Stabilizing

When the BDD 2007 project life cycle reaches the Stabilizing Phase, all solution development is complete, and the Test feature team works to validate the deployment solution or, if necessary, assist in bringing the solution to the level that the developers intend. Figure 6 shows the detailed activities that must be performed during this phase. The core testing during this phase focuses on operating system images and software packages.

Figure 6. Activities during the Stabilizing Phase

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Roles and Responsibilities
Perform System Testing
Milestone: First Test Types Complete

Roles and Responsibilities

All six role clusters from the MSF Team Model play a role in the Stabilizing Phase of the initiative. Table 6 lists those roles and defines the focus areas for each role cluster.

For more information about MSF Role Clusters, see Microsoft Solutions Framework at https://www.microsoft.com/technet/itsolutions/msf/default.mspx.

Table 6. Roles and Responsibilities During the Stabilizing Phase

Perform System Testing

Testing during the Stabilizing Phase focuses on three test types. Remember that each type improves with the application of corrective actions identified at the previous type:

• Unit test

• Functional test

• Integration test

The Test feature team relies on the development engineers from each feature team to test the individual solution components. To confirm that the testing is complete, the Test feature team must require base testing reports from each team. These reports help determine whether functional testing is required at this stage. If so, the Test feature team must test each component individually. After this testing is complete, the team can focus on verifying that the components work together as prescribed by the Development feature team.

The Test feature team must pay particular attention to these aspects of the test process:

• Filing and rating bugs. Throughout the Stabilizing Phase, the Test feature team is involved in filing the test bugs and rating their severity. The team analyzes and prioritizes the bugs in regular test triage meetings. The bug severity depends on the impact that the bug is likely to have in a production environment. The higher the bug severity, the higher the degree to which it can affect deployment. The same criterion applies to bug priority.

• Solution redevelopment. Depending on the severity of the bugs the Test feature team discovers, additional solution development may be necessary. If so, timelines may slip as a result of the amount of time developers require to address each bug.

• Extended regression cycle. The regression cycle may also increase in cases where many bugs exist. The Test feature team will have already noted such risks in the test plan, but now is the time to initiate risk-mitigation strategies.

• Risk mitigation. To mitigate risks, Test feature team members must think creatively. In many cases, risks may be out of the control of the test team but must still be planned for. For example, if the Development feature team is late with its deliverables, the Test feature team can focus on other tests while waiting, including providing support to the other teams in areas such as application packaging or application compatibility testing.

Milestone: First Test Types Complete

Milestones are synchronization points for the overall solution. For more information, see the Plan, Build, and Deploy Guide. At this milestone, shown in Table 7, the first test types are complete.

Table 7. Deliverables

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