E-LEARNING SYSTEM Abstract The purpose of the E-Learning system is to automate the existing manual system by the help of computreized equipments and full-fledged computer software, fulfilling their requirements, so that their valuable data/information can be stored for a longer period with easy accessing and manipulation for the same. The required hardware and software are easily available and easy to work with. E-learning system, as described above, can lead to error free, secure, reliable and user friendly. Every organization, whether big or small, has challenges to overcome and managing the information of Student, Assignment and Quiz etc. Every E-learning system has different assignment needs; therefore we design exclusive E-learning system that is adapted to your managerial requirements. This is designed to assist in strategic planning, and will help you ensure that your organization is equipped with the right level of information and details for your future goals. Also, for those busy executive who are always on the go, our systems comes with the remote access features, which will allow you to manage your workforce anytime, at all times. These systems will ultimately allow you to better manage resources.
Chapter I Introduction E-learning is an education via the Internet, network, or standalone computer. E-learning is basically the network- enabled convey of skills and knowledge. E-learning refers to using electronic applications and processes to learn. E-learning includes all forms of electronically supported learning and teaching. The information and communication systems, whether networked learning or not, serve as specific media to implement the learning process. This often involves both out-of-classroom and in-classroom educational experiences via technology, even as advances continue in regard to devices and curriculum. E-learning is the computer and network-enabled transfer of skills and knowledge. Elearning applications and processes include Web-based learning, computer-based learning, virtual education opportunities and digital collaboration. Content is delivered via the Internet, intranet/extranet, audio or video tape, satellite TV, and CD-ROM. That is to say E-learning systems contain both Learning Management System and Course management system. It can be self-pace or instructor-led and includes media in the form of text, image, animation, streaming video and audio. It is commonly thought that new technologies can make a big difference in education. In young ages especially, children can use the huge interactivity of new media, and develop their skills, knowledge, and perception of the world, under their parents' monitoring, of course. Many proponents of e-learning believe that everyone must be equipped with basic knowledge in technology, as well as use it as a medium to reach a particular goal and aim. In the 20th century, we have moved from the Industrial Age through the Information Age and now to the Knowledge Age. Knowledge and its efficient management constitute the key to success and survival for organizations in the highly dynamic and competitive world of today. Efficient acquisition, storage, transfer, retrieval, application, and visualization of knowledge often distinguish successful organizations from the unsuccessful ones. The ability to obtain, assimilate, and apply the right knowledge effectively will become a key skill in the next century. Learning is the key to achieving our full potential. Our survival in
the 21first century as individuals, organizations, and nations will depend upon our capacity to learn and the application of what we learn to our daily lives. E-learning has the potential to transform how and when employees learn. Learning will become more integrated with work and will use shorter, more modular, just-in-time delivery systems. By leveraging workplace technologies, e-learning is bridging the gap between learning and work. Workers can integrate learning into work more effectively because they use the same tools and technology for learning as they use for work. Both employers and employees recognize that e-learning will diminish the narrowing gap between work and home, and between work and learning. E-learning is an option to any organization looking to improve the skills and capacity of its employees. With the rapid change in all types of working environments, especially medical and healthcare environments, there is a constant need to rapidly train and retrain people in new technologies, products, and services found within the environment. There is also a constant and unrelenting need for appropriate management and leveraging of the knowledge base so that it is readily available and accessible to all stakeholders within the workplace environment.
Chapter II System Analysis System analysis is the overall analysis of the system before implementation and for arriving at a precise solution. Careful analysis of a system before implementation prevents post implementation problems that might arise due to bad analysis of the problem statement. Thus the necessity for systems analysis is justified. Analysis is the first crucial step, detailed study of the various operations performed by a system and their relationships within and outside of the system. Analysis is defining the boundaries of the system that will be followed by design and implementation. Existing System The current situation is very limited to few resources, students are unable to get knowledge more than that the lecture provides to them. This in the end limits student’s performances, because everything a student gets is collected from lectures in class. Here are some of the problems of the current system: Students submit assignment to lectures through hard copies or personal emails. Students only get help from lectures if the lectures are in they’re office. New lectures to a course have to get materials on their own. Student are required to physical be in the classroom in order to gain knowledge thereby sacrificing all other responsibilities.
