By Prof. Dr. Mario Winter
(Professor for Computer Science at the Universtiy of Applied Sciences Cologne and founding member of the German Testing Board e.V.)

The new syllabus for the ISTQB® Certified Tester Advanced Level is currently finding its way into practical use. By March 2009, all training providers will switch to the new scheme and submit their documentation for reaccreditation. This does not just involve a few minor non-substantive changes to the “old” 2003 syllabus, but a fundamentally revised, up-dated, deepened and extended offer for software testers, who want to go significantly beyond the basic know-how of the „Foundation Level“ – be it as test manager, test analyst or as technical test analyst.

The International Software Testing Qualifications Board (ISTQB®) passed the new syllabus for the  ISTQB® Certified Tester Advanced Level at the end of 2007. The translated German version from the German Testing Board (GTB) has been available since October 2008, and as of June 2009 at the latest, all training providers accredited by the GTB, STB (Swiss Testing Board) or ATB (Austrian Testing Board) will exclusively offer courses based on the new Advanced Level syllabus. The first thing that participants will notice is that the contents have been significantly extended: Whilst the previous 2003 syllabus had 38 pages, the new syllabus boasts a total of 114 pages. This does not mean that the new Advanced-Level testers will simply learn more. The courses will also offer them a significantly larger and more intensive practical content. The ratio between classical knowledge transfer and practical exercises during the seminars, which will now take five instead of previously 3 days, is approximately 50 : 50.

Advanced contents for advanced testers

In this respect, the Advanced Level of the Certified-Tester training scheme has become a lot more „advanced“ than it has previously been. The extended scope and the strengthening of the practical part distinguish it more clearly from the basic training (see fig.). Incorporated into the new Advanced Level syllabus are also the many experiences and Best Practices proposed by the roughly 40 national boards of the ISTQB®. At the same time, this international mixture has contributed to a stronger standardisation. National procedures which have differed so far could be harmonised. This sort of standardisation will be beneficial particularly for multi-national software projects, for example in the context of offshoring of IT activities. It enables for instance test managers to use the same technical terminology across continents.

Analytical minds are being sought

The stronger practical orientation of the new ISTQB® Certified Tester Advanced Level is also reflected in the extended learning objectives. The previous syllabus was aimed at the candidates’ ability to know and execute the required activities. The new syllabus goes beyond that in that it promotes and requires cognitive proficiency and analytical capability in the different situations, in which testers and test managers may find themselves.

Here are two examples: During the course, the candidates will go through a scenario and should apply the technique of equivalence partitioning. This is a classic “apply” task. More abstraction capabilities and analytical skills are demanded by the following exercise: Certain product and project figures are presented which show that a project has been delayed. How can this delay be explained? Which steps are to be taken in order to get the project timescales back on track? This type of context-based task is found in the training courses of the new Advanced Level, and can consequently also be found in the final examinations.

The new contents

The new ISTQB® Certified Tester Advanced Level distinguishes between three specialist profiles: test manager, test analyst and technical test analyst. Whilst so far the focus was predominantly on the mainly functionally oriented test analyst, the training will in future offer more contents and techniques in the direction of the other two special areas. All three areas are now anchored as equivalent and clearly distinguished training modules. They can also be taught and examined separately.

Overall, the ISTQB® has clearly distinguished the new Advanced Level from the Foundation Level. There is virtually no overlap in contents any more. Each chapter taught is coupled with clear and unambiguous learning objectives. Metrics and indicators for measuring progress in the software life cycle play a new and important role. In addition to this, the new Advanced Level differentiates between certain specifications of software systems. The course participants come to know the specific characteristics of safety-critical or embedded systems, such as the systems used in the automotive industry.

Test manager

The test manager training offers amongst others the following new and improved contents:

• How can the benefit of testing for the respective business objectives be measured and shown?
• What are the specific characteristics of distributed testing, be it through outsourcing or insourcing?
• What is „Failure Modes and Effects Analysis“ (FMEA) and how can it be applied?
• What can test management accomplish in specific contexts such as safety-critical systems or in testing non-functional attributes?
• How can the documents of test management be created and improved?
• Which techniques are available for progress control and for risk-based testing?

Test analyst and technical test analyst

With regard to the test techniques, the Advanced Level now differentiates between four different categories: specification-based and structure-based as well as defect-based and experience-based test design techniques. The training also introduces additional test techniques such as the „all-pairs-method“. New are also additional fault taxonomies, targeted fault attacks on systems as an experience-based technique, and static analysis of system architectures. In dynamic analysis, the test analysts no longer merely name the defects but describe and classify them as well.

The biggest progress has been made by the new Advanced Level in its clear differentiation between functionally oriented and technically oriented test analysts. Whilst the former concentrate on specification-based as well as defect-based and experience-based test design techniques, the technical test analyst comes to know all test techniques – with the exception of a few special specification-based techniques.

In addition to this, the new syllabus offers the following new contents:

• Testing of the product quality attributes such as functionality, reliability or maintainability as defined by ISO 
• Management reviews and audits
• Additional techniques for incident management
• Introduction of additional standards with a focus on test process improvement
• New techniques for test automation
• New test tools for test automation
• Recommendations for industrialisation of test processes

Practice-oriented

The Certified Tester Advanced Level has in its new form developed into a practical training scheme covering the concrete every-day requirements of industry. Its new and clearly demarcated description of the different fields of testing follows the trend which commercial software quality assurance has been going through for the past years. In particular, the separate perspectives on functional and technical testing fulfil to an extremely high degree the requirements of today’s software projects.

By incorporating these experiences and Best Practices into an international standard, the upgraded training and qualification scheme also strengthens the status of the testing profession in general, and pushes the testing of software further towards a career profile for highly qualified specialists. That way the software industry will benefit from more professional and practice-oriented testers. In another way, higher qualified career paths will be opened up for the qualified software testers.

Info box:

Questions and answers relating to the new Advanced Level

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