2. Testing
Upgrading from one version of software to another introduces change. To ensure a trouble-free transition and to minimize risk, testing is essential. The amount of testing necessary depends on the scale of your installation and the number of applications.
When upgrading, the software is updated and any existing OpenROAD application images are re-imaged under the new version. Your test plan should include testing the following:
• The software upgrade process
• The applications that will use the upgraded software
• The rollout process
Conduct testing until all aspects of the upgrade work from start to finish without error.
Most applications will have an associated system test plan. It is a good idea to run this plan for all applications to ensure that the new version of the software and application has introduced no new issues. If no system test plan is available, then you should create one that will at least verify that the basic functionality of an application has not been affected adversely.
Consider the amount of user acceptance testing required, if any. In principle this should not be necessary; however, it depends on how much business knowledge is held by the team doing the system test. If the test team’s knowledge is considered inadequate to verify the basic application functionality, a stage of user acceptance testing will be required.