This scenario shows how your team can collaborate
while
using the risk-based testing features in IBM® Rational® Quality Manager.
The scenario assumes that the team includes test leads, testers, and
a test manager.
About this task
To take advantage
of risk-based testing, a test team can
proceed as follows:
Procedure
- During the planning
process, a test lead assesses test
plan risk in the Risk Assessment section of an individual test plan.
In the following example, the test lead identifies three
risks:
- Insufficient test resources
- Complex system
integrations
- Geographically distributed team members

- The test lead
assesses each risk by selecting the risk
and clicking the Edit Risk icon (
). Here,
the test lead specifies how likely it is that the risk will occur
and what impact the risk will have if it does occur. The test lead
can also specify a Mitigation Action.

- Still in the Risk Assessment section of the test plan,
the test lead can rank the relative Importance of
each risk and at some point select a Current Impact value.
Note: Typically, in the early stages of the planning process
the test lead might set the Current Impact to Unassigned because
she has already assigned an Impact value. Over
time, the test lead can use Current Impact to
update the assessment of each risk. When Current Impact is
set to Unassigned, it is not included as part
of the assessment score.
- The software
calculates the risk scores for each risk in
the table and provides an overall risk assessment.
Each
risk is calculated as the average of the Likelihood, Impact,
and Current Impact values.
Note: The Current
Impact value is included in the assessment score only
when it is rated High, Medium,
or Low. When Current Impact is
set to No Impact, the Assessment score goes
to 0.
- The entire team reviews the initial
risk assessments. Some
team members decide to respond by providing their own risk assessment
in the My Risk section.

In the
following example, two team members have responded, and both disagree
with the initial assessment. You can see their comments in the Discussion
section.

- The
software averages the My Risk ratings
of the individual team members and provides an overall score in the
Community Risk section. Because both team members assessed the risk
as very high, the software also calculates the Community Risk average
as very high.
- Over time, the risk assessments
change as team members
collaborate, and people with various skill sets are added or removed
from the team. If schedules shorten, certain risks take on greater
importance.
- Test leads and test managers use
the View Test Plans feature
to get a picture of the relative risk of multiple test plans. They
can easily see which test plans are considered the greatest risk and
make staffing and scheduling adjustments that prioritize the high-risk
test plans.

Note: A similar process takes
place with test cases, as testers assess risk and team members contribute
to the Community Risk assessment.