Functional testing for end-to-end digital product

Why functional testing is important for end-to-end digital product

Quality assurance is meant to check and guarantee that the software runs properly and all its features perform as they are supposed to do. Functional testing implies verification if the actual features of the software correspond to the requirements mentioned in the documentation. Functional testing aims to compare the expected result with the real ones, and if they do not match, the development team has to carry out further improvement of the product until the demanded level is reached. Thus, QA functional testing is an essential part of QA that verifies and corrects software, finds all the critical bugs, preparing the product for release for the end customer. Functional testing is an end-to-end assessment that answers the following questions:

1. Does the program work?
2. Does it work as it was supposed to?
3. Are there any unpredictable ways it can work?

During the test procedure in software testing, the QA team checks if all the features run smoothly or if there are defects, missing functions, issues with the user interface, errors, etc. Functional testing is crucial for end-to-end digital products because it eliminates bugs in system behavior and helps find gaps in logic and elements that don’t work as they should.

What do you test in Functional Testing?

Functional testing includes testing functionality, database, user interface, applications, security, and it focuses on the following matters:

• Mainline functions testing implies testing the main functions of an application.
• Basic usability. It means basic usability testing where the tester verifies if a user can navigate through the app with no obstacles, (i.e. if buttons, checkboxes, texts, etc., are displayed correctly and if they work properly).
• Accessibility. Verification of the accessibility of the system for the user.
• Error Conditions. A tester finds out if corresponding error messages pop up when necessary. The messages of errors should be understandable for the user. If something goes wrong, the user should receive a clear message about the error and understands what is wrong and what’s next.

Best Practices of Functional Testing

• Start writing test cases early. When carrying out the requirements analysis, the tester learns all information about the features in-depth. So over time, the tester might need to refresh the initial information about every feature, especially when the project is a large-scale one. So it is better to start writing functional test cases as early as possible so as not to miss a thing.
• Consider using a traceability matrix. QA teams and testing firms are not always working with companies at the earliest stages, so they might not know much information about the product and miss it during the quality assessment. Requirement Traceability Matrix comes in handy, as it helps to expand functional testing services. QA engineers, developers, and clients use this matrix where they indicate requirements and map test cases. That is a comprehensive textbook to use when the tester needs to refresh his/her memory.
• Consider involving a dedicated team. There are two options to carry out software testing for your product – you either involve a team who works with you from the beginning and knows all the peculiarities of your product, how the functionality develops, and the areas of high risk, etc. On the other hand, if you don’t have a non-stop task flow and have no need to hire an in-house team, consider QA outsourcing. The main thing is that it should be an engaged, dedicated team. Both in-house and outsourced teams can perform excellent results and bring your product to perfection before releasing it to the end-user. You choose which option is better for your company.
• Prioritize features and test cases. Money-making features are probably the main reason why users install this or that app. That is why this aspect requires the most attention from the testers. So it is better to start functional testing from this critical part.
• Act like a real user. Software quality assessment requires testers’ impartiality. So when trying a new application, testers should act like real users, mimic users’ behavior, and find out if the app meets users’ needs.

Crowdsourced testing 

Crowdsourced testing (crowd testing), is an efficient approach to QA, which is great to apply just before the product release. It implies using human skills to test the functionality and performance of the product on real users’ devices. Crowdsourced team follows and completes the test cases and makes sure that functionalities are working well, finds out critical bugs that were not identified by the in-house QA team or outsourced team before, etc.

These steps are carried out necessary before the product release. Crowdsourcing uses a dispersed, temporary workforce of numerous individual testers who carry out quick and high-quality testing on-demand, which is much more effective than an in-house team.

So crowd testing offers an opportunity to test products by real users on real devices worldwide, maintaining a customer-centric emphasis.

Conclusion 

So now as we found out what is functional testing and why it is so crucial, there’s no doubt that software functional testing is an integral part of all digital products before they can be released for the end-user. Ubertesters team can provide high-quality end-to-end functional testing for your software, preparing it to release. They apply all the best practices of functional testing for your software, not missing a thing in the assessment process and considering all the test cases.

With Ubertesters, you get an independent view of your product after a thorough assessment carried out by our QA experts. They can choose the ideal target audience according to your product and test it on thousands of devices available worldwide, provide you with regular reports on quality assessment, and offer flexible pricing for services.