Save development costs through early bug identification

By Thomas Cronje, SA team leader for Application Quality, Compuware

By identifying and fixing bugs early in the software development process, developers can ensure higher quality and less costly applications.

An enduring challenge for software developers is to identify and fix bugs early as well as consistently. Costs can rise alarmingly if defects are not corrected near the beginning of the development phase, only to emerge later during the testing of an application.

A new approach to application testing, Continuous Integration Testing (CIT), cost-effectively increases both the number of testing cycles and the resulting application quality. The approach also reduces the amount of time and money it takes to fix application problems.

In today's brutally competitive marketplace with tight budget constraints, business managers are challenged to find new ways to improve business performance. They require business applications that can be modified quickly to reflect future market changes. Gone are the days when the IT organisation had all the time it needed to deliver applications to the business.

CIT enables IT to become more responsive to business needs, while meeting ever-tighter development schedules. It enables the organisation to maximise the use of testing throughout the development process, to increase overall application quality and gear it to meet business needs.

Bugs are found almost immediately, and repaired within 24 hours of their creation. This in turn shortens testing times.

Costs are also reduced over time, as errors are corrected almost immediately and not weeks or months later as is often the case in traditional functional testing.

CIT provides integrated tools for development and testing, bringing down the traditional barrier that often exists between the development and quality assurance (QA) teams. Both get a more universal view of the application lifecycle process, and quality improves as the QA team is involved from the start.

The approach also provides a common toolkit that both development and QA testers can use to increase productivity.

By helping to move the IT organisation towards more continuous development, CIT enables IT managers to adopt the benefits of continuous integration while using their current development and testing practices. This is cost effective and increases return on investment.