Tracking metrics in QA has been a fundamental activity for quite some time now. But often, development teams do not fully look at how relevant these metrics are in relation to all aspects of the business. For example, the typical tracked metrics such as defect ratios, validity, test productivity, code coverage etc. are usually evaluated in terms of the functional aspects of the software, but few pay attention to how they matter to the business aspects of software.
There are also other metrics that can add much value to the business aspects of the software, which is very important when an overall quality view of the software is looked at. These can be broadly classified into:
- Needs of the beta users captured by business analysts, marketing and sales folks
- End-user requirements defined by the product management team
- Ensuring availability of the software at peak loads and ability of the software to integrate with enterprise IT systems
- Support for high-volume transactions
- Security aspects depending on the industry that the software serves
- Availability of must-have and nice-to-have features in comparison to the competition
- And a few more….
