Test Gap Analytics (TGA)

Typically, software development teams either conduct infrequent periodic releases or they employ some level of continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD). In most pipelines, the codebase is constantly changing, but test cases don’t get updated at the same rate. Sometimes, the testers simply aren’t aware of some of the code changes. At other times, a critical code change is pushed soon after suite of tests have been run. Though these tests may appear to pass, the latest code change may have broken some of those tests. This is a test gap.

Test Gap Analysis (TGA) identifies gaps in which one or more team members deploy new code and this code has yet to be tested. TGA requires analysis of all code changes and current test coverage. Comparing recent code changes with test coverage will reveal test gaps—areas of new code that have not been adequately tested.

While TGA identify untested new code, it can also help you in other ways. For example, because it monitors everything that you are testing, TGA may identify outdated code. This is code that continues to be tested, but is no longer in use by the application or system. TGA can also indicate which areas need the most testing attention. Regular test gap analysis can help managers improve test planning, keep the primary focus on testing new code, and also ensure good test coverage.

TGA helps development teams be more efficient with regards to being focused on building only the required tests, rather than spending lot’s of their resources on building redundant tests or tests around code areas that haven’t changed for long time. With the TGA, they will end up adding the minimal number of tests with the maximum impact on quality.

Close your test gaps with SeaLights TGA

SeaLights Test Gap Analytics gives clear visibility into the quality risks that accumulate over time. While most software teams rely on static code analysis to detect defects, SeaLights performs dynamic analysis that goes beyond unit testing to identify exposure in various types of tests—including regression tests, functional tests, API tests, integration tests, and also exploratory and manual tests.

Test Gap Analytics identifies all quality risks for a specific time period, and includes the following:

• all builds

• all test stages

• all code changes

These analytics provide development managers with a better assessment of the probable quality level inherent in recent code changes. This knowledge is critical for prioritizing any urgent testing effort. Learn more in Performing Test Gap Analysis.

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