Best Practices in Regression Testing

Practice 1:  Regression can be used for all types of releases

 Regression testing can be applied when

• We need to measure the quality of product between test cycles (both planned & need based);

• We are doing a major release of a product, have executed all test cycles, and are planning a regression test cycle for defect fixes; and

• We are doing a minor release of a product (support packs, patches, and so on) having only defect fixes, and we    can plan for regression test cycles to take care of those defect fixes.

There can be multiple cycles of regression testing that can be planned for every release. This applies if defect fixes come in phase or to take care of some defect fixes not working with a specific build.

Practice 2:  Mapping defect identifiers with test cases improves regression quality

When assigning a fail result to a test case during test execution, it is a good practice to enter the defect identifier(s) (from the defect tracking system along, so that you will know what test cases are to be executed) when a defect fix arrives. Please note that there can be multiple defects that can come out of a particular test case and a particular defect can affect more than one test case.

Even though ideally one would like to have a mapping between test cases and defects, the choice of test cases that are to be executed for taking care of side effects of defect fixes may still remain largely a manual process as this requires knowledge of the interdependences amongst the various defect fixes.

As the time passes by and with each release of the product, the size of the regression test cases to be executed grows. It has been found that some of the defects reported by customers in the past were due to last-minute defect fixes creating side effects. Hence, selecting the test case for regression testing is really an art and not that easy. To add to this complexity, most people want maximum returns with minimum investment on regression testing.

Practice 3:  Create and execute regression test bed daily 

To solve this problem, as and when there are changes made to a product, regression test cases are added or removed from an existing suite of test cases. This suite of test cases, called regression suite or regression test bed, is run when a new change is introduced to an application or a product. The automated test cases in the regression test bed can be executed along with nightly builds to ensure that the quality of the product is maintained during product development phases.

It was mentioned earlier that the knowledge of defect, product, their interdependences and a well-structured methodology are all very important to select test cases. These points stress the need for selecting the right person for the right job. The most experienced person in the team or the most talented person in the team may do a much better job of selecting the right test cases for regression than someone with less experience. Experience and talent can bring in knowledge of fragile areas in the product and impact the analysis of defects.

Practice 4:  Ask your best test engineer to select the test cases

Strategy 1: The tiger has been put in a cage to prevent harm to human kind
Strategy 2: Some members of a family  lie inside the mosquito net as prevention
against mosquitoes.

Strategy1 has to be adopted for regression. Like the tiger in the cage, all defects in the product have to be identified and fixed. This is what “detecting defects in your product” means.

Strategy2 signifies “protecting your product from defects”. The strategy followed here is of prevention. 

Practice 5: Detect defects, and protect your product from defects and defect fixes

Another aspect relating to regression testing is “protecting your product from defect fixes”. As discussed earlier, a defect that is classified as a minor defect may create a major impact on the product when it gets fixed into the code. It is similar to what a mosquito can do to humans (impact), even though its size is small. Hence, it is a good practice to analyze the impact of defect fixes, irrespective of size and criticality, before they are incorporated into the code. The analysis of an impact due to defect fixes is difficult due to lack of time and the complex nature of the product. Hence, it is a good practice to limit the amount of changes in the product when close to the release date. This will prevent the product from defects that may seep in through the defect fixes route, just as mosquitoes can get into the mosquito net through a small hole there. If you make a hole for a mosquito to get out of the net, it also opens the doors for new mosquitoes to come into the net. Fixing a problem without analyzing the impact can introduced a large number of defects in the product. Hence, it is important to insulate the product from defects as well as defect fixes.

If defects are detected and the product is protected from defects and defect fixes, then regression testing become effective and efficient. Regression testing, in effect, provides the mosquito net.

