Currently, every smartphone, tablet, desktop, and smart TV runs on software. So, the quality of software should be high to beat its competitive software products. Quality has three vital aspects, including functional, structural, and process quality. Quality is essential for measuring the value of software products. A higher-quality software product matters the most as it confirms the value to different stakeholders–end-users, sponsors, and software development teams. We need to focus on quality to ensure if the released software is performing up to expectations. Indeed, quality is the notch of conformance to explicit or implicit desired needs and expectations. Software testing is one of the prime ways to test the ability of the software performance up to the standard of the quality quotient. Read here more on how functional testing enhances software testing differently.
Functional Testing Process and Techniques
Functional and non-functional are two prime types of testing. Functional testing relates to the compliance of software products with design specifications and operational needs. It is the practical use of software for assessing features, ease of use, performance, and defect-free output. The non-functional aspect is concerned with the architecture of the software. Functional testing is concerned with processing outcomes and simulation of actual system usage. Note that it does not develop any assumptions concerning the system structure. This testing type verifies if each function of the software application works in as desired needs. Moreover, it checks the user interface, APIs, database, security, and functionality of the under-test application. A functional testing process covers the following steps:
- Identify to-be-performing function
- Create input data on the basis of function specifications
- Regulate output on the basis of function specifications
- Execute the test case
- Compare the expected and actual output
Also Read: Software Testing Tools and Types
Testing Tools for Quality Advantages
Integration testing, regression testing, smoke testing, system testing, unit testing, and user acceptance testing are major types of functional testing. Functional testing or black box testing is helpful for verifying business scenarios, data storage in the database, end-to-end workflows, and functionality. Check out the following tools that contribute to improving and ensuring quality quotient in the software development cycle.
- Selenium – Open-source testing framework for browser-based web apps
- TestComplete – Testing platform to automate functional testing for web, desktop, and mobile apps.
- Katalon – Open-source automation framework for API, WebUI, desktop, and mobile testing solutions
- HPUFT– Testing platform for performing automated functional and regression testing
- JUnit – Unit testing framework designed for the Java programming language
- SoapUI– Widely-used automated testing tool for SOAP and REST APIs
- Watir – Open-source library platform for automating web browsers
The advantages of functional testing can be seen in quality output. This testing type delivers a high-quality and bug-free product. It focuses on the specifications based on customer usage. It has no assumptions about the system structure.
Read More: Software Testing Challenges and Solutions
Higher Quality Through Functional Testing
There are several tasks that testing experts need to do in order to ensure higher software quality through functional testing. These tasks include uncovering operational flaws imperfections of the product app, enhancing the app’s accuracy in execution, confirming guaranteed inter-connectivity of the app with other apps, and ensuring the interoperability of the app across diverse platforms. Testers go for functional quality practice when they have to correct task performance by software based on the user intentions and preferences. Some of the attributes of this quality type include:
- Meet specific requirements of sponsors and intended users.
- Stick to IT laws and regulations
- Fix bugs to increase software’s reliability
- Ensure the highest security level, functionality, and performance
- Ease of learning and ease of interface use
Hire the best software testing company and make the most out of your app through functional testing.
