Based on the information provided by the stakeholder, which combination of non-functional quality characteristics should you propose to test as part of your test approach?

Subject to testing is a software system (COTS) for Project Administration and Control (PACS). PACS is a multi-project system for controlling the project time, e.g., in terms of scheduling and tracking, and managing the productivity of projects, e.g., in terms of effort and deliverables.

During various interviews with stakeholders the following information was gathered:

• Using PACS is not business critical. There is no impact such as high financial losses or problems to the operational continuity of an organization. Its application is not critical since the software package does not support directly the operational, or the primary, business processes of an organization. It supports (project) management in the project planning and tracking process. Of course, it will be highly annoying for users if the system “goes down” from time to time. Although this does not have a high impact for the business process as a whole, the Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) still needs to be at a good level to be successful in the market.

• Users of PACS typically have an academic educational level, but have no prior experience with this particular type of project management software. The system will be used by a large number of users within an organization.

• The system will be used on a regular basis, e.g., several times per day by project managers and several times per week by project employees. This means that the system will not be used very intensively, often only for some data input or an information request. Its usage is not considered to be very time-critical.

• The data is recorded on-line and real-time. The system is expected to run in multiple hardware environments in various network environments. It is also expected that changes in the operational environments will happen in the upcoming period that also need to be supported.

Based on the information provided by the stakeholder, which combination of non-functional quality characteristics should you propose to test as part of your test approach?
A . Reliability and Portability
B . Security and Reliability
C . Performance efficiency and Portability
D . Reliability and Performance efficiency

View Answer

Answer: A

Explanation:

Given the stakeholder information provided:

Reliability is important because the system, while not business-critical, still needs a good MTBF to be successful in the market. This is directly mentioned in the stakeholder information.

Portability is essential as the system is expected to run in multiple hardware environments and various network environments, with changes anticipated in the operational environments. Security is not highlighted as a concern, and performance efficiency, while generally important, is less critical as the system is not used intensively and is not time-critical. Therefore, reliability and portability are the most relevant non-functional quality characteristics to test in this scenario.