Effectiveness of software testing techniques in enterprise: a case study

 Introduction to Software Quality Assurance 
In order to understand software testing activities and later identify software testing techniques, it 
is essential to determine the relationship between software quality and software testing. Regarding the 
activities that comprise software quality, quality assurance activities, quality factors and criteria are 
analyzed in this subchapter. Additionally, an introduction to the concepts of software quality and the 
separation between defect types are made as well. 
The concept and definitions of software quality in terms of quality factors and quality criteria 
and metrics was first introduced by McCall et al. (1977) and later developed by others authors 
(Crosby, 1979; Garvin, 1984; “IEEE Standard Glossary of Software Engineering Terminology,” 1990; 
Juran, 1988; Pressman, 2000). This approach is presented as a foundational guide to answer the 
following questions: "How do you ensure that all of the software you produce does what it was 
designed to do and, just as important, does not do what it isn’t supposed to do?" (Myers et al., 2011, p. 
3). Indeed, software quality is a complex concept which can be constricted or broadened. The concept 
can be interpreted in different ways by different people, and it is highly context dependent; thus, the 
deep analysis of concepts should be made in order to understand the relationship between software 
quality and software testing. Garvin (1984) identified five different views of quality that are presented 
in a table below (see Table 1, page 11) with other concepts of software quality defined by different 
authors. 
Table 1. The collection of concepts of Software Quality 
Definition 
Provided by author 
A general term applicable to any trait or characteristic, whether individual or generic, 
a distinguishing attribute which indicates a degree of excellence or identifies the 
basic nature of something. 
(McCall et al., 1977) 
Quality means conformance to requirements.
(Crosby, 1979)