expected environment Knowledge: expected characterization and behavior of runtime/test time environment Manual Process Paper Medium

specification and Design Documents Knowledge: specified/designed behavior and functionality

test setup
Knowledge:
initial system,
environment, data,
and input states
automated
Process
software Medium

system under test
Knowledge:
as constructed (executable)
behavior and functionality

test execution system
Knowledge:
executable behavior
and functionality
of test system

expected test Results Knowledge: expected behavior and functionality

test Results comparison Knowledge: difference between expected and observed behavior

actual test Results Knowledge: actual exhibited/ executed behavior and functionality

 

systems predict the possible failure of commercial aircraft, power stations, and oil rigs sometimes weeks before a failure might actually occur.” Cerny is the quality assurance manager at SmartSignal,b an Illinois-based data analytics company.

To manage predictive analytics,
large and complex systems must be
instrumented and enormous amounts
of complicated data must be collected
from many different sources: pumps,
power meters, pressure switches,
maintenance databases, and other
devices. Sometimes data is collected
in real time, sometimes it is batched.
Simple data is monitored for thresh-
old conditions and complex interac-
tive data is analyzed for combinational
conditions. The analysis system must
recognize patterns that indicate the
future possibility of component, sub-
system, or systemic failure and what
the probability of that failure might
be. And then it needs to report what
b http://www.smartsignal.com
it finds. Sometimes these reports are
large and detailed; sometimes they are
urgent and immediate.

testing a system

Testing is the interaction of several
knowledge-containing artifacts, as
shown in the accompanying figure.
Some of these artifacts must be in ex-
ecutable software form, but many oth-
ers are often in a paper format and are
processed manually.