You’d have probably come across the term agile, functional, and non-functional testing when creating software or developing an application. There is no questioning the importance of having a robust testing mechanism that ensures the integrity and reliability of your software. Businesses often get external software testing and quality assurance services to create an efficient testing environment that assists their development team in developing quality software and applications.

Hiring external software testing and QA services can be quite beneficial, especially if you don’t have the in-house expertise to carry out such processes. If you’re on the lookout for a software development company to help with your testing needs, check out Vates. We are an international software development company with significant experience in providing quality software testing services. Our Testing as a Service (TaaS) model provides flexible and adaptable testing solutions.

Vates can help you understand the various testing types and create a personalized mechanism that improves your development process. Every type has its features, advantages, and disadvantages. Testing can be categorized into functional and non-functional testing, which has further sub-categories. Let’s have a look at both in detail.

Functional Testing

Unit testing is a part of functional testing, which involves testing on an individual unit or component of an application. The method ensures that every aspect of the software is working correctly. Unit testing is carried out at the development stage, and each unit can be viewed as a method, function, procedure, or object. There is a high chance of detecting defects at the unit level, which allows for prompt debugging and solutions.

Integration testing is also a subcategory of functional testing where two or more application modules are merged and tested as a group. The main objective of this testing method is to find defects in integrations and data flow amongst different modules.

System testing is also carried out where the quality tester assesses the whole system against the project’s requirements. Testing in a real-life environment provides an insight into the efficacy of the software or application.

Acceptance is the fourth major category of functional testing, which involves testing the software in real-time business scenarios. Your clients will carry out the testing process to see whether it fits their needs and requirements. The customer will only accept the software when all the functions of the application work as per the agreement. It is also known as User Acceptance Testing (UAT).

Non-Functional Testing

Security testing is a non-functional test undertaken to check the safety of the software. Testers ensure that the application is secure from internal and external threats. It is important to carry out security testing to ensure the reliability of the software. Any security breaches can have severe consequences on the reputation of your business.

Software engineers also perform performance testing to check an application’s stability and response time when put under load. Performance testing is done with the help of modern tools and is important to improve the overall performance of the software.

Usability testing is done to check the software from the end-users perspective. Testing would be conducted by a UX expert who will determine the software’s ease of use. User-friendliness and responsiveness are crucial in developing robust software that is an instant hit in the market.

Compatibility testing is also an important component of non-functional testing which determines the software’s ability to work in different environments, browsers, and network servers. This testing ensures the software’s flexibility to adapt to different environments and run on various configurations and databases.

It can be difficult to implement rigorous testing procedures if you don’t have the in-house expertise for seamless execution. This is where Vates can help. We offer comprehensive solutions for automated, functional performance, user acceptance, compatibility and usability, and mobile and social network testing.

Other Types of Testing

Apart from functional and non-functional testing, other types can be undertaken to verify the accurate functionality of the software or application. Ad-hoc testing can be carried out to find random defects in the software. It is more of an informal testing procedure that any stakeholder can perform in the project.

Back-end testing is another type of testing carried out to check the software’s accuracy. Testers can evaluate data structures, procedures, schema, and databases. No GUI is involved, and testers are directly connected to the database. The testing can highlight issues like data loss, corruption, and deadlocks. These issues need to be fixed before the system goes live.

Backward compatibility testing is also carried out to check the efficacy of a new software version. It checks whether or not the updated version is compatible with the older environments.

Testing is an important process within the software development lifecycle. When developing critical software, it is important to automate the testing process as it is more robust and reliable than manual tests. However, their efficacy relies on how well the software developer has written the test scripts.

In-person manual testing can be done on small projects. However, they can be expensive as you need to consider the costs of hiring an expert to set up a testing environment and execute the processes manually. There is a greater chance of human error that can derail your entire testing mechanism.

Having said that, you can consider hiring external testing specialists who can help automate your testing environment by writing accurate scripts. They will set up a system that ensures the efficacy of your software or application.

Get Started with Vates

Vates provides the ultimate testing services to our clients to ensure a bug-free and smooth software development process. Our expertise lies in creating a flexible and agile testing environment that helps check the efficacy and reliability of software and applications.

Apart from software testing, we also provide big data consulting services, system integration services, Jira service management company, agile software development, and IoT solutions & consulting services. Our goal is to be an industry leader in innovation and help our clients with modern technologies. Visit our website to learn more about our services or contact us for more information.