Software Testing Metrics for Measuring Quality Assurance Success

Project Metrics

Project metrics provide information on the productivity and efficiency of the team, tools, and the project in general.

1. Test coverage metrics measure the test effort. They provide insight into how much of the product or application is successfully tested. It is a clear indicator of the quality of the test plan and estimates the amount of testing performed, including functional requirements and risk coverage.

2. Rework effort metrics help testing teams calculate the actual rework efforts spent in resolving a defect after product delivery. It also helps tweak the product or process to ensure they don’t recur. Using this metric, teams also get vital insight into the time and cost needed to fix a defect. As a result, they can arrive at an approximate deadline for deployment.

3. Cost of testing metric specifies the overall expenditure of the testing process. Since people, infrastructure, and tools contribute toward the total cost of testing, teams need to know how much they intend to spend and how much they end up spending.

4. Budget/schedule variance is yet another important software testing metric that states the difference between actual cost/schedule and planned cost/schedule. It helps teams improve financial and operational planning, work within budgets, and pursue opportunities that accelerate time-to-test.