Risk-Based Testing

Many modern applications are highly complex and require a lot of testing. However, QA and development teams often lack the time and resources to test every program component. Thanks to risk-based testing, they can solve this potential problem and focus on the software’s most critical areas that require attention. By prioritizing tests based on risk, organizations can optimize their testing processes, reduce the likelihood of critical failures, and deliver software that meets both technical and business requirements. Furthermore, they achieved 35% higher ROI on their test investments according to a 2023 study.

What is Risk Based Testing in Software Testing?

As a software testing type, risk-based testing is a process in which the test execution of the QA team should be prioritized based on risk to make sure critical and vulnerable areas receive proper attention. By identifying major risk factors, teams determine how bugs impact and pinpoint which ones will likely cause defects.

Let’s consider risk based testing example, in the banking platform, user authentication and authorization, payment gateway, and credit assessment are high-risk areas because failures can contribute to financial loss, data breaches, and reputational damage. Conversely, showing an incorrect ATM location or failing to load the map presents a low risk. Just because it may be inconvenient for customers, it doesn’t lead to a security or financial vulnerability. Let’s discover how teams will act in this situation:

1. They identify functionalities (user authentication and authorization, payment gateway, credit assessment) as high risk due to the severe impact of potential failures while incorrect ATM location and map loading failure are considered low risk.
2. Theyplan and design test cases that will cover every possible scenario as well as assign tasks.
3. They start test executions from high-risk test cases to address issues first, while monitoring and carrying out standard test execution for low-risk test cases.
4. They continuously keep tracking to quickly detect and respond to any new issues.

What is the Purpose of Risk Based Testing?

The aim is to focus QA work on possible areas which are likely to fail or those whose failure would cause the most harm. They are the following:   

• Delivering a stable and reliable product for the most important functionalities.
• To minimize potential negative risks, consequences, prevent financial losses, avoid data breaches,  and protect the company’s reputation.
• To increase confidence in the product’s reliability, performance, and security.

What are Key Risk Categories in Software Testing?

When implementing risk-based testing, organizations typically consider several risk dimensions:

• Business risks: features and functionality which closely related to revenue generation, customer satisfaction, or competitive advantage.
• Operational risks: system reliability and stability, performance under load, or security weaknesses.
• Technical risks: complex code, architectural flaws, new technologies, security vulnerabilities.
• Compliance risks: features which require regulatory or legal adherence.
• Project risks: time constraints, resource limitations, third-party dependencies, insufficient skills

Knowing that, teams should systematically assess each app feature against these types of risks to have a better understanding of where potential issues might arise and what their potential impact is. Here you can find more information about risk management.

Who Performs Risk Based Testing?

When performing risk based testing in software testing, specialists work in collaboration throughout the software development lifecycle. While QA engineers or testers often carry out the execution, multiple specialists take part in identifying, assessing, and prioritizing risks. They are the following:

• QA Engineers/Testers. They are the key specialists who are responsible for identifying, assessing, and prioritizing risks from a testing perspective. They also design, execute, and maintain test cases focused on high-risk areas while reporting bugs and providing feedback on risk mitigation.
• Software Engineers. They fix identified bugs and point out technically weak parts of the system.
• Project Managers. They are responsible for allocating resources among teams or specialists and managing timelines based on risk priorities. They also take place in keeping the team aligned and informed about risks.

Principles of Risk-Based Testing

If you aim to prevent any risks which impact app functionality and launch high-quality applications, you should apply risk-based testing. To use it more effectively, you must understand the key principles of risk based testing. Here are some of those:

• Risk identification. Risks can stem from a variety of sources (technical complexities, integration points, user requirements, and security vulnerabilities) and should be identified. To effectively test, the level of effort should correspond to the software’s risk level.
• Risk assessment. Once risks are identified, they must be assessed to determine their likelihood and impact and focus testing activities where they’ll do the most good, because not every part of the application requires equal attention and needs testing.
• Test prioritization. To prioritize tests for the riskiest areas, either because they’re likely to fail or because failure would cause the most harm.
• Continuous risk monitoring. To make the process ongoing and iterative by identifying risks and splitting them into smaller units for better management.

How Risk-Based Testing Differs from Other Approaches

Understanding how risk-based testing compares to other methodologies is crucial for selecting the most effective strategy for your project.

Why Teams Need to Perform Risk-Based Testing?

• Teams can make certain that potential weak points and critical functionalities receive the most attention during the QA process.
• Teams can prioritize risks in accordance with available resources to make informed decisions about where to allocate their efforts.
• With risk based testing, teams can achieve higher-quality and quicker software releases and minimize the potential for software-related critical issues and the impact of the risk.
• Teams can increase test coverage through risk-based assessment activities such as test case prioritization, resource allocation, and schedule estimation.
• Teams can reduce the manual effort and incorporate test automation to run regression tests on high-risk functionalities regularly.

When to use Risk-based Testing?

