Basic Purpose of Functional Testing

Basic Purpose of Functional Testing Functional testing - the most primary and basic level of ‘software testing’. It is the core of all testing domain, but still is considered as somewhat of a 'technical weakness' in many areas.

As the name indicates, the primary objective of functional testing is to provide quality assurance of a software or product from functionality perspective, i.e. you need to test whatever you see on the screen.

Functional Testing is used to test the functionality/ features of the software or system and it should include all the scenarios including boundary cases and failure paths.

Whether it is a .net web service or Java API, you have to validate and test it to find out what the interface is supposed to deliver end-users.

There are numerous steps which are required before functional testing can be accomplished. a) Test Plan: Firstly, you have to prepare and come up with a test plan before initiating any testing.

Test plan, is a formal document, which includes all the steps and processes undertaken by software testers in order to test the project completely.

After the approval of ‘test plan’, the team of testers will continue with the testing route and it always begin with manual or functional testing.

Before starting the whole testing process, it is crucial to understand all the requirements first, in order to achieve optimum quality assurance.

If there is any sort of misconception or confusion related to business requirements, then business flow will not be understood properly and this will cause many problems (as the customer will assume the business flow to be tested effectively before being delivered to the end-user).

However, requirements are tentative and they should be managed by the project manager.

b) Test Scenarios: As soon as the project requirements are understood (which is a continuing procedure), the testing team can begin with their test scenarios, a method by which test scenarios are recognized and noted down.

Although, it may be appropriate to say that a business or requirement case can point to one or more than one scenario.

On the other side, for the scenario, it is a necessity that there must be an input (one or more than one) and an output (at least one). c) Test Cases: Once the scenarios are decided, the software testing team can go ahead with the test case part.

Test cases can be noted down in a document format:  

You can simply write it in MS word document, or It can be entered in a test tracking tool like JIRA or Mercury's Test Director

Test cases provides information about defects/flaws or improvements/suggestions. These defects are then prioritized, worked upon and ultimately it gives rise to regression testing.

The stability of the software or application is the chief aim of all this testing activity. If the software or application is stabilized, then the client can easily make the most out of it.

The other types of software testing, such as automation, integration and compatibility etc. are all a result of the functional testing cycle. Some of the major functional testing techniques include:          

Unit Testing Smoke Testing System Testing Usability Testing Interface Testing Regression Testing Integration Testing Localization Testing Globalization Testing User Acceptance Testing

To conclude, Functional Testing is the core of all forms of testing and is undoubtedly a crucial aspect of any software project.