Tweet

The building block principle for software testing: Part five of ISO 29119 provides instructions for keyword-driven testing

„The standard 29119 represents the first internationally uniform ISO standards for software testing ever”, explains Matthias Daigl. The imbus Managing Consultant is one of two Germans in the international ISO/IEC JTC 1 subcommittee 07 workgroup 26 “Software testing” – i.e. the testing experts elaborating the series of norms. Matthias Daigl is the editor of part five of the series of norms.
The first four parts of ISO 29119, which have been published in the last few years, cover concepts and definitions, test processes, test documentation as well as test techniques for dynamic testing. They provide guidance to the readers about how to create standard-conforming test cases. “The recently published part five of ISO 29119 is an ideal complement to that: It focuses on keyword-driven testing which is an efficient method for describing test cases”, says Matthias Daigl.
The keyword-driven testing approach has been around in the field of software quality assurance for more than ten years. Recurring actions and testing procedures are enclosed in keywords with varying width.
“Keyword-driven testing is particularly recommended if you want to automate software tests. Due to reusable elements, maintenance efforts can be minimized.”
ISO 29119 part five describes different ways of keyword-driven procedures. “We have created it as a source of information and ideas for the test design.” It formulates requirements for frameworks and helps to build up the infrastructure.
If you would like to be counselled on the practical application of part five of ISO 29119 or on the entire norm series, imbus consulting is your ideal contact partner. ISO expert Matthias Daigl and his colleagues help you to exhaust the standard’s advantages within the software development process and to integrate it in already existing internal process models.
With the German-language seminar “Professionell Testen mit ISO 29119 – Testen à la carte”, the imbus Academy makes you competent for transferring the norm to everyday life. The two-day course shows what benefits for your everyday work can be derived from ISO 29119-1 to 29119-5.