Crafting custom software involves charting requirements and scope, planning for API integration points, writing code, building it, testing it for various aspects, and then deploying it for the user’s environment. We shall be looking into a couple of functional testing best practices to make the Software Development Lifecycle shorter, easier, and less chaotic for all. After all, isn’t that the end goal – an efficient custom software development project?

In short functional testing, as self-explanatory as it is, is a collection of tests that ensure that the custom software is functional in multiple areas – integration, UI/UX, APIs, code change compatibility, so on and so forth. The ideal scenario one expects after functional tests are - zero defects and custom software that meets all the requirements on paper.

Challenges with Functional Testing

Even though functional testing has been around since testing was around, these are challenges that organizations still seem to struggle with.

• Shoddy test coverage due to lack of collaboration and poor test strategy, the test plan will result in a high number of escaped defects.
• Lack of documentation in terms of test data, test environment updates, test outcomes, and such drags brings down the quality of the custom software released.

Best Practices to the Rescue

Here we shall look into a couple of functional testing best practices for custom software development. The umbrella of functional testing covers at least 15 different types of testing, ranging from unit testing, to integration testing, to system testing, regression testing, user acceptance testing, A/B testing, so on and so forth.

However, here we shall just look into only three types of functional testing and their best practices – smoke testing, API testing, system testing.

Smoke Testing

Custom software is not a stagnant object, rather a dynamic service. The need for custom software solutions is to enable customization, which calls for feature add-ons or edits. However, with each code change creeps in the possibility of a bug and thus a poor end-user experience.

• Smoke testing is one such testing practice that custom software development teams tend to overlook. Smoke testing is done to ensure the stability of a software build. The newly developed code must go through smoke testing to ensure that the code is stable enough to go through the upcoming forms of testing. Some even call it the first phase of regression testing.
• It is best to test all and every feature edit that comes from development. Adopt the shift-left approach and move smoke testing as early as possible. In some cases, smoke testing is done by the development team, before passing it on to the testing team.

API Testing

In this age of hyper-connectivity where everything is connected to everything APIs play a vital role. So much so that, custom software development teams are adopting API-first development approaches.

Every client needs a custom software solution that comes with the luxury to integrate with third-party applications as and when required. This way, businesses need not find alternatives to the solutions they were already using, nor do they to upskill their employees on a new tool.

• API testing is the form of functional testing where the structural integrity of an API is tested. This includes the performance, availability, security, functionality of the API. The results are then recorded to ensure proper documentation – to tale them up for error-resolution.
• Assertions are the rules that represent the expected response from any given API request for one particular API. The assertions have hard-coded guidelines which made it difficult to test APIs that are built for re-usability. Here, custom software development teams have to bring in dynamic assertions to project flexible responses that vary from one request to another.

System Testing

Adopting the shift-left approach would guarantee that unit tests have been carried out successfully before integration tests were even in the picture. System testing is the older sibling to integration testing with many more responsibilities.

• System testing is carried out to validate the functionality and integration between the complete and fully integrated software product. The purpose of system testing is to make sure the end-to-end system requirements and specifications have been met.
• While executing system testing, it is best to replicate real-world real-time scenarios rather than ideal testing scenarios. Testers must be aware of the larger goals and objectives that drive the custom software development project. This way, they can create test cases, and test data to mimic real-work scenarios.

Embark on a Smooth Custom Software Development Journey

We, at Nalashaa, offer testing custom software thoroughly to ensure a clean and zero-error experience for the client. Partner with the solution experts at Nalashaa and let us help you out on your custom software development journey.

Connect with custom software development experts at info@nalashaa.com for a compact solution.