Experiences with profile-based testing in a world of differences

Mechelle Gittens, David Godwin, Enzo Cialini, Anthony Di Loreto

The 17th IEEE International Symposium on Software Reliability Engineering (ISSRE 2006) -- Industry Practices (ISSRE 2006)
Raleigh, North Carolina, USA, 6-10 November 2006

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Abstract

As an organization, IBM prioritizes customer focus, process, the human side of quality, and measurement and analysis as part of a market driven quality strategy. Profile-based testing focuses on quality with all of these priorities in mind, and has become a part of the DB2 test organization. Since DB2 is an off-the-shelf product line, our experiences have led to the creation of a methodology that addresses the concerns for versioning in product lines and the heterogeneity of user environments and configurations. The approach is useful to many of today’s common software applications, since they have a similar breadth of application.

This industrial presentation explores the essentials of a profile-based testing (PBT) strategy. We base our approach on the collection of customer usage metrics that flow from IBM's focus on quality, process and measurement. We will present a general PBT strategy, which will include reuse and update of profiles for versioned software, and the incorporation of information about the heterogeneity of users. We will also discuss how DB2 facilitates this approach by providing instrumentation and internal execution monitors. We will also look at the benefits that occur when a PBT strategy is implemented and present our gains in pre-release quality with this program. Finally, we will present the assessment of value for a PBT program for an off-the-shelf product line.

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