Baseline:A quantitative measure of the current level of performance.
Benchmarking: Comparing your company’s products, services or processes against best practices or competitive practices, to help define superior performance of a product,service or support processes.
Black-box Testing: A test technique that focuses on testing the functionality of the program component or application against its specifications without knowlegde of how the system constructed.
Boundary value analysis: A data selection technique in which test data is chosen from the “boundaries” of the input or output domain classes, data structures and procedure parameters. Choices often include the actual minimum and maximum boundary values, the maximum value plus or minus one and the minimum value plus or minus one.
Branch Testing: A test method that requires that each possible branch on each decision be executed on at least once.
Brainstorming: A group process for generating creative and diverse ideas.
Bug: A catchall term for all software defects or errors.

Debugging: The process of analysing and correcting syntactic, logic and other errors identified during testing.
Decision Coverage: A white-box testing technique that measures the number of – or percentage – of decision directions executed by the test case designed. 100% Decision coverage would indicate that all decision directions had been executed at least once during testing. Alternatively each logical path through the program can be tested.
Decision Table
A tool for documenting the unique combinations of conditions and associated results in order to derive unique test cases for validation testing.
Defect Tracking Tools
Tools for documenting defects as they are found during testing and for
tracking their status through to resolution.
Desk Check: A verification technique conducted by the author of the artifcat to verify the completeness of their own work. This technique does not involve anyone else.
Dynamic Analysis: Analysis performed by executing the program code.Dynamic analysis executes or simulates a development phase product and it detects errors by analyzing the response of the product to sets of input data.

Entrance Criteria: Required conditions and standards for work product quality that must be present or met for entry into the next stage of the software development process.
Equivalence Partitioning: A test technique that utilizes a subset of data that is representative of a larger class. This is done in place of undertaking exhaustive testing of each value of the larger class of data.
Error or defect: 1.A discrepancy between a computed, observed or measured value or condition and the true, specified or theortically correct value or conditon 2.Human action that results in software containing a fault (e.g., omission or misinterpretation of user requirements in a software specification, incorrect translation or omission of a requirement in the design specification)
Error Guessing: Test data selection techniques for picking values that seem likely to cause defects. This technique is based upon the theory that test cases and test data can be developed based on intuition and experience of the tester.
Exhaustive Testing: Executing the program through all possible combination of values for program variables.
Exit criteria: Standards for work product quality which block the promotion of incomplete or defective work products to subsequent stages of the software development process.

Flowchart
Pictorial representations of data flow and computer logic. It is frequently easier to understand and assess the structure and logic of an application system by developing a flow chart than to attempt to understand narrative descriptions or verbal explanations. The flowcharts for systems are normally developed manually, while flowcharts of programs can be produced.
Force Field Analysis
A group technique used to identify both driving and restraining forces that influence a current situation.
Formal Analysis
Technique that uses rigorous mathematical techniques to analyze the algorithms of a solution for numerical properties, efficiency, and correctness.
Functional Testing
Testing that ensures all functional requirements are met without regard to the final program structure.

Histogram
A graphical description of individually measured values in a data set that is organized according to the frequency or relative frequency of occurrence. A histogram illustrates the shape of the distribution of individual values in a data set along with information regarding the average and variation.

Inspection
A formal assessment of a work product conducted by one or more qualified independent reviewers to detect defects, violations of development standards, and other problems. Inspections involve authors only when specific questions concerning deliverables exist. An inspection identifies defects, but does not attempt to correct them. Authors take corrective actions and arrange follow-up reviews as needed.
Integration Testing
This test begins after two or more programs or application components have been successfully unit tested. It is conducted by the development team to validate the interaction or communication/flow of information between the individual components which will be integrated.

Life Cycle Testing
The process of verifying the consistency, completeness, and correctness of software at each stage of the development life cycle.

Pass/Fail Criteria
Decision rules used to determine whether a software item or feature passes or fails a test.
Path Testing
A test method satisfying the coverage criteria that each logical path through the program be tested. Often, paths through the program are grouped into a finite set of classes and one path from each class is tested.
Performance Test
Validates that both the online response time and batch run times meet the defined performance requirements.
Policy
Managerial desires and intents concerning either process (intended objectives) or products (desired attributes).
Population Analysis
Analyzes production data to identify, independent from the specifications, the types and frequency of data that the system will have to process/produce. This verifies that the specs can handle types and frequency of actual data and can be used to create validation tests.
Procedure
The step-by-step method followed to ensure that standards are met.
Process
1. The work effort that produces a product. This includes efforts of people and equipment guided by policies, standards, and procedures.
2. A statement of purpose and an essential set of practices (activities) that address that purpose.
Proof of Correctness
The use of mathematical logic techniques to show that a relationship between program variables assumed true at program entry implies that another relationship between program variables holds at program exit.

Quality
A product is a quality product if it is defect free. To the producer, a product is a quality product if it meets or conforms to the statement of requirements that defines the product. This statement is usually shortened to: quality means meets requirements. From a customer’s perspective, quality means “fit for use.”
Quality Assurance (QA)
Deals with ‘prevention’ of defects in the product being developed.It is associated with a process.The set of support activities (including facilitation, training, measurement, and analysis) needed to provide adequate confidence that processes are established and continuously improved to produce products that meet specifications and
are fit for use.
Quality Control (QC)
Its focus is defect detection and removal. Testing is a quality control activity
Quality Improvement
To change a production process so that the rate at which defective products (defects) are produced is reduced. Some process changes may require the product to be changed.