Why Re-Engineering And Software Testing Are Essential For An Organization by David Steven Clark

Why Re-Engineering And Software Testing Are Essential For An Organization

by David Steven Clark

Testing of software is important as a few errors and faults are unavoidable. Software is tested to find as many faults as possible to make sure that a standardized product with least number of errors is delivered. The software testing team has two primary responsibilities

1. To identify the defects and ensure that the software is error free
2. To make sure the software would be able to successfully meet the user's requirements

To sum it up it is the important goals of the testing team are to recognize errors, non-conformance, and threats associated with the product and communicate the same to the development team so that all the issues discovered are taken care of and a high quality product can be delivered to the customer.

Testing is not a one-time activity. It needs to be done over the entire life cycle of the software. There are multiple reasons for which software would need to be tested again. Any modifications big or small like version upgrade, module addition, or enhancement, deployment at a new site, and increase in the number of users require the software to be re-tested to make sure that it is bug free.

Why re-engineering

As mentioned before as the software keeps on changing there is a need for adapting the software applications and products as well as they need to be re-tuned to adapt to the changing requirements. As the software firms continuously strive to meet the customers' demand they also need to ensure that the software applications are often and continuously updated to keep pace with the challenging and competitive business world. In the simplest words re-engineering could be described as renovation. For e.g. If a program is written in an outdated language this would limit its functionalities. Now, if the same program is re-written in a language more relevant in today's time it would enhance the functionality. Below are some of the reasons why re-engineering is required in an organization

1. Cost - Old software systems' cost of maintenance is high
2. Performance - Better performance of the re-engineered software acts as a huge incentive
3. Usability and flexibility - New and revised software system would be more agile and easier to use
4. Data storage requirements - As the organization grows the data also grows. Increasing quantity of data requires the organization to revamp its existing systems and software
5. Changing technology trends - It is important for a business to stay in tune with the changing technology trends and update its software accordingly.

Re-engineering or migration can be a little challenging as the company's information and data can get hampered in the process.

The organization needs to come up with a solid testing strategy to ensure conformance, inclusiveness and agreement.