Method and system for automatic identification of missing test scenarios

1. A computer implemented method for identifying missing test scenarios based on a repository of organization-specific in-use scenarios, comprising:

accessing a set of scenarios that are actually executed by a specific organization on a data-oriented large-scale software system, referred to as organization-specific in-use scenarios;

each organization-specific in-use scenario executes at least two transactions; wherein the organization-specific in-use scenarios are identified by registering the executed transactions and then converting the registered transactions to scenarios utilizing a transaction-to-scenario mapping;

comparing the organization-specific in-use scenarios with available test scenarios repairable by a non-programmer user, each available test scenario repairable by a non-programmer user tests at least two transactions, and at least 50% of instructions described in each test scenario repairable by a non-programmer are expressed by user interaction activities;

identifying organization-specific in-use scenarios that do not have corresponding test scenarios repairable by a non-programmer user, referred to as first set of missing test scenarios; and

providing at least one of the missing test scenarios to a non-programmer user for generating a test scenario repairable by a non-programmer user that covers the at least one missing test scenario and comprises instructions expressed by user interaction activities.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising identifying the organization-specific in-use scenarios by registering the executed transactions and registering order of executing the transactions.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 2 , further comprising identifying the organization-specific in-use scenarios by registering context of executing the transactions.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 2 , further comprising identifying the organization-specific in-use scenarios by analyzing the authorizations of representative non-super-users.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 2 , wherein generating the test scenario repairable by a non-programmer user comprises recording the non-programmer user executing the at least one missing test scenario.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 5 , wherein the generated test scenario repairable by a non-programmer is a parametric test scenario repairable by a non-programmer user, which defines different alternatives for executing the test scenario.

7. The computer implemented method of claim 6 , wherein the parametric test scenario repairable by a non-programmer user further defines different alternatives for evaluating execution outcome, and is expressed in terms that substantially conform to terms used in the non-programmer user's work environment, and coherent with actual manual operation of the test scenario.

8. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising: identifying a second set of missing test scenarios including scenarios that utilize recently-updated user-generated code; assigning the first set of missing test scenarios a higher priority than the second set of missing test scenarios; and providing the first and second sets to the non-programmer user for generating corresponding parametric test scenario repairable by a non-programmer user.

9. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the data-oriented large-scale software system had a recent major system upgrade, and further comprising: identifying most of the scenarios that were changed because of the system upgrade as missing test scenarios; and assigning higher priority to changed scenarios that do have corresponding organization-specific in-use scenarios than to changed scenarios that do not have corresponding organization-specific in-use scenarios; whereby certain scenarios may become important to the organization as a result of the major system upgrade.

10. A non-transitory computer readable medium for use in a computer to identify missing test scenarios based on a repository of organization-specific in-use scenarios, the computer including a processor, and the non-transitory computer readable medium comprising:

program code for accessing a set of scenarios that are actually executed by a specific organization on a data-oriented large-scale software system, referred to as organization-specific in-use scenarios; each organization-specific in-use scenario executes at least two transactions; wherein the organization-specific in-use scenarios are identified by a program code for registering the executed transactions and program code for converting the registered transactions to scenarios utilizing a transaction-to-scenario mapping;

program code for comparing the organization-specific in-use scenarios with available test scenarios repairable by a non-programmer user, each available test scenario repairable by a non-programmer user tests at least two transactions, and at least 50% of instructions described in each test scenario repairable by a non-programmer are expressed by user interaction activities;

program code for identifying organization-specific in-use scenarios that do not have corresponding test scenarios repairable by a non-programmer user, referred to as first set of missing test scenarios; and

program code for providing at least one of the missing test scenarios to a non-programmer user for generating a test scenario repairable by a non-programmer user that covers the at least one missing test scenario and comprises instructions expressed by user interaction activities.

11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10 , further comprising program code for identifying the organization-specific in-use scenarios by registering the executed transactions and registering order of executing the transactions.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11 , further comprising program code for identifying the organization-specific in-use scenarios by registering context of executing the transactions.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11 , further comprising program code for identifying the organization-specific in-use scenarios by analyzing the authorizations of representative non-super-users.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11 , wherein generating the test scenario repairable by a non-programmer user comprises recording the non-programmer user executing the at least one missing test scenario.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the generated test scenario repairable by a non-programmer is a parametric test scenario repairable by a non-programmer user, which defines different alternatives for executing the test scenario.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10 , further comprising program code for identifying a second set of missing test scenarios including scenarios that utilize recently-updated user-generated code, assigning the first set of missing test scenarios a higher priority than the second set of missing test scenarios, and providing the first and second sets to the non-programmer user for generating corresponding parametric test scenario repairable by a non-programmer user.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the data-oriented large-scale software system had a recent major system upgrade, and further comprising program code for: identifying most of the scenarios that were changed because of the system upgrade as missing test scenarios, and assigning higher priority to changed scenarios that do have corresponding organization-specific in-use scenarios than to changed scenarios that do not have corresponding organization-specific in-use scenarios; whereby certain scenarios may become important to the organization as a result of the major system upgrade.

18. A computer system to identify missing test scenarios based on a repository of organization-specific in-use scenarios, the computer system comprising:

a storage device containing computer usable code; and

a processing unit operable to execute the computer usable code to:

access a set of scenarios that are actually executed by a specific organization on a data-oriented large-scale software system, referred to as organization-specific in-use scenarios;

each organization-specific in-use scenario executes least two transactions; wherein the organization-specific in-use scenarios are identified by registering the executed transactions and then convert the registered transactions to scenarios by a transaction-to-scenario mapping;

compare the organization-specific in-use scenarios with available test scenarios repairable by a non-programmer user, each available test scenario repairable by a non-programmer user tests at least two transactions, and at least 50% of instructions described in each test scenario repairable by a non-programmer are expressed by user interaction activities;

identify organization-specific in-use scenarios that do not have corresponding test scenarios repairable by a non-programmer user, referred to as first set of missing test scenarios; and

provide at least one of the missing test scenarios to a non-programmer user to generate a test scenario repairable by a non-programmer user that covers the at least one missing test scenario and comprises instructions expressed by user interaction activities.

19. The computer system of claim 18 , wherein the processing unit further executes the computer usable code to identify the organization-specific in-use scenarios by registering the executed transactions and registering order of executing the transactions.

20. The computer system of claim 19 , wherein the processing unit further executes the computer usable code to identify the organization-specific in-use scenarios by registering context of executing the transactions.

21. The computer system of claim 19 , wherein the processing unit further executes the computer usable code to identify the organization-specific in-use scenarios by analyzing the authorizations of representative non-super-users.

22. The computer system of claim 19 , wherein the generated test scenario repairable by a non-programmer is a parametric test scenario repairable by a non-programmer user, which defines different alternatives for executing the test scenario.

23. The computer system of claim 18 , wherein the processing unit further executes the computer usable code to identify a second set of missing test scenarios comprising scenarios that utilize recently-updated user-generated code, assign the first set of missing test scenarios a higher priority than the second set of missing test scenarios, and provide the first and second sets to the non-programmer user to generate corresponding parametric test scenario repairable by a non-programmer user.

24. The computer system of claim 18 , wherein the data-oriented large-scale software system had a recent major system upgrade, and the processing unit further executes the computer usable code to: identify most of the scenarios that were changed because of the system upgrade as missing test scenarios, and assign higher priority to changed scenarios that do have corresponding organization-specific in-use scenarios than to changed scenarios that do not have corresponding organization-specific in-use scenarios.