Investigation on test effort estimation of mobile applications: Systematic literature review and survey

摘要

Context: In the last few years, the exigency of mobile devices has proliferated to prodigious heights. The process of developing the mobile software/application proceeds amidst testing phase to verify the correctness of the mobile app. The estimation of testing plays a vital role in the effective completion of testing.Objective: To identify how estimation of test effort for mobile applications is distinct from other software via published literature and from mobile software organizations. Second is to recognize different issues in adapting traditional test estimation methods to the mobile domain and if suggestions from survey results could be helpful in providing an improved test estimation model for mobile applications.Method: A systematic literature review is conducted followed by a survey through an online questionnaire filled from experienced mobile application developers and testers.Results: The results from SLR cover identification of mobile app specific characteristics and reports test effort estimation techniques in the mobile domain. Findings from survey corroborate that a) Function Point/Test Point Analysis is highly adapted traditional test estimation technique to mobile domain; b) Challenges like uncertain requirements, no tool support for test estimation, complexity in testing, client miscommunication etc. are reported; c)Suggestions to improve test estimation process include proper test planning, adoption of agile methodology, healthier communication among client, developer, and tester etc.; d) On the basis of responses, Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP) identifies "Diverse Devices and OS" along with "Type of App" as highly influential mobile app characteristic on the test estimation process.Conclusion: Results conclude that the importance of identified mobile app characteristics from SLR cannot be ignored in the estimation process of mobile software testing. There might be a possibility to improve existing test estimation techniques for mobile apps by giving weight to mobile app specific characteristics and by considering suggestions from experienced developers and testers.