Managing the uncertainties of software testing: A Bayesian approach

Testing of software systems involves many complex problems for test managers. Important issues to be considered include how to quantify reliability, how to design tests, which tests should be performed given time, cost and resource constraints, what are the implications of test failures, what tests should be re-run following corrections to rectify faults, and so forth. All of these issues are related to the uncertainties involved in the quality of the software and the process of testing. In a continuing collaboration, the use of Bayesian graphical models has been explored to model these uncertainties and to support software testers and test managers with their complex tasks. This paper discusses some features of Bayesian graphical models which are pertinent to modelling software testing problems, and in particular the kind of support they can provide to test managers and the use of such models in a practical environment. Details of the modelling process are presented elsewhere.