These include writing test-plans and test-cases and executing the same or working on test-cases provided by the client. Our state of art test lab consists of test machines, with various operating systems, and test softwares utilized by various projects in any possible way.

Apart from this, there are user machines, which are also utilized for testing. Linux boxes and all Windows operating systems are also used. High-end and low-end machines are used to rate performance levels of the products under development.

Test Model

• The project/application-approved promotion model is followed for testing.• Problems found in testing are documented in a test problem report.

• Problem fixes undergo the same testing as the software in which the problem was found.

• Evaluation and Assessment

• Identifying testing requirements, developing testing schedules, assisting in testing evaluations independently or as a team, documenting and analyzing testing results, evaluating and tracking corrective actions, analyzing quality trends and developing program improvement plans.

• Conducting quality assurance assessments, audits, surveillances, reviews, appraisals, and procurement surveys.

• Assisting in managing and coordinating corrective action programs in response to testing evaluations and assessments.

After identifying the areas of the application to be tested, the type of tests must be defined. The below type of tests related to Black Box testing are considered.

Tests to be conducted:

Functional Tests

A set of functional tests will developed based on client documentation, and review of any existing systems. Dedicated QA Engineers will execute these functional tests manually.

Compatibility Tests

Sapphire’s QA lab provides for testing to be conducted on multiple browsers and operating systems. The desired testing combinations and process (including priority of testing) will be determined during the scope definition process.

Stress & Performance Tests

We use market-leading tools to assess how the site/product holds up under different loads and we provide the customer with extensive data to help scale the site/product up to meet higher loads.

Sapphire’s QA Team has extensive knowledge on OpenSTA, WAPT, AntsLoad and Mercury’s oadRunner.

Security Testing

Security testing in itself is a very vast concept but to everyone it means the same. In today's scenario with the growing use and dependency on technology and new emerging technologies the influence and impact on life is tremendous. Nations, societies and individuals are more dependent on use of technology which is again very vulnerable. Applications interact with servers which are thousands of kilometers away through the net be it over http, https or WAP. The fact that these applications are exposed to many others across the globe makes them more vulnerable. People with malicious intent and some technical knowledge can gain unauthenticated access to applications or parts of application where by they can steal data and even crash the whole system causing physical, economical and psychological harm. Security testing is all about making the software's/applications reliable and safe. The primary objective is to look for vulnerabilities that may exist in a system and make the application behave in presence of malicious code.

Automation Testing Tools

The decision to apply automated testing tools and the areas of the application on which to apply them will be defined during the scope definition phase of the project.

Following is a list of automation testing tools that are used at Sapphire:

• WinRunner 7.0, 7.5 - Mercury Interactive
• Astra Quick Test - Mercury Interactive
• QTP 6.5, QTP 8.0 and QTP 8.2 - Mercury Interactive
• IBM Rational robot 2002 and 2003.06.13 – IBM
• Silk Test - Segue

Stress, Load and Capacity Testing Tools

To perform stress, load and capacity testing, Sapphire applies WinRunner Scripts to Mercury Interactive’s LoadRunner. Using LoadRunner, Sapphire can simulate activities being performed by varying numbers of users. Sapphire provides clients reports on system bottlenecks, break points and performance measures.

Following are some of the tools that Sapphire uses for performance testing:

• Load Runner
• WAPT
• OpenSTA
• AntsLoad

While customers know their products, their marketing plan, their budget, and their internal resources, our extensive and varied experience puts us in a very good position to understand the relative importance of each trade-off affecting a manufacturer's ability to meet their quality requirements. Our first concern is to understand where our customer has set the quality bar; our second concern is to enable them to meet that goal, on schedule, by providing timely and sufficient test data. We can plug into any stage of the software product development process, but we prefer to plug in as early as possible. Our default preparation for testing an application includes learning as much as possible about the application by reading functional specifications, help files, user documentation etc. When possible, we review previously developed test plans, test cases, records of previous testing, active and resolved bug reports, etc. We're very happy to execute test cases supplied by our customer, but sometimes we find that the supplied test cases would benefit from updating, editing, expansion, and/or deletion. We recommend that customers avail themselves of this value-add service since we are forced to evaluate test cases anyway by executing them in their present state.