Evaluating and Selecting Testing Tools

A system using process and forms to give managers and tool evaluators a reliable way to identify the tool that best fits their organization's needs is discussed. It is shown that a tool evaluator must analyze user needs, establish selection criteria (including general criteria, environment-dependent criteria, tool-dependent functional criteria, tool-dependent nonfunctional criteria, and weighting), search for tools, select the tools, and then reevaluate the tools. Forms for recording tool selection criteria, classifying testing tools, profiling tool-to-organization interconnections, creating hardware and software profiles, and creating tool-interconnection profiles are presented. It is argued that, with these forms, evaluators have a reasonably accurate and consistent system for identifying and quantifying user needs, establishing tool-selection criteria, finding available tools, and selecting tools and estimating return on investment.