Improving the Software Testing Process in NASA’s Software Engineering Laboratory
Sharon Waligora, Richard H. Coon · 1996
In 1992, the Software Engineering Laboratory (SEL) introduced a major change to the system testing process used to develop mission ground support systems in NASA Goddard’s Flight Dynamics Division. This process change replaced two sequential functional testing phases (system testing and acceptance testing) with a single functional testing phase performed by an independent test team; functional system testing by the software developers was eliminated. To date, nine projects have been completed using the new independent testing process. The SEL recently conducted a study to determine the value of the new testing process, by assessing the impact of the testing process change on the delivered products and overall project performance. This paper reports the results of this study; it presents quantitative evidence that this streamlined independent testing approach has improved testing efficiency.