Below, you can find information about projects or situations in which implementing risk based testing will be suitable:

• Projects with limitations — time, resources, and cost limitations.
• New projects that require attention in terms of high-risk internal or external factors, like a lack of technological experience or limited domain understanding.
• Projects with a focus on frequent software releases, an incremental and iterative model.
• Projects that lack clear requirements, have poor design, inadequate time planning, or insufficient resources.
• Projects that carry out security testing within cloud environments.
• Projects that focus on security, where risk-based analysis helps identify vulnerabilities.
• Complex projects with multiple integrations or numerous interdependencies which can be challenging to test.

Common Mistakes with Risk-Based Testing

Here is the overview of common mistakes which can delay the testing lifecycle but also impact user experience, business reputation, and customer satisfaction. Let’s discover which  mistakes should be avoided:

• Teams may delay risk analysis until later phases, rather than beginning it during planning and development.
• Teams may wrongly determine the acceptable level of risk and focus on high-risk areas only.
• Teams may inaccurately identify and resolve risks, which will affect future performance.
• Teams which involved in risk assessment lack the experience or knowledge to fully understand the impact of the test results.
• Teams don’t pay much attention when selecting resources to successfully address weak and vulnerable areas.

Benefits Of Risk Based Software Testing

By identifying and analyzing system-related risks, it becomes feasible to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of test execution.

Let’s reveal the benefits in detail:

💠 Increases testing efforts

With risk based testing in software testing, you can make sure that teams apply resources and their efforts toward the most critical areas of the software. Utilizing this risk based testing in agile allows them to concentrate their time and energy on the high-priority application areas, which could greatly affect users.

💠 Identifies defects earlier

When teams concentrate on risk based testing, they are able to detect issues and vulnerabilities in the early phases of the project. Such a preventative risk based testing strategy will help them avoid critical difficulties and decrease the likelihood of mistakes which may arise later in the cycle, thereby resulting in higher software quality.

💠 Faster time to market

Using risk based testing often results in quicker cycles. Teams can stop to test everything equally and prioritize the essential features for test execution. When they focus on features with higher risks, they can be quicker validated and verified. Teams can discover critical defects/issues earlier in the development lifecycle and deliver a functional and reliable product to the market faster.

💠 Enhances stakeholder trust

When teams align testing priorities with business risks, stakeholders can trust the QA process more. They understand that testing efforts have a focus on the features and functionalities that are critical to the project success.

💠 Reduces costs

With a risk based testing approach in agile, teams can achieve the most risk coverage with optimal resources for QA work. Thanks to concentrating test efforts on high-risk areas, they can increase bug finding rates in high-priority business features and functionality without growing the test budget, as well as reduce the total cost of the development.

Limitations Of Risk Based Testing

While RBT can help maximize the efficiency of the QA process, it also comes with its own set of challenges. Here are some of them:

Poor planning

Improper planning presents major challenges that may result in a chain reaction of problems across the project’s lifespan. So, there is a need to have a well-structured plan to run critical and priority tests first to prevent the final product from failing.

Potential Overlook of Lower-Risk Areas

When focusing on high-risk areas, lower-risk functionalities might receive less attention. Therefore, it might lead to non-critical bugs being overlooked. In the long run, it can reduce the overall software quality and compromise user experience, even if the high-risk areas function correctly.

Initial Time Investment

While effectively applying a risk based approach in testing, its initial phase needs a significant time investment. So, to set up an RBT, teams should organize a phase for risk identification and prioritization, which involves significant time and effort, especially in projects with tight timelines or where immediate results are required.

Require Skillset Development

The lack of knowledge of risk assessment methodologies can lead to serious consequences in QA work. Teams should be well-versed in how to effectively identify, evaluate, and prioritize risks. Also, they should know about tools or platforms, which are helpful in risk assessment. However, skill development can be seen as a barrier, especially for smaller teams or organizations with limited resources.

Incomplete coverage

When applying a risk-based approach, teams test only critical components of software applications, which means other important components are not yet fully tested. As a result, teams may deal with incomplete test coverage, which may lead to a higher risk of system failures.

Steps in a Risk-Based Testing Approach

The best way to implement a risk based approach testing within software testing is the following:

#1 Step: Risk Identification

At this step, stakeholders, developers, business analysts, and testers come together to discuss areas which are prone to errors. Thanks to their knowledge of the project, historical data and information for similar projects, defect reports, user stories, and industry expertise, they can identify potential issues.

#2 Step: Risk Analysis

Once the risks have been identified, you should undergo analysis to determine their likelihood and potential consequences. A risk-based approach focuses on the highest risks, so you need to define and rank them properly.  While ranking, you need to take into account the complexity of each area and calculate which risks present a significant danger to the organization or only cause minor inconveniences.

#3 Step: Risk Prioritization

Once you have identified and analyzed the risk, you need to prioritize risks. It’s important to mention that not all risks are equally critical. That’s why it is important to address high-impact and high-likelihood risks with the highest priority first, while medium and low priority risks can be solved later.

