference In-Depth Tutorials

Each selection runs a full day and includes lunch.

Tutorials for Monday, May 17, 8:30-5:00 (Selections A – I)

A	Test Management and Planning Rick Craig, Software Quality Engineering Often the key to successful testing is effective and timely planning. In this tutorial, Rick Craig introduces you to proven test planning methods and techniques, including the Master Test Plan and level-specific test plans for acceptance, systems, integration, and unit testing. Rick explains how to customize an IEEE-829- type test plan and test summary report to fit your organization’s needs. Learn how to manage test activities, estimate test effort, analyze risks, and achieve buy-in. Rick also offers test measurement and reporting recommendations for monitoring the testing process. Take away new methods and new energy for taking your test management to the next level.
	About the Instructor Rick Craig is an experienced test manager, consultant, and lecturer. He’s helped hundreds of companies improve their testing in countries throughout Europe, Asia, Australia, and the Americas and has been a featured speaker at testing conferences since 1983. He's a technical editor for StickyMinds.com and the co-author of Systematic Software Testing. He’s currently a colonel in the United States Marine Corps Reserve.

B	Test Automation: From Theory to Practice  Mark Fewster & Lloyd Roden, Grove Consultants Take a detailed look at some of the most important issues of test execution automation while learning from examples taken from real-world experiences. Explore the pros and cons of different scripting techniques with an emphasis on data-driven and keyword-driven approaches. Learn about comparison techniques and the system performance issues that need to be addressed. This tutorial also describes the most common test automation maintenance problems, and suggests metrics to help monitor and minimize the maintenance effort. You will discover why the maintenance of automated tests has proven to be the downfall of some efforts. Also, why the analysis of system performance under a range of loads has become such a vital part of many testing efforts. Mark Fewster and Lloyd Roden share their approach comparison techniques in a way that simplifies even complex comparisons.
	About the Instructors Mark Fewster has more than 20 years in the software industry. He has held positions from programmer to development manager and now works as an independent consultant with Grove Consultants specializing in software testing. Mark serves on the committee of the British Computer Society’s Specialist Interest Group in Software Testing and has been a member of the Information Systems Examination Board (ISEB) developing a qualification scheme for testing professionals. He co-authored the book Software Test Automation with Dorothy Graham.
	Lloyd Roden provides consultancy and training in all aspects of testing, specializing in test management, people issues, and test automation at Grove Consultants. He has been in the software industry since 1980, studying computer science at Leicester University, as a programmer, a Senior Independent Test Analyst, a project manager in the product assurance department. He has been a keynote speaker at EuroSTAR, where he has been the program chair, AsiaSTAR, as well as Special Interest Groups in Software Testing in a variety of different countries.

C	How to Break Software Helayne Ray, Florida Institute of Technology What do you do when you’re asked to test some feature of an application? Truth is, testing theory only provides general guidelines and often falls short of helping you design a total testing strategy capable of guiding your testing activities. This tutorial changes that. ''How to Break Software'' is a set of specific techniques that you can use to effectively test any software application. Helayne Ray explains software fault models to help you understand what software does and how it can fail. She then refines this fault model into a set of ''attacks'' that are targeted toward the software’s most vulnerable points. Helayne demonstrates this new softwaretesting paradigm using real bugs in real software applications as examples. Anyone who loves breaking software will gain a lot from — and enjoy — this tutorial.
	About the Instructor Helayne Ray is an information systems and technology executive with more than twenty-six years of experience. She has led IT organizations in the engineering, manufacturing and health fields with extensive technical experience in project and system design, development, testing and implementation. She is the recipient of numerous Total Quality awards. Currently she is a Senior Research Project Manager for the Center of Information Assurance (CIA) and an adjunct instructor in computer science at the Florida Institute of Technology. Helayne has more than fifteen years of experience as a presenter/instructor, delivering information and computing systems topics to audiences in academic and business environments.

D	Introduction to Systematic Testing Dale Perry, Software Quality Engineering Too often, testers are thrown into the quality assurance/testing process without the essential knowledge and skills needed to perform the tasks required. To be truly effective, you must first understand what testing is supposed to accomplish, and then see how it relates to the bigger project management and application development picture. After that, you can ask the right questions. What should be tested? How much testing is enough? How do I know when I’m done? How much documentation do I need? This tutorial details a testing lifecycle that parallels software development and focuses on defect prevention and early detection. Learn when, what, and how to test, plus ways to improve the testability of your system. Get the basics for implementing a systematic, integrated approach to testing software.
	About the Instructor Dale Perry has more than 25 years of experience in information technology. He has been a developer, DBA, project manager, tester, and test manager. Dale’s project experience includes large-system conversion, distributed systems, online applications, client/server, and Web applications. For the last seven years, Dale has specialized in training and consulting on testing, inspections and reviews, and other testing and quality related topics with Software Quality Engineering.

