There is nothing constant except change, which is the reason why evolution took place. Software development is not an exception to the rule of CHANGE. Software applications continue to evolve, releasing new versions to improve the existing software. Continuous improvisation is necessary in order to remain competitive thus change is truly inevitable. This brought the business need of verifying the adaptability of the software application both in the aspects of backward and upgrade compatibility testing.
Backward and upgrade compatibility go hand in hand. It is a mutual relationship and interaction that exists between these two terms of compatibility. Backward testing ensures that new and upgraded version of the product continues to work where the assets created from older product are known. In upgrade testing, apart from testing the new functionalities and enhancements, assets created with older versions can still be used properly and upgrade process should be simple. Proper migration should be given to the user so that they can migrate smoothly from old version to new version.
Software application compatibility is evaluated by first identifying the components that the product is designed to support. A matrix is designed that indicates the configurations on which the product will be tested. Testing scripts are designed that will be sufficient to evaluate compatibility between the product and the configuration matrix. Execution of test scripts against the matrix will result to detection of issues and problems.
Compatibility testing will definitely guide software developers to understand the criteria that their system/application needs to attain and achieve. The most important use of the compatibility testing is to ensure its performance in a computing environment in which it is supposed to operate. This helps in figuring out necessary changes/modifications/additions required to make the system/application compatible with the computing environment addressing concerns on incompatibilities and further enhance the existing software applications.
No consideration of compatibility testing is a frequent cause of software failure. It tests how well your website or software performs across different environments, browsers, operating systems, internet connection speed, and computing capacity of various hardware platforms using different versions and configurations to evaluate if there are interoperability issues between the application under test and the test environment. Many times, users prefer not to opt for an application/system just because it is not compatible with any other system/application, network, hardware or OS they are already using. This is the situation software developers do not want to experience, thus it is better to have a preventive approach. Engage with software compatibility testing to ensure that software systems are built and will execute properly across a broad range of user system configurations.
Rommie L. Patricio
Research and Development Manager
CheQ Systems, Inc.
