MINUTES OF THE

SIGIST STANDARDS WORKING PARTY MEETING

HELD ON 25^th June 2002

1. Present:              Jane Allerton, Graham Thomas, John Kent, Steve Allott, Stuart Reid.

2. Apologies:        Brian Hambling, Gareth Philips, Isabel Evans, Jerry Stubbs.

3. Agree Agenda:

02/6.1                      The agenda was agreed, with the addition of a point to discuss the plan for the umbrella document at 6.5.

4. Minutes from the Previous Meeting:

02/6.2                      The minutes from the previous meeting were agreed.

5. Actions from the Previous Meetings:

00/6.5                      Guidelines Section

(01/3.5)                   Stuart has agreed to amend the guidelines section of the draft Standard to ensure that it includes a section on how testers cope with poor or non-existent requirements.
[This action has been superseded by 02/5.5]
Closed.

01/1.10                    Teams

                                A number of people have joined/left the teams since the last meeting.  The teams as of 12^th April 2002 are:

(It is noted that Team 5 is currently without a Team Leader)

01/10.4                   Circulate Glossary of Terms for Review

                                The Performance Testing Team has produced a glossary of terms relating to their technique. The meeting proposed that all teams produce a glossary of terms as part of the standard. This will be collated by e-mail, posted on the web site for review, with an additional meeting arranged to review the contents.
[22/02/02 Graham Thomas has contacted all Team Leaders and they have given a schedule for the production of a glossary of terms for their technique plus their availability for a glossary of terms review meeting. The consensus for a meeting was not before June 2002.]
[23/04/02 Graham has arranged a Glossary Review meeting for 25^th June 2002.]
[12/06/02 The glossary review meeting has now been rescheduled for 16^th July 02]
Closed.

01/11.6                    Circulate Umbrella Standards Document
It was stated that references to other techniques will be included as a global section of the standard. Stuart will circulate the umbrella standards document to the group.
This action has been revised to post the Umbrella Standards Document on the website (www.tesitngstandards.co.uk), in the procedures section.
[27/02/02 John Kent will e-mail Stuart Reid requesting the umbrella document.]
[This action has been superseded by 02/5.5]
Closed

01/12.5                   Interoperability /Compatibility Testing – Technique Updates
The team agreed the following Interoperability actions:

·         to check that the OED definition of communication did not require it to be two way

·         to document how to detail attributes of the interoperability interface

·         to document how to work out appropriate techniques for test case generation

The team agreed to the following Compatibility actions:

·         Investigate the use of State Transition, Boundary Conditions and configuration audits.

·         Investigate the set of compatibility tasks; shared components, events & triggers, operating system time slicing, cause & effect and sequencing of activities e.g. installation.

·         Include cross references to the interoperability and memory management techniques.

[The actions from 02/2.3 have been combined into this action point]
Carried Forward.

02/2.7                      New Joiners Guide
Isabel Evans suggested the production of a guide for new joiners which could be posted on the Web Site. As Secretary Graham has direct contact with all new members so will look at this.
Carried Forward.

GT

02/3.3                      Portability Testing - Meeting Actions
- Include an example which covers the porting of code from one environment to another.
- Include in the guidelines the fact that people use the term compatibility to describe the portability testing example documented.
- Include investigative analysis and exploratory testing in the Portability Testing guidelines.
- Update the technique to reflect the comments received in the meeting.
Carried Forward.

JK

02/4.3                      Security Testing - Meeting Actions
- Review BS7799 for a list of vulnerabilities.
- Investigate the use of the Syntax Testing technique.
- Identify the difference between Configuration Auditing and Security Configuration Auditing.
- Secure State Transition needs to be developed, with investigation into whether this is a formal technique for inclusion.
- Obtain a copy of the Edvice document from Julian Harty (Performance/Stress Team).
- Apply comments as noted in the meeting.
Carried Forward.

BH

02/4.4                      Performance/Stress Testing – Meeting Actions
- Remove the Data Driven and Query Design technique from the standard.
- Clarify the wording and the use of the term ‘accuracy’.
- Investigate the Operational Profiling technique.
- Apply edits to the normative as detailed in the meeting
Carried Forward.

