Automated Testing Importance and Impact

Abstract

History is filled with examples where software testing and adherence to Capability Maturity Model Integration may have prevented disaster. Consider just two past examples, the EDS Child Support System and the Ariane 5 Flight 501, where software error-related losses totaled approximately $16 billion, not including the loss of goodwill and the negative social impact. Honeywell manages the National Security Campus in Kansas City, MO and Albuquerque, NM, for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration. The Kansas City National Security Campus provides technology solutions to national security challenges and is commissioned to increase the integrity of software developed. Honeywell is therefore beginning to utilize automated regression testing, not only to achieve cost savings (as compared to manual performance of tests) but also to push the envelope of traditional automated testing through an entire software diagnostics suite that includes the following: analysis of algorithmic time efficiency, percentage of code executed by tests, and automated capture/storage of testing reports for historical purposes.