State-of-practice in GUI-based system and acceptance testing: An industrial multiple-case study

Grischa Liebel, Emil Alegroth, Robert Feldt

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

12 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Software testing is an essential means of evaluating software quality. System and acceptance tests aim to validate a system's conformance to its requirements on a high level of system abstraction. Therefore, they are generally performed by executing end-user scenarios through the system's graphical user interface (GUI). However, to the authors' best knowledge, there are no empirical studies that evaluate how GUI-based system and acceptance testing is performed in industrial practice. In this paper, we present a multiple-case study with the goal to investigate the state-of-practice of GUI-based system and acceptance testing at six software development companies of varying context. The main findings are that manual, GUI-based system testing is widespread and that automated GUI-based system and acceptance testing exists only on a small scale. Additionally, the study identifies core problems with GUI-based system and acceptance testing such as test tool limitations, high test costs and customer involvement in testing.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings - 39th Euromicro Conference Series on Software Engineering and Advanced Applications, SEAA 2013
Pages17-24
Number of pages8
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2013
Event39th Euromicro Conference Series on Software Engineering and Advanced Applications, SEAA 2013 - Santander, Spain
Duration: 4 Sept 20136 Sept 2013

Publication series

NameProceedings - 39th Euromicro Conference Series on Software Engineering and Advanced Applications, SEAA 2013

Conference

Conference39th Euromicro Conference Series on Software Engineering and Advanced Applications, SEAA 2013
Country/TerritorySpain
CitySantander
Period4/09/136/09/13

Other keywords

  • Acceptance Testing
  • Case Study
  • Empirical Study
  • GUI-based Testing
  • Process improvement
  • Quality assurance
  • Software Testing
  • System Testing

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