test objects design

Reading a paper “Removing Requirement Defects and Automating Test” posted on stickyminds.com from Mark Blackburn of T-VEC (from in PDF format)

Quotes from the PDF file

Verification Model Development: “A ‘pure’ requirement model specifies the requirements in terms of logical entities representing the environment of the system under test, where as, a verification models specifies requirements in terms of the interfaces for the system under test; a design engineer typically defines the interfaces. This is analogous to the way a test engineer develops tests in terms of the specific interfaces as opposed to logical concepts of the environment for the system under test. SCR is a table-based modeling approach”

Process Roles and Flows: “the typical organization roles: 1) a requirements engineer performs requirement analysis, 2) a designer/implementer develops    system/software architecture, design and implementation, and 3) a test engineer performs verification,    including testing, analysis and reviews, and some validation. Any person on the team may perform    one or more roles. Requirements are typically recorded textually and are sometimes supplemented    with graphics, tables or formalized models and algorithms. The requirements typically pass to the    system designers and testers as documents that can include Software/System Requirement    Specifications (SRS), function lists, or change requests.

The key change to a typical process is the introduction of verification models. These models support automated means of identifying model defects and generating tests highly effective in verifying a system is consistent with the model. (…)

This approach has been effective in many organizations not already developing rigorous models. Other successful approaches have involved requirements engineers or designers using existing modeling tools or adopting new tools, such as MATRIXx, ObjecTime, or Statemate to develop models that support both development, validation and verification. This paper highlights a process in which testers develop models to support verification in SCR (Software Cost Reduction). SCR, and the associated SCRtool developed by the Naval Research Laboratory, have been used in a variety of industrial applications to model system and software requirements”