Proposed system The system will hopefully serve as a centralized database of syllabus for the courses offered at the university allowing students and faculties (current, past and prospective), to view them. The system will end up bringing an effective communication among students, lectures, and the administration, by accessing information and other resources anytime, anywhere.
Here are some expected results of the project: Lectures to upload assignments and resources for their units. Students to download the resources and upload assignments. It provides an easy-to-use way to manage course websites that include schedule information, announcements, as well as course discussions.
Chapter III Feasibility Study Preliminary investigation examines project feasibility; the likelihood the system will be useful to the organization. The main objective of the feasibility study is to test Technical, Operational and Economical feasibility for adding new modules and debugging old running system. All systems are feasible if they are given unlimited resources and infinite time. There are aspects in the feasibility study portion of the preliminary investigation: Operational Feasibility The application smart audit does not require additional manual involvement or labor towards maintenance of the system. Cost for training is minimized due to the user friendliness of the developed application. Recurring expenditures on consumables and materials are minimized. Technical Feasibility Keeping in mind the existing system network, software & Hardware, already available the audit application generated in java provides an executable file that requires tomcat that provides compatibility from windows98 without having to load java software. No additional hardware or software is required which makes smart audit technically feasible. Economic Feasibility The system is economically feasible keeping in mind:
Lesser investment towards training.
One time investment towards development.
Minimizing recurring expenditure towards training, facilities offered and Consumables.
The system as a whole is economically feasible over a period of time.
Chapter IV System Design System design concentrates on moving from problem domain to solution domain.
This
important phase is composed of several steps. It provides the understanding and procedural details necessary for implementing the system recommended in the feasibility study. Emphasis is on translating the performance requirements into design specification. The design of any software involves mapping of the software requirements into Functional modules. Developing a real time application or any system utilities involves two processes. The first process is to design the system to implement it. The second is to construct the executable code. Software design has evolved from an intuitive art dependent on experience to a science, which provides systematic techniques for the software definition. Software design is a first step in the development phase of the software life cycle. Before design the system user requirements have been identified, information has been gathered to verify the problem and evaluate the existing system. A feasibility study has been conducted to review alternative solution and provide cost and benefit justification. To overcome this proposed system is recommended. At this point the design phase begins. The process of design involves conceiving and planning out in the mind and making a drawing. In software design, there are three distinct activities: External design, Architectural design and detailed design. Architectural design and detailed design are collectively referred to as internal design. External design of software involves conceiving and planning out and specifying the externally observable characteristics of a software product. INPUT DESIGN: Systems design is the process of defining the architecture, components, modules, interfaces, and data for a system to satisfy specified requirements. Systems design could be seen as the application of systems theory to product development. There is some overlap with the disciplines of systems analysis, systems architecture and systems engineering.
Input Design is the process of converting a user oriented description of the inputs to a computerbased business system into a programmer-oriented specification. •
Input data were found to be available for establishing and maintaining master and transaction files and for creating output records
•
The most suitable types of input media, for either off-line or on-line devices, where selected after a study of alternative data capture techniques.
INPUT DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS •
The field length must be documented.
•
The sequence of fields should match the sequence of the fields on the source document.
•
The data format must be identified to the data entry operator.
Design input requirements must be comprehensive. Product complexity and the risk associated with its use dictate the amount of detail •
These specify what the product does, focusing on its operational capabilities and the processing of inputs and resultant outputs.
•
These specify how much or how well the product must perform, addressing such issues as speed, strength, response times, accuracy, limits of operation, etc.
OUTPUT DESIGN: A quality output is one, which meets the requirements of the end user and presents the information clearly. In any system results of processing are communicated to the users and to other system through outputs. In output design it is determined how the information is to be displaced for immediate need and also the hard copy output. It is the most important and direct source information to the user. Efficient and intelligent output design improves the system’s relationship to help user decisionmaking.
1. Designing computer output should proceed in an organized, well thought out manner; the right output must be developed while ensuring that each output element is designed so that people will find the system can use easily and effectively. When analysis design computer output, they should Identify the specific output that is needed to meet the requirements. 2. Select methods for presenting information. 3. Create document, report, or other formats that contain information produced by the system. The output form of an information system should accomplish one or more of the following objectives. •
Convey information about past activities, current status or projections of the
•
Future.
•
Signal important events, opportunities, problems, or warnings.
•
Trigger an action.
