STRESS TEST ASSESSMENT TOOL

A RECOGNIZED NEED EXISTS FOR A STRESS TEST ASSESSMENT TOOL, WHICH WILL AUTOMATE THE TESTING PROCESS WITH AN EMPHASIS ON TESTING SOFTWARE PERFORMANCE UNDER STRESS CONDITIONS. MCCADE & ASSOCIATES, INC. PROPOSES THE DEVELOPMENT OF A TOOL WHICH EXTENDS THE MCCADE COMPLEXITYMETHODOLOGY TO INCLUDE AUTOMATIC STRESS TESTING. THE MCCADE CYCLOMATIC COMPLEXITY METRIC IS AN INDUSTRY ACCEPTED TOOL WHICH QUANTIFIES THE AMOUNT OF TESTING REQUIRED TO VALIDATE A SOFTWARE MODULE. RECENTLY THIS METRIC WAS IMPLEMENTED AS AN AUTOMATED ANALYSIS TOOL (CAT), TO SUPPORT THE IMPLEMENTATION AND TESTING PHASES OF THE SOFTWARE LIFE CYCLE. THE CAT INCLUDES A TEST PATH GENERATOR WHICH IS USED TO IDENTIFY A BASIS SET OF PATHS WHICH FULLY TESTS A MODULE. BECAUSE OF OUR EXTENSIVE BACKGROUND IN THE AREA OF COMPLEXITY AND TESTING EFFORTS, MCCADE & ASSOCIATES, INC. IS IN A UNIQUE POSITION TO EXTEND THE PRESENT COMPLEXITY THEORY TO INCLUDE AUTOMATIC STRESS TESTING. AN EXTENSION OF THE CAT METHODOLOGY WOULD PROCEED ACCORDING TO THE FOLLOWING PLAN: 1) DETERMINE TEST CONDITIONS FOR EACH TEST PATH IDENTIFIED BY CAT; 2) DERIVE ACTUAL TEST DATA FROM EACH TEST CONDITION; 3) DETERMINE STRESS CONDITIONS AND CORRESPONDING TEST DATA; 4) INTERFACE THE METHODOLOGY WITH THE EXISTING CAT METHODS.