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AUTOMATION OF BW QUERIES USING WEB BROWSER

In the fiercely increasing competition amongst corporations it has become mandatory to make quick and sound crucial business decisions based on analysis of business critical data. This is the point where SAP BW comes into play. BW Queries are the core of the reporting and analysis functionality in SAP BW. They provide a flexible and intuitive platform for data analysis that can be developed using the SAP Business Explorer (BEx) Query Designer.


AUTOMATION OF BW QUERIES – OVERVIEW


The Automation of queries in SAP BW is require where the data from BW is extracted by reporting analyst using the BW queries and send to business frequently on a regular basis for their analysis for example monthly or weekly.


Queries using web browser can be configured to be run:
Only Once: We can schedule the BW queries to be run on a specific day or time to be refreshed and sent to the email id of the recipients.
Scheduled Basis: We can schedule the BW queries to be run on a regular basis i.e. every day, specific day of a week or monthly basis.


This document outlines a set of guidelines to automate a query for a given scenario.


PROCEDURE TO AUTOMATE THE QUERIES USING WEB BROWSER:


Step 1: Log in SAP BW using the User Name and Password. Enter the RRMX as transaction code into the transaction window and hit the Enter. New Excel window will open with the additional BEx (Business Explorer) tool bar.

Step 2: Open a query which you want to automate through BEx and refresh the same.

Step 3: Launch the query in web browser.

Tool Button –> Launch in Web Browser –> Query (Default View)

When you click on the Query (Default View) it will pop up the message box asking the user name and password.

While you enter the user name and password it will populate the query in web browser.

Step 4: Modify the output structure of the query according to your requirement using the Variable screen at the left side of the window

Applying filters


If you want to apply any filter on the query then you can do that using filter icon against the characteristics. (Ex. If you have to produce the report for particular business unit only then click on the filter icon in front of Master Cost Centers it will pop up another window. Select the Business unit as per your requirement and click on transfer at the bottom left.)

If you want to set the properties of any characteristic then right click on that it will pop up window and select the properties. It will pop up another properties window that will allow you to change the properties of the characteristics.

Step 5: Information Broadcasting: When you are done with the formatting of the query click on the Information Broadcasting and mention the email addresses of the recipients whom the report needs to be sent then click on Create new Setting with the Wizard.

Step 6: Select on the check box as Zip File, it will create the Zip file for the report then click on continue at the bottom.

Step 7: Enter the subject line for the report and enter the E-mail content in the content window and continue at the bottom.

Step 8: Insert the technical name and description for the automated report.

Step 9: Schedule the report: Select the Create New Scheduling and Periodic All and enter the date which you want to schedule the report for and the schedule as weekly or monthly. Mention the date and time on which you want the report to be sent in front of Next Start at and click on the transfer below.

If you want to execute the report at the time of creation then click on the Execute button at the bottom otherwise close that. Now the report is scheduled for the period you mentioned this will automatically refresh the query in the same format you created on the scheduled date and E-mail this report to the recipients with the report attached in Zip format.
MODIFICATION IN SCHEDULE OF AUTOMATED QUERIES:-
If you want to make changes in the schedule then select the query and click on the Schedule button at the bottom it will pop up the window just create the new schedule and delete the old as well and click on transfer.

The BEx Web query automation is a standalone, comfortable Web application for data analysis that the user can call up using an URL or as an iView in the Enterprise Portal. The Open a query which you want to automate through BEx and offers a wide range of functions for data analysis via various tab pages and the associated view-specific toolbars.
SAP query automation is an information modeling tool which can be used to analyze business data. To help analyze data in a more user friendly manner, SAP BW used to describe any kind of numeric information from a business process level. There are various ways to describe key figures in SAP BW.
Essentially, a query is a database research action with interesting additional functionality like currency scenarios, complex calculation options, and analysis functions. However, analyses born out of queries can be applied flexibly to a multitude of areas in a multidimensional dataset of an SAP BW Info Provider. This is enabled by combining analytical functionality with the provided drilldowns and filter options. Therefore, one query or few queries can often map an entire analytical application.

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