•
Confirm an action.
System Architecture
Fig 4.1 System Architecture Data Flow Diagrams (DFD) A data flow diagram is graphical tool used to describe and analyze movement of data through a system. These are the central tool and the basis from which the other components are developed.
The transformation of data from input to output, through processed, may be
described logically and independently of physical components associated with the system. These are known as the logical data flow diagrams. The physical data flow diagrams show the actual implements and movement of data between people, departments and workstations. A full description of a system actually consists of a set of data flow diagrams. Using two familiar notations Yourdon, Gane and Sarson notation develops the data flow diagrams. Each component in a DFD is labeled with a descriptive name. Process is further identified with a number that will be used for identification purpose. The development of DFD’S is done in several levels. Each process in lower level diagrams can be broken down into a more detailed DFD in the next level. The lop-level diagram is often called context diagram. It consists of a single process bit, which plays vital role in
studying the current system. The process in the context level diagram is exploded into other process at the first level DFD. The idea behind the explosion of a process into more process is that understanding at one level of detail is exploded into greater detail at the next level. This is done until further explosion is necessary and an adequate amount of detail is described for analyst to understand the process. A DFD is also known as a “bubble Chart” has the purpose of clarifying system requirements and identifying major transformations that will become programs in system design. So it is the starting point of the design to the lowest level of detail. A DFD consists of a series of bubbles joined by data flows in the system. DFD Symbols In the DFD, there are four symbols 1. A square defines a source(originator) or destination of system data 2. An arrow identifies data flow. It is the pipeline through which the information flows 3. A circle or a bubble represents a process that transforms incoming data flow into outgoing data flows. 4. An open rectangle is a data store, data at rest or a temporary repository of data
Process that transforms data flow
Source or Destination of data
Data flow
Data Store
Constructing a DFD Several rules of thumb are used in drawing DFD’S: 1. Process should be named and numbered for an easy reference.
Each name should be
representative of the process. 2. The direction of flow is from top to bottom and from left to right. Data traditionally flow from source to the destination although they may flow back to the source. One way to indicate this is to draw long flow line back to a source. An alternative way is to repeat the source symbol as a destination. Since it is used more than once in the DFD it is marked with a short diagonal. 3. When a process is exploded into lower level details, they are numbered. 4. The names of data stores and destinations are written in capital letters. Process and dataflow names have the first letter of each work capitalized A DFD typically shows the minimum contents of data store. Each data store should contain all the data elements that flow in and out. Questionnaires should contain all the data elements that flow in and out. interfaces redundancies and like is then accounted for often through interviews.
Missing
Salient Features of DFD’s 1. The DFD shows flow of data, not of control loops and decision are controlled considerations do not appear on a DFD. 2. The DFD does not indicate the time factor involved in any process whether the dataflow take place daily, weekly, monthly or yearly. 3. The sequence of events is not brought out on the DFD. Rules Governing the DFD’s Process 1) No process can have only outputs. 2) No process can have only inputs. If an object has only inputs than it must be a sink. 3) A process has a verb phrase label. Data Store 1) Data cannot move directly from one data store to another data store, a process must move data. 2) Data cannot move directly from an outside source to a data store, a process, which receives, must move data from the source and place the data into data store 3) A data store has a noun phrase label. Source or Sink - origin and /or destination of data 1) Data cannot move direly from a source to sink it must be moved by a process 2) A source and /or sink has a noun phrase land
Data Flow 1) A Data Flow has only one direction of flow between symbols. It may flow in both directions between a process and a data store to show a read before an update. The latter is usually indicated however by two separate arrows since these happen at different type. 2) A join in DFD means that exactly the same data comes from any of two or more different processes data store or sink to a common location. 3) A data flow cannot go directly back to the same process it leads. There must be at least one other process that handles the data flow produce some other data flow returns the original data into the beginning process. 4) A Data flow to a data store means update (delete or change). 5) A data Flow from a data store means retrieve or use.
Fig 4.2 Level 0 DFD (Stuedent)
Fig 4.3 Level 0 DFD (Professor)
Chapter V System Requirements The hardware and software specification specifies the minimum hardware and software required to run the project. The hardware configuration specified below is not by any means the optimal hardware requirements. The software specification given below is just the minimum requirements, and the performance of the system may be slow on such system. Hardware Requirements
System
: Pentium IV 2.4 GHz
Hard Disk
: 40 GB
Floppy Drive
: 1.44 MB
Monitor
: 15 VGA color
Mouse
: Logitech.
