Portability Testing

June 9, 2019

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In the software field, the word 'portability' reflects the capability of a software product or application, to get easily shifted to other system and environment. Portability defines the degree of ease, associated with the software product, for getting ported to multiple platforms and easily adjusted to different environment.

What is Portability testing?

It is a testing technique, which is performed, to evaluate the portability quality of the software product or application. This type of testing ensures the software's efficiency, to get easily carried away across multiple systems and adjust it to their working environment.

The main motive behind this testing, is to verify and validate the correct and similar working of the software, across multiple working environment, using different resources, such as operating system, hardware, network configuration, ram, processor, disk space, etc.

Parameters for portability testing

This testing, takes following attributes, to evaluate the portability feature of the software product.

• Adaptability: It is the capability of the software, to get adapted to any environment, without applying any specific operation or settings.
• Installability: Defines the ability of the software to get, install to specific or target environment, with the use of available resources only.
• Replaceability: It measures the software's efficiency to work as a substitute, for carrying out the task of other software product in the given environment.
• Co-existence: Reflects the quality of the software product, to be compatible with the other existing software, working independently on the same system, while using the same resources.

How to do it?

Generally, following strategy is implemented, to carry out the activity of portable testing

• Identifying & gathering the portability requirements.
• Based on collected information, test cases for each requirement are being prepared.
• Thereafter, executing these test cases on the software product.
• Defects (if any) are being noted down, so as to inform the development team about the issue, in order to fix it.
• Re-testing software product, after implementing changes in it.

Overall, it can be said that the portable testing is a cost-saving testing, that prevents the organization's expenditure over software, after its failure, to move on to the other environment.