1

Adverse effects of a faulty Software by Dr. Prakash Mutalik

EKA TechServ

Introduction
2

There is hardly any business which is not run by or supported by critical software systems. There can be no excuse for not thoroughly testing the software before it is deployed for business. History is full of examples of documented disasters due to poor testing. World must have lost billions of dollars due to poor testing. Most businesses understand that a thorough testing needs to be done ; but then testing is the first activity likely to be skipped when it comes to a crunch.

EKA TechServ

Contd
3

Business week almost filled the issue with disaster stories (Refer to the article , Software Hell in Business Week in issue dated Dec 6, 1999). Web is now full of such stories

EKA TechServ

Few Scenarios
4

In October of 2013 the U.S. federal government opened a new health insurance exchange web site that, during its first few months of operation, generated major national and worldwide press coverage of its many reported problems. The problems were attributed to, among other things, inadequate time allowed for system testing. A well-publicized tech surge was initiated to attempt to improve the site. In February 2013 a mobile device manufacturer reached a settlement agreement with the U.S. government because, among other things, it failed to provide its engineering staff with adequate security training, failed to review or test the software on its mobile devices for EKA TechServ potential security vulnerabilities. The company

Contd
5

A bug in a major operating systems handling of leap seconds (an occasional adjustment to the worlds atomic clocks) resulted in system problems reported worldwide in July of 2012. Although a fix for the bug had been developed earlier in the year, some versions of the OS had not yet been patched. Media reports in January of 2005 detailed severe problems with a $170 million high-profile U.S. government IT systems project. Software testing was one of the five major problem areas according to a report of the commission reviewing the project. In March of 2005 it was decided to scrap the entire project.
EKA TechServ

Key lessons drawn

6

1.

2.

3.

4.

The lessons we need to draw from these stories are important. We (businesses) need to address some of the pertinent issues Do I need to invest in testing : (yes, the investment needs to be judicious. Our precious funds are required for many other activities ) Dont skimp on testing if the software is business critical. Just any body wont do good testing. Testing productivity vary widely from 1 (in experienced fresher ) to 100 ( experienced tester ). It pays to invest in test productivity tools
EKA TechServ

Contd
7

5.

If you are frequently releasing new versions of the software it makes sense in automating part of the testing. 6. If you are developing several software systems, it makes sense to build a test team and test processes. If you do not want to build processes on your own, you can license good test frameworks which can significantly increase tester productivity.

EKA TechServ

Conclusion
8

In a nutshell, to conclude, always give importance to software testing and do thorough testing and invest on testing as mentioned earlier. You can also have a look at the products for better quality of testing which has been developed at EKA TechServ. For more details you can visit http://ekatechserv.com/

EKA TechServ