Keyboard
: 110 keys enhanced
RAM
: 256 MB
Software Requirements
Operating System : Windows
Front End
: PHP
Back End
: MySQL
Chapter VI System Implementation Implementation is the stage in the project where the theoretical design is turned into a working system. The implementation phase constructs, installs and operates the new system. The most crucial stage in achieving a new successful system is that it will work efficiently and effectively. There are several activities involved while implementing a new project. End user Training End user Education Training on the application software Modules In this system there are three main users which are the administrator, the lecture and the student, each one of them has their specific task and roles they can perform within the system. The system is sensitive to privacy protection thereby the system has been designed to observe these matters. Administrator The system administrator will have full access privilege of the system which the other users cannot perform. Some of these include: - assigning roles to user (who is the Admin, lecture or student), deleting users, adding (department, faculties), and lastly creating users. Lecture The lecture will have the privileges of uploading and downloading documents, posting news about (test, class, and assignments), start blogs for discussions and upload results (coursework).
Student The student will have fewer privileges, the student will be able to upload and download documents, comment on the blogs created by lectures, and view posts news by lectures, and administrators, and lastly students will be able to view their coursework.
Chapter VII Software Description PHP Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP) is a server-side scripting language designed primarily for web development but also used as a general-purpose programming language. Originally created by Rasmus Lerdorf in 1994, the PHP reference implementation is now produced by The PHP Development Team. PHP originally stood for Personal Home Page, but it now stands for the recursive acronym. PHP code may be embedded into HTML code, or it can be used in combination with various web template systems, web content management systems and web frameworks. PHP code is usually processed by a PHP interpreter implemented as a module in the web server or as a Common Gateway Interface (CGI) executable. The web server combines the results of the interpreted and executed PHP code, which may be any type of data, including images, with the generated web page. PHP code may also be executed with a command-line interface (CLI) and can be used to implement standalone graphical applications. The standard PHP interpreter, powered by the Zend Engine, is free software released under the PHP License. PHP has been widely ported and can be deployed on most web servers on almost every operating system and platform, free of charge. The PHP language evolved without a written formal specification or standard until 2014, leaving the canonical PHP interpreter as a de facto standard. Since 2014 work has gone on to create a formal PHP specification. PHP is a widely-used open source general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited for web development and can be embedded into HTML. Instead of lots of commands to output HTML, PHP pages contain HTML with embedded code that does "something". The PHP code is enclosed in special start and end processing instructions that allow you to jump into and out of "PHP mode." What distinguishes PHP from something like client-side JavaScript is that the code is executed on the server, generating HTML which is then sent to the client. The client would receive the results of running that script, but cannot know the underlying code. The web server is configured to process all your HTML files with PHP. The best things in using PHP are that it is extremely simple for a newcomer, but offers many advanced features for a professional programmer.
Functions of PHP
Generate dynamic page content
Create, open, read, write, delete, and close files on the server
Collect form data
Send and receive cookies
Add, delete and modify data in your database
Can be used to control user-access
Can encrypt data
Characteristics of PHP Five important characteristics make PHP's practical nature possible
Simplicity
Efficiency
Security
Flexibility
Familiarity
MYSQL MySQL is an open-source relational database management system (RDBMS). Its name is a combination of “My”, the name of co-founders Michael Widenius' daughter, and "SQL", the abbreviation for Structured Query Language. The MySQL development project has made its source code available under the terms of the GNU General Public License, as well as under a variety of proprietary agreements. MySQL was owned and sponsored by a single for-profit firm, the Swedish company MySQL AB, now owned by Oracle Corporation. For proprietary use, several paid editions are available, and offer additional functionality.