#4 Step: Test Planning & Test Design

At this step, you need to clearly define the test objectives, scope of testing, test cases, and testing strategy to respond to the identified risks. It’s also imperative to define the approaches, select relevant tools and frameworks, and create tests for high-priority risks. Additionally, you need to allocate the required resources, including test environments, teams, and time, according to the risk prioritization to make certain the test plan is implemented effectively.

#5 Step: Test Execution

Once the test cases are designed and budgets have been approved, you can start the QA process. You need to run tests according to the testing plan. This phase involves conducting tests and actively monitoring and responding to emerging risk information. After this step is completed, the process can begin again as new code, features, and functionality are added to the app.

#6 Step: Risk Control and Monitoring

At this step, you should control and monitor the risk-based test execution. When adding new test cases, updating or removing less relevant tests, you need to take into account new risks and prioritize them. Also, you can add extra test cases and allocate resources for them.

📊 Risk-Based Testing Results Reporting and Metrics

Below you can find some important reporting and analyzing metrics of risk-based testing. Let’s take a closer look below:

Number of Risks Identified

With this metric, testing teams can count the total number of unique risks that have been identified by using various activities – brainstorming sessions, requirements analysis, design reviews, and defect analysis, and then documented for further risk assessment and analysis.

Risk priority

This metric can be used for quantitative or qualitative assessment and to determine which areas of the software or which functionalities should receive the most attention and effort. It helps test teams to rank identified risks based on their consequence and probability of risk.

Number of test cases (planned vs executed)

When applying this metric, teams can measure the proportion of prepared test cases compared to the total tests which have been planned. Knowing that information, they can understand whether the test preparation stage is going according to plan and there are no delays or issues in test case development process.

Test cases executed

With this metric, teams can overview of how many tests are succeeding versus how many are failing. When teams see a high number of failures, it indicates instability or bugs in features which are not yet complete or working correctly. A high failure rate means the QA work is effective in finding issues.

Defect density

This metric shows teams how many bugs are in a specific piece of code (defect density) and how critical that piece of code is to the business or system (risk identified). It helps spend less time on low-risk and low-defect-density areas and use the budget and schedule efficiently.

Test coverage report

This metric determines the level to which your efforts have covered the codebase. Teams can assess the completeness of their effort and be in the know how thoroughly the software has been validated.

Risk coverage report

When considering the risk coverage, teams can find out how much of the company’s risk is covered by test cases. They will have a clear understanding of how effectively the test strategy has been implemented and see which identified risks have been addressed or covered by test activities.

Number of test cases of high severity still open

Thanks to this metric, teams understand that there are still issues that block the software from being released and could have severe consequences – system crashes, data loss, major functionality breakdown, security vulnerabilities without fixing.

Test effectiveness (risks identified and mitigated)

With this metric, teams can validate whether risk assessment and identification are accurate. They can also understand if a risk-based approach works or if their strategy and coverage need to be re-evaluated.

Test progress report

This metric shows the results of a test project. Teams can discover the current state of quality and test activities by reviewing the status of each test case, their results, any bugs found.

Risk-Based Test Report

Applying this metric allows testers to see if they tested the right issues/bugs effectively and focus on the most important risks. They can also find out which identified risks are now fixed or handled and why their efforts were spent on specific crucial areas. They can also discover if any big risks remain and if the software is ready to launch.

When tracking metrics mentioned above, you can make certain that your efforts are thorough and consistent. While there are a lot of other metrics you can track, it’s essential to use those that can get you closer to your business goals and launch high-quality software.

Best Practices For Implementing Risk-Based Testing

Below we highlight some tips and tactics to follow to lead to a successful RBT implementation:

1. Before evaluating risks, you need to define clear and consistent criteria for them. Also, you can use risk prioritization matrix and engage all stakeholders into the risk prioritization process.
2. You can apply a risk breakdown structure to help all engaged parties identify the risk prone areas and categorize many sources from which the project risks may arise.
3. You can use risk-based metrics for tests, which can help you visualize and show a lot of relevant information about test efforts, like the risk closure and status.
4. You can utilize test automation frameworks and AI-based tools to speed up the RBT process and improve quality.
5. You can use test cases that cover essential functionalities, consistently update and maintain in order to keep them relevant.
6. You can apply a test case management tool like testomat.io to streamline the implementation of RBT in agile for better risk identification.

Bottom Line: What About Using RBT?

Risk-based testing approach allows teams to prioritize the critical functionality of the software or system. When using this approach, you can optimize the QA process and target your testing efforts towards the areas of your application that are most likely to cause problems. By identifying, assessing, analyzing, and mitigating risks based on their prioritization, they can eliminate over-testing and focus on checking the most critical areas.

However, before establishing this approach, you need to make sure that communication between the stakeholders, software engineers and testers, which are engaged in the software project, is open and clear. They should do their best to identify and address potentially critical risks in the developed software products.

🙂 Drop us a line if you are interested in adopting RBT in your QA process.