Commercial Component Integration Testing

Definition

Commercial component integration testing is the integration testing of multiple commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) software components to determine if they are not interoperable (i.e., if they contain any interface defects).

Objectives

The typical objectives of commercial component integration testing are to:

Determine if the commercial components will work properly together.
Identify any defects in how the components integrate that will require the development of additional “glue” code.

Preconditions

Commercial component integration testing can begin when the following preconditions hold:

The integration team is adequately staffed and trained in commercial component integration testing.
The integration environment is ready.
The commercial components have been:
- Obtained (either bought or an evaluation copy).
- Ported to the integration environment.
- Integrated.

Completion Criteria

Commercial component integration testing is complete when:

Blackbox functional testing that exercises the major interfaces between the commercial components has been completed.

Tasks

Commercial component integration testing involves the integration team performing the following testing tasks:

Environments

Commercial component integration testing is performed on the following environments using the following tools:

Integration Environment
- Test Harness

Phases

Commercial component integration testing consists of the following tasks being performed during the following phases:

TASK \ PHASE	*Initiation ()**	Construction	Delivery	Usage	Retirment
Test Planning	Completed	Maintained	Maintained	Maintained	Not Applicable
Test Reuse	Completed	Not Applicable	Not Applicable	Not Applicable	Not Applicable
Test Design	Completed	Not