MySQL is a central component of the LAMP open-source web application software stack (and other "AMP" stacks). LAMP is an acronym for "Linux, Apache, MySQL, Perl/PHP/Python". Applications that use the MySQL database include: TYPO3, MODx, Joomla, WordPress, phpBB, MyBB, and Drupal. MySQL is also used in many high-profile, large-scale websites, including Google (though not for searches), Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and YouTube. MySQL is written in C and C++. Its SQL parser is written in yacc, but it uses a home-brewed lexical analyzer. MySQL works on many system platforms, including AIX, BSDi, FreeBSD, HP-UX, eComStation, i5/OS, IRIX, Linux, macOS, Microsoft Windows, NetBSD, Novell NetWare, OpenBSD, OpenSolaris, OS/2 Warp, QNX, Oracle Solaris, Symbian, SunOS, SCO OpenServer, SCO UnixWare, Sanos and Tru64. A port of MySQL to OpenVMS also exists. MySQL is the most popular Open Source Relational SQL database management system. MySQL is one of the best RDBMS being used for developing web-based software applications. MySQL is a fast, easy-to-use RDBMS being used for many small and big businesses. MySQL is developed, marketed, and supported by MySQL AB, which is a Swedish company. MySQL is becoming so popular because of many good reasons:
MySQL is released under an open-source license. So you have nothing to pay to use it.
MySQL is a very powerful program in its own right. It handles a large subset of the functionality of the most expensive and powerful database packages.
MySQL uses a standard form of the well-known SQL data language.
MySQL works on many operating systems and with many languages including PHP, PERL, C, C++, JAVA, etc.
MySQL works very quickly and works well even with large data sets.
MySQL is very friendly to PHP, the most appreciated language for web development.
MySQL supports large databases, up to 50 million rows or more in a table. The default file size limit for a table is 4GB, but you can increase this (if your operating system can handle it) to a theoretical limit of 8 million terabytes (TB).
MySQL is customizable. The open-source GPL license allows programmers to modify the MySQL software to fit their own specific environments.
Features
A broad subset of ANSI SQL 99, as well as extensions
Cross-platform support
Stored procedures, using a procedural language that closely adheres to SQL/PSM
Triggers
Cursors
Updatable views
Online DDL when using the InnoDB Storage Engine.
Information schema
Performance Schema that collects and aggregates statistics about server execution and query performance for monitoring purposes.
A set of SQL Mode options to control runtime behavior, including a strict mode to better adhere to SQL standards.
X/Open XA distributed transaction processing (DTP) support; two phase commit as part of this, using the default InnoDB storage engine
Transactions with save points when using the default InnoDB Storage Engine. The NDB Cluster Storage Engine also supports transactions.
ACID compliance when using InnoDB and NDB Cluster Storage Engines
SSL support
Query caching
Sub-SELECTs (i.e. nested SELECTs)
Built-in replication support (i.e., master-master replication and master-slave replication) with one master per slave, many slaves per master. Multi-master replication is provided in MySQL Cluster, and multi-master support can be added to unclustered configurations using Galera Cluster.
Full-text indexing and searching
Embedded database library
Unicode support
Partitioned tables with pruning of partitions in optimizer
Shared-nothing clustering through MySQL Cluster
Multiple storage engines, allowing one to choose the one that is most effective for each table in the application.
Native storage engines InnoDB, MyISAM, Merge, Memory (heap), Federated, Archive, CSV, Blackhole, NDB Cluster.
Commit grouping, gathering multiple transactions from multiple connections together to increase the number of commits per second.
Chapter VIII System Testing Software Testing Software testing is an investigation conducted to provide stakeholders with information about the quality of the product or service under test. Software testing can also provide an objective, independent view of the software to allow the business to appreciate and understand the risks of software implementation. Test techniques include, but are not limited to the process of executing a program or application with the intent of finding software bugs (errors or other defects).The purpose of testing is to discover errors. Testing is the process of trying to discover every conceivable fault or weakness in a work product. It provides a way to check the functionality of components, sub-assemblies, assemblies and/or a finished product It is the process of exercising software with the intent of ensuring that the software system meets its requirements and user expectations and does not fail in an unacceptable manner. There are various types of test. Each test type addresses a specific testing requirement. Software testing is the process of evaluation a software item to detect differences between given input and expected output. Also to assess the feature of a software item. Testing assesses the quality of the product. Software testing is a process that should be done during the development process. In other words software testing is a verification and validation process. Types of testing There are different levels during the process of Testing .Levels of testing include the different methodologies that can be used while conducting Software Testing. Following are the main levels of Software Testing:
Functional Testing.
Non-Functional Testing.
Steps Description I
The determination of the functionality that the intended application is meant to perform.
II
The creation of test data based on the specifications of the application.
III
The output based on the test data and the specifications of the application.
