One of the most important factors while estimating testing efforts is the hands-on experience on varied projects for the software test life cycle. No longer can one just take a guessing approach about the number of days for any task or working on the old-time formula of one-third of the development effort.

Although this method is not based on any scientific principle or technique, it is one of the most widely used estimation technique by companies offering software testing services. Unfortunately, the development versus testing effort method has given many failures in software projects in the past, thereby compromising the software or mobile apps on quality.

In recent years there have been many techniques that have been developed for estimating the software testing timeframe. These techniques are: 3-Point Software Testing Estimation Technique, Use-Case Point Method and Wide Band Delphi Method.

3-Point Software Testing Estimation Technique

3-Point Software Testing Estimation Technique is based on statistical methods in which each testing task is broken down into sub-tasks and then three types of estimation are done on each tasks.

The formula used by this technique is:

Test Estimate = P + (4*N) + E / 6

Where,

P = Positive Scenarios

N = Negative Scenarios

E = Exceptional Scenarios

Standard deviation for the technique is calculated as,

Standard Deviation (SD) = (N – E)/6

Use – Case Point Method

Use-Case Point Method is based on the use cases, where we calculate the unadjusted actor weights and unadjusted use case weights to determine the software testing estimation.

The formula used for this technique is:

Unadjusted actor weights = Total no. of actors (positive, negative and exceptional)

Unadjusted use case weight = Total no. of use cases

Unadjusted use case point = Unadjusted actor weights + Unadjusted use case weight

Adjusted use case point = Unadjusted use case point * [0.65+ (0.01 * 50]

Total Effort = Adjusted use case point * 2

Wideband Delphi

In Wideband Delphi Method, work structure is broken down for each task and is distributed to a team comprising of 3-7 members for re-estimating the task. The final estimate is the result of the summarized estimates based on the team consensus. This method speaks more on experience rather than any statistical formula. The Wideband Delphi testing estimation technique logically estimates the group iteration efforts required in a visual manner for the testing team. This test was coined by Barry Boehm and is widely accepted software testing estimation technique to solve complex problems.