1 - StickyMinds



June 8th 2002

Good Status Reporting

When the system test lead reports on the “state” of the software it should be done in a: consistent manner, it should be concise, it should be accurate and most importantly it should be meaningful.

Below is a one-page template that helps you do just that. It identifies key areas of importance that will assist you in determining the “state” of the software development and test efforts. It helps in answering one of the most asked questions of system testers … “will the software be ready for release on the agreed upon date?” (See rows 15 through 22).

This template can be modified to fit the organization, for example, alpha and beta sites may not be used for all projects or companies. Terminology can also be modified.

To assist in the meanings of the rows, I’ve included a row identifier column in the template and definition page.

|1 |Software Metrics Summary Report | | |

|2 |Project Name | | |

|3 |Lead Test Name | | |

|4 |Today’s Date | | |

|5 |Current Iteration Number | | |

|6 |System Test Start Date | | |

|7 |Release Date Objectives | | |

|8 |Release To Alpha (RTA) Date | | |

|9 |Release To Beta (RTB) Date | | |

|10 |Release To Manufacturing (RTM) Date | | |

|11 |Remaining Effort Estimations | | |

|12 |Average Number Of Days Between Iterations | | |

|13 |Estimated Number Of Remaining Iterations | | |

|14 |Estimated Number Of Remaining Test Days | | |

|15 |Release Date Objectives Progress | | |

|16 | |Total Days |Business Days |

|17 |Days Until RTA | | |

|18 |Days Until RTB | | |

|19 |Days Until RTM | | |

|20 |RTA Date vs. Estimated Number Of Remaining Test Days | | |

|21 |RTB Date vs. Estimated Number Of Remaining Test Days | | |

|22 |RTM Date vs. Estimated Number Of Remaining Test Days | | |

|23 |Bugs Fixed vs. Bugs Found | | |

|24 |High Priority Net Fixed vs. Found | | |

|25 |High Priority Net Fixed vs. Found – Last 3 Iterations | | |

|26 |Medium and Low Priority Net Fixed vs. Found | | |

|27 |Medium & Low Priority Net Fixed vs. Found – Last 3 Iterations | | |

|28 |Not Addressed By Software Engineering Yet | | |

|29 |Unassigned Bug Reports | | |

|30 |Currently Assigned but not in a release | | |

|31 |Total Not Addressed Yet | | |

|32 |Not Verified As Fixed By System Test Yet | | |

|33 |Pending Verification By System Test | | |

|34 |Can’t Verify due to other problems | | |

|35 |Total Not Verified Yet | | |

|36 | | | |

|37 |Activity Summary - Software Development | | |

|38 |Total Bugs Fixed To Date (High Priority) | | |

|39 |Total Bugs Fixed To Date (Medium and Low Priority) | | |

|40 |Total Bugs Fixed To Date | | |

|41 |Total Bugs Fixed per Iteration Average | | |

|42 |Total Bugs Fixed per Iteration Average – Last 3 Iterations | | |

|43 |Activity Summary - System Test | | |

|44 |Total Bugs Found To Date (High Priority) | | |

|45 |Total Bugs Found To Date (Medium and Low Priority) | | |

|46 |Total Bugs Found To Date | | |

|47 |Total Bugs Found per Iteration Average | | |

|48 |Total Bugs Found per Iteration Average – Last 3 Iterations | | |

Row Definitions:

1. Software Metrics Summary Report – Metrics report title.

2. Project Name – The project name that you are reporting metrics on.

3. Lead Test Name – The lead tester for this project.

4. Today’s Date – The date that you are reporting the metrics for.

5. Current Iteration – The iteration number of this project that these metrics represent.

6. System Test Start Date – The date in which the System Test group first starting testing.

7. Release Date Objectives – Section title that represents critical milestone dates.

8. Release To Alpha (RTA) Date – The established date for the release to alpha testing.

9. Release To Beta (RTB) Date – The established date for the release to beta testing.

10. Release To Manufacturing (RTM) Date – The established date for the release to manufacturing.

11. Remaining Effort Estimations – Section title that represents the number of days remaining in order to met the Release Date Objectives (critical milestone dates).

12. Average Number Of Days Between Iterations – This value signifies, on average, how long each iteration is under test.

13. Estimated Number Of Remaining Iterations – This value represents the expected number of iterations required to address all the open bugs. It is calculated by dividing the “Total Not Addressed Yet” value (row 31) by the “Total Bugs Fixed per Iteration Average” value (row 41).

14. Estimated Number Of Remaining Test Days – This value represents the expected number of days needed to test all the open bugs. It is calculated by multiplying the “Average Number Of Days Between Iterations” value (row 12) by the “Estimated Number Of Remaining Iterations” value (row 13).

15. Release Date Objectives Progress – Section title that represents the current status of meeting the Release Objective dates identified in rows 8, 9 and 10.

16. Total Days and Business Days – Title that identifies two representations of the Release Date Objectives Progress, the total number of days including weekends and holidays and the number of business days.