E	A Roadmap for Automating Software Testing Michael D. Sowers, Software Development Technologies This tutorial provides a broad perspective on the software test tools available today and includes a practical guide for evaluating, selecting, and managing test tool implementation. Michael Sowers presents core test tool terminology, concepts, best practices, and techniques for evaluating and implementing test tools. This tutorial includes live demos of representative, full-function tools that you can use across a typical product development lifecycle to reduce risks and improve quality. Learn how to effectively integrate tools into the testing process. Examine a best-of-breed list of tool vendors as well as verification and validation automation practices. Leave with a deeper understanding of the hundreds of quality test tools available and be better able to determine your technology needs.
	About the Instructor Michael D. Sowers has more than two decades of experience in the engineering and quality fields, with extensive experience in requirements gathering, defect prevention techniques, defect containment approaches, software verification and validation practices, and software engineering methodologies.

F	Testing with Use Cases  Ross Collard, Collard & Company Many people think they intuitively know what and how to test. The truth is that anybody can conduct disorganized testing. Effective test case design can be intellectually challenging and even intriguing. While test case design is complicated by deadlines, incomplete information, and shifting requirements, it is also an opportunity to excel. Ross Collard addresses the question, ''How do I utilize use cases to help develop an effective set of test cases?'' This session employs small group instruction and real-life testing scenarios to answer that question. Learn to develop test cases from use cases, how to review and critique use cases and test cases, and how to analyze use cases for testability. Design workable, re-usable test cases with reasonable assurance of test coverage and reliability. Apply the major test case design techniques such as path analysis, boundary value, risk prioritization, and user scenario analysis to your use cases.
	About the Instructor Ross Collard is a consultant currently working on testing and quality assurance projects for American Express, Citibank, Dell, General Electric, and Nortel. He has a master's degree in computer science from California Institute of Technology and an MBA from Stanford. He has also taught courses on testing for the University of California Berkeley and Harvard University.

G	Implementing a Test Automation Framework Linda Hayes, WorkSoft, Inc. Linda Hayes presents a detailed implementation approach for test automation that accelerates the development effort, dramatically shortens the learning curve, allows non-technical analysts to develop and execute automated tests, and even simplifies test library management and maintenance. Learn how you can use this practical and proven approach with any commercial or internally developed testing tool, as well as how it applies to Web, client/server, mainframe, and character-based applications. Linda provides authentic sample scripts, new knowledge, and skills, you can use to jump-start your new automation project, or make an existing one more successful.
	About the Instructor Linda Hayes is CEO of WorkSoft, Inc., a software company specializing in test automation. She has more than 19 years of experience in software quality and testing and holds degrees in accounting, tax, and law. Linda is a frequent speaker and awardwinning author of books and articles, including a monthly column in Datamation.

Workshops for Monday, May 17, 8:30-5:00 (Selections )

Due to the interactive nature of these workshops, limited seating is available. Sign up early!

H	Script Programming for Testers Bret Pettichord, Pettichord Consulting Are you a tester who is interested in developing or improving your programming skills to aid your test efforts? This hands-on workshop shows you how to use a scripting language to write automated tests for Web-based software. You’ll use the Ruby scripting language, a powerful yet easy-to-use open-source language, to explore techniques for automated testing. Drive Internet Explorer using its programmable interface and learn how you can test Web sites directly. Even if you don't test Web software, you can use the same principles for many other applications. This workshop is a hands-on introduction to scripting, so bring your laptop and take away your work products from this session! *ALL PARTICIPANTS SHOULD BRING A LAPTOP TO THIS HANDS-ON SESSION.
	About the Instructor Bret Pettichord has automated tests for systems used in publishing, expense reporting, sales tracking, database management, systems management, and Web access. He’s also co-author of Lessons Learned in Software Testing: A Context-Driven Approach with James Bach and Cem Kaner. In addition to being a columnist for StickyMinds.com, Bret is the editor of TestingHotlist.com.

I	Managing Test Outsourcing  Martin Pol, Polteq IT Services B.V. When outsourcing all or part of your testing activities to a third party supplier, a special approach is required to make testing effective and controllable. In this tutorial, Martin Pol explains the roadmap for successful outsourcing, how to define the objectives and the strategy, and what should be outsourced. He also demonstrates how to select your supplier, how to migrate, implement and cope with people issues. He discusses contracts, service level agreements, compensation issues, and how to monitor and control the outsourced work. To help you gain a practical perspective of all steps in the outsource process, Martin shares a real-life case study, including monitor and control tooling as part of this tutorial.
	About the Instructor Martin Pol has played a significant role in helping to raise the awareness and improve the performance of testing in Europe. He is the co-author of the TMap® method that has become a standard approach for structured testing and the Test Process Improvement (TPI®) method. Martin provides international test consultancy services through Polteq IT Services B.V.

Software Quality Engineering Home       Conference Home       To Exhibit       Get a Brochure       Register for STAREAST 2004

feedback  © 2004