SA/JH

02/5.3                      Update Website – Completed Technique
Graham was actioned to forward the latest copy of the Installability technique for John Kent to post on the Website as a completed technique for review and comment.
Carried Forward.

GT/JK

02/5.4                      SWP Planning Actions
- Re-arrange glossary review meeting for 16^th July 02.
- Reschedule 25^th June 02 meeting as a planning meeting.
- Change start of 25^th June 02 to 3:00pm.
- Request Team Leaders or deputy to attend planning meeting.
- Include brainstorming of application domains on agenda for planning meeting.
Closed.

02/5.5                      SWP General Actions

02/5.6                      Glossary Update
Stuart requested that the term Test Condition be added to the glossary.
Carried Forward.

GT

02/5.7                      SWP Reference Material
Stuart Reid will find out the cost of gaining access to the BSI and IEEE websites for access to published standards for the SWP research purposes.
[An application for access to the BSI website has been made.]
Closed.

SR

02/5.8                      References to BS7925-1/2
Stuart reported that people were still e-mailing him direct requesting copies of the standards.
Graham agreed to investigate.
[Post Meeting Note 12/06/02 The BCS SIGSIST Website still points people looking for the standard direct to Stuart. The BCS SIGIST webmaster has been requested to amend these references to point to the www.testingstandards.co.uk website.]
Closed.

GT

5. Overview of Domain example way of working:

                                Graham presented the overview approach as documented in the minutes of the previous SWP meeting (21/05/02). The meeting then moved on to discuss the practicalities of identifying domains, mapping the techniques to the domains, and the planning & scheduling of the meeting workload.

                                The following action plan was agreed:

1.        Identify and agree domains at the next SWP meeting (16/07/02).

2.        Construct the domain/technique matrix.
(We already know the techniques).

3.        Send out the matrix to identify experts. The current working party will be asked to identify which domain/technique entries they have expertise/experience of (all should be able to identify at least one entry).

4.        Ask the Team Leaders (and known technique experts) to identify which domain/technique entries have already been exampled, to prioritise the empty entries (and identify those entries which do not need examples).

5.        Hold a planning meeting to decide on a plan for the example review meetings.
(This meeting is scheduled for 16/09/02, 1:00pm – 4:00pm.)

6.        Organise the Team Leaders and technique experts to produce an introduction section to their examples.

6. Brainstorming of Domains:

                                The meeting concluded at this point, and a breakout group continued to brainstorm the application domains.

                                An initial list with prioritisation is documented here to be included with the input to the next meeting which will identify and agree the domains.

6.5. Umbrella Document Plan

                                There was not time to discuss this topic. This item will be rescheduled for July 16^th.

8. New Techniques – Endurance Testing:

                                There was not time to discuss this topic. This item will be rescheduled for July 16^th.

9 Agree future meetings schedule:

                                A further meeting was arranged for Monday 16^th September 2002, at which the future meeting schedule can be agreed.

10. Any other business:

                                Graham reported that he had removed 6 failed e-mail addresses from the Standards Working Party distribution list. These are:

·         Conor Ward

·         David Smith

·         Gerry Schmidt

·         Maurice Blackman

·         Richard Durham

·         Stephen Cooper

                                Graham requested anyone changing their e-mail address to contact him with the change and he would update the distribution list. Anyone that loses touch with the group can always make contact through the website www.testingstandards.co.uk.

02/6.x                      Installability/Compatibility Testing Team Leader
Steve Allott agreed to provide contact details for volunteers to lead the Interoperability/Compatibility Testing team.
New Action

SA

11. Date of Next Meeting:

The updated list of meetings is shown below and is also available on the SWP website. The next meeting will identify and agree the domains for which technique examples are to be produced. All are welcome to attend.

                                All scheduled Team meetings will take place at PA (Consulting), 123 Buckingham Palace Road, London, between 14:00 and 17:00.