17. Days Until RTA – The number days (with and without weekends/holidays) until alpha test release

18. Days Until RTB – The number days (with and without weekends/holidays) until beta test release

19. Days Until RTM – The number days (with and without weekends/holidays) until release to manufacturing

20. RTA Date vs. Estimated Number Of Remaining Test Days – The difference between the alpha release date and the date that is estimated it will actually take to meet that date. A negative number means that the date will be missed by that number of days. A zero value means that you will hit your objective date. A positive number means that you will be ahead of your objective date.

21. RTB Date vs. Estimated Number Of Remaining Test Days – The difference between the beta release date and the date that is estimated it will actually take to meet that date. A negative number means that the date will be missed by that number of days. A zero value means that you will hit your objective date. A positive number means that you will be ahead of your objective date.

22. RTM Date vs. Estimated Number Of Remaining Test Days – The difference between the manufacturing release date and the date that is estimated it will actually take to meet that date. A negative number means that the date will be missed by that number of days. A zero value means that you will hit your objective date. A positive number means that you will be ahead of your objective date.

23. Bugs Fixed vs. Bugs Found – Section title that represents the number of bugs fixed during testing vs. the number of bugs found during testing.

24. High Priority Net Fixed vs. Found – This value represents the number of high priority (most critical) bugs fixed vs. bugs found during testing. A positive number indicates that more bugs were fixed than found. A negative number indicates that more bugs were found than fixed.

25. High Priority Net Fixed vs. Found – Last 3 Iterations – This is the same information as row 24’s except it only represents the last three iterations of testing, not all the iterations. The reason for this is that when nearing the end of the test phase you’d expect the software to stabilize. You would clearly expect a greater bug fixed rate vs. bug found rate. A positive number indicates that more bugs were fixed than found for the last 3 iterations. A negative number indicates that more bugs were found than fixed for the last 3 iterations.

26. Medium and Low Priority Net Fixed vs. Found – This value represents the number of medium and low priority (less critical) bugs fixed vs. bugs found during testing. A positive number indicates that more bugs were fixed than found. A negative number indicates that more bugs were found than fixed.

27. Medium and Low Priority Net Fixed vs. Found – Last 3 Iterations – This is the same information as row 26’s except it only represents the last three iterations of testing, not all the iterations. The reason for this is that when nearing the end of the test phase you’d expect the software to stabilize. You would clearly expect a greater bug fixed rate vs. bug found rate. A positive number indicates that more bugs were fixed than found for the last 3 iterations. A negative number indicates that more bugs were found than fixed for the last 3 iterations.

28. Not Addressed By Software Engineering Yet – Section title that identifies how many bugs are not in a released iteration for testing yet and that the development group must still address.

29. Unassigned Bug Reports – The number of bugs that were entered in the problem reporting system and still not assigned to a specific developer to fix.

30. Currently Assigned but not in a release – The number of bugs that were assigned to a specific developer to fix, however the bug fix is currently not in any released iteration for testing.

31. Total Not Addressed Yet – The total number of bugs that are still not fixed and have not been put into a released iteration for testing (row 29 + row 30).

32. Not Verified As Fixed By System Test – Section title that identifies bugs that have been corrected by the developers and that are in a released iteration for testing, however the testers still have not verified that the bugs have been corrected. It gives a snap shot of the workload for the system test group.

33. Pending Verification By System Test – The number of bugs fixed in the current iteration that the System Test group must still verify as corrected.

34. Can’t Verify due to other problems – The number of bugs fixed in the current iteration that the System Test group cannot verify as corrected due to other bugs or problems they encountered.

35. Total Not Verified Yet – The total number of bugs that the have been corrected by the developers and that are in a released iteration for testing, however the testers still have not verified that the bugs have been corrected. It gives a snap shot of the workload for the system test group (row 33 + row 34).

36. Blank line – separator for clarity.

37. Activity Summary – Software Development – Section title that represents the software development activity summary over the length of the project.

38. Total Bugs Fixed To Date (High Priority) – Total number of high priority bugs fixed by the Development group, for project currently under test.

39. Total Bugs Fixed To Date (Medium and Low Priority) – Total number of medium and low priority bugs fixed by the Development group, for project currently under test

40. Total Bugs Fixed To Date – The total number of high, medium and low (all) bugs fixed by the development group, for project currently under test (row 38 + row 39).

41. Total Bugs Fixed Per Iteration Average – The average number of bugs fixed by the Development group per iteration (row 40 divided by row 5).

42. Total Bugs Fixed Per Iteration Average – Last 3 Iterations – The average number of bugs fixed by the Development group for the last 3 iterations.

43. Activity Summary – System Test – Section title that represents the system test activity summary over the length of the project.

44. Total Bugs Found To Date (High Priority) - Total number of high priority bugs found by the System Test group, for project currently under test.

45. Total Bugs Found To Date (Medium and Low Priority) – Total number of medium and low priority bugs found by the System Test, for project currently under test.

46. Total Bugs Found To Date – The total number of high, medium and low (all) bugs found by the System Test group, for project currently under test (row 44 + row 45).

47. Total Bugs Found Per Iteration Average – The average number of bugs found by the System Test group per iteration (row 46 divided by row 5).

48. Total Bugs Found Per Iteration Average – Last 3 Iterations – The average number of bugs found by the System Test group for the last 3 iterations.

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