Abstract
- Software testing is a complex process that involves many types of data. Managing such data is difficult but crucial for improved software testing effectiveness and efficiency. Taking a broader view of “data,” we identify eleven kinds of data that must be considered in software testing. This paper first presents a conceptual framework for developing data design and management techniques in the software testing environment. It then presents a new data storage, cross-referencing, and in-dexing system, the Global Index for Test and Evaluation Data (GIFTED), with three possible implementations, in which to store and access the eleven kinds of data we identify in the software testing environment. The first implementation is a relational database. The second is a novel use of a graph database. The third is a federated database. This novel approach to managing software testing data, both in its breadth and in its implementation approaches, is a substantial advance in the science and practice of software testing, which can play a critical role in improving the effectiveness and efficiency of software testing.