IV
The writing of Test Scenarios and the execution of test cases.
V
The comparison of actual and expected results based on the executed test cases.
Functional Testing Functional Testing of the software is conducted on a complete, integrated system to evaluate the system's compliance with its specified requirements. There are five steps that are involved when testing an application for functionality. An effective testing practice will see the above steps applied to the testing policies of every organization and hence it will make sure that the organization maintains the strictest of standards when it comes to software quality. Unit Testing This type of testing is performed by the developers before the setup is handed over to the testing team to formally execute the test cases. Unit testing is performed by the respective developers on the individual units of source code assigned areas. The developers use test data that is separate from the test data of the quality assurance team. The goal of unit testing is to isolate each part of
the program and show that individual parts are correct in terms of requirements and functionality. Limitations of Unit Testing Testing cannot catch each and every bug in an application. It is impossible to evaluate every execution path in every software application. The same is the case with unit testing. There is a limit to the number of scenarios and test data that the developer can use to verify the source code. So after he has exhausted all options there is no choice but to stop unit testing and merge the code segment with other units. Integration Testing The testing of combined parts of an application to determine if they function correctly together is Integration testing. There are two methods of doing Integration Testing Bottom-up Integration testing and Top- down Integration testing. S.N.
Integration Testing Method
1
Bottom-up
integration
This testing begins with unit testing, followed by tests of progressively higherlevel combinations of units called modules or builds. 2
Top-Down
integration
This testing, the highest-level modules are tested first and progressively lowerlevel modules are tested after that.
In a comprehensive software development environment, bottom-up testing is usually done first, followed by top-down testing. The process concludes with multiple tests of the complete application, preferably in scenarios designed to mimic those it will encounter in customers' computers, systems and network.
System Testing This is the next level in the testing and tests the system as a whole. Once all the components are integrated, the application as a whole is tested rigorously to see that it meets Quality Standards. This type of testing is performed by a specialized testing team. System testing is so important because of the following reasons:
System Testing is the first step in the Software Development Life Cycle, where the application is tested as a whole.
The application is tested thoroughly to verify that it meets the functional and technical specifications.
The application is tested in an environment which is very close to the production environment where the application will be deployed.
System Testing enables us to test, verify and validate both the business requirements as well as the Applications Architecture.
Regression Testing Whenever a change in a software application is made it is quite possible that other areas within the application have been affected by this change. To verify that a fixed bug hasn't resulted in another functionality or business rule violation is Regression testing. The intent of Regression testing is to ensure that a change, such as a bug fix did not result in another fault being uncovered in the application. Regression testing is so important because of the following reasons:
Minimize the gaps in testing when an application with changes made has to be tested.
Testing the new changes to verify that the change made did not affect any other area of the application.
Mitigates Risks when regression testing is performed on the application.
Test coverage is increased without compromising timelines.
Increase speed to market the product.
Acceptance Testing This is arguably the most importance type of testing as it is conducted by the Quality Assurance Team who will gauge whether the application meets the intended specifications and satisfies the client requirements. The QA team will have a set of pre written scenarios and Test Cases that will be used to test the application. More ideas will be shared about the application and more tests can be performed on it to gauge its accuracy and the reasons why the project was initiated. Acceptance tests are not only intended to point out simple spelling mistakes, cosmetic errors or Interface gaps, but also to point out any bugs in the application that will result in system crashers or major errors in the application. By performing acceptance tests on an application the testing team will deduce how the application will perform in production. There are also legal and contractual requirements for acceptance of the system. Alpha Testing This test is the first stage of testing and will be performed amongst the teams (developer and QA teams). Unit testing, integration testing and system testing when combined are known as alpha testing. During this phase, the following will be tested in the application:
Spelling Mistakes
Broken Links
Cloudy Directions
The Application will be tested on machines with the lowest specification to test loading times and any latency problems.
Beta Testing This test is performed after Alpha testing has been successfully performed. In beta testing a sample of the intended audience tests the application. Beta testing is also known as pre-release testing. Beta test versions of software are ideally distributed to a wide audience on the Web, partly to give the program a "real-world" test and partly to provide a preview of the next release. In this phase the audience will be testing the following:
Users will install, run the application and send their feedback to the project team.
Typographical errors, confusing application flow, and even crashes.
Getting the feedback, the project team can fix the problems before releasing the software to the actual users.
The more issues you fix that solve real user problems, the higher the quality of your application will be.
Having a higher-quality application when you release to the general public will increase customer satisfaction.
Non-Functional Testing This section is based upon the testing of the application from its non-functional attributes. Nonfunctional testing of Software involves testing the Software from the requirements which are nonfunctional in nature related but important a well such as performance, security, and user interface etc. Some of the important and commonly used non-functional testing types are mentioned as follows: Performance Testing It is mostly used to identify any bottlenecks or performance issues rather than finding the bugs in software. There are different causes which contribute in lowering the performance of software:
Network delay.
Client side processing.
Database transaction processing.
Load balancing between servers.
Data rendering.
Performance testing is considered as one of the important and mandatory testing type in terms of following aspects:
Speed (i.e. Response Time, data rendering and accessing)
Capacity
Stability
Scalability
It can be either qualitative or quantitative testing activity and can be divided into different sub types such as Load testing and Stress testing. Load Testing A process of testing the behavior of the Software by applying maximum load in terms of Software accessing and manipulating large input data. It can be done at both normal and peak load conditions. This type of testing identifies the maximum capacity of Software and its behavior at peak time. Most of the time, Load testing is performed with the help of automated tools such as Load Runner, App Loader, IBM Rational Performance Tester, Apache J Meter, Silk Performer, Visual Studio Load Test etc. Virtual users (V Users) are defined in the automated testing tool and the script is executed to verify the Load testing for the Software. The quantity of users can be increased or decreased concurrently or incrementally based upon the requirements. Stress Testing This testing type includes the testing of Software behavior under abnormal conditions. Taking
away the resources, applying load beyond the actual load limit is Stress testing. The main intent is to test the Software by applying the load to the system and taking over the resources used by the Software to identify the breaking point. This testing can be performed by testing different scenarios such as:
Shutdown or restart of Network ports randomly.
Turning the database on or off.
Running different processes that consume resources such as CPU, Memory, server etc.
Usability Testing This section includes different concepts and definitions of Usability testing from Software point of view. It is a black box technique and is used to identify any error(s) and improvements in the Software by observing the users through their usage and operation. According to Nielsen, Usability can be defined in terms of five factors i.e. Efficiency of use, Learn-ability, Memor-ability, Errors/safety, satisfaction. According to him the usability of the product will be good and the system is usable if it possesses the above factors. Nigel Bevan and Macleod considered that Usability is the quality requirement which can be measured as the outcome of interactions with a computer system. This requirement can be fulfilled and the end user will be satisfied if the intended goals are achieved effectively with the use of proper resources. Molich in 2000 stated that user friendly system should fulfill the following five goals i.e. Easy to Learn, Easy to Remember, Efficient to Use, Satisfactory to Use and Easy to Understand. In addition to different definitions of usability, there are some standards and quality models and methods which define the usability in the form of attributes and sub attributes such as ISO-9126, ISO-9241-11, ISO-13407 and IEEE std.610.12 etc.
UI vs. Usability Testing UI testing involves the testing of Graphical User Interface of the Software. This testing ensures that the GUI should be according to requirements in terms of color, alignment, size and other properties. On the other hand Usability testing ensures that a good and user friendly GUI is designed and is easy to use for the end user. UI testing can be considered as a sub part of Usability testing. Security Testing Security testing involves the testing of Software in order to identify any flaws ad gaps from security and vulnerability point of view. Following are the main aspects which Security testing should ensure:
Confidentiality.
Integrity.
Authentication.
Availability.
Authorization.
Non-repudiation.
Portability Testing Portability testing includes the testing of Software with intend that it should be re-useable and can be moved from another Software as well. Following are the strategies that can be used for Portability testing.
Transferred installed Software from one computer to another.
Building executable (.exe) to run the Software on different platforms.
Portability testing can be considered as one of the sub parts of System testing, as this testing type includes the overall testing of Software with respect to its usage over different environments.
Chapter IX Conclusion Our project is only a humble venture to satisfy the needs to manage their project work. Several user friendly coding have also adopted. This package shall prove to be a powerful package in satisfying all the requirements of the school. The objective of software planning is to provide a framework that enables the manager to make reasonable estimates made within a limited time frame at the beginning of the software project and should be updated regularly as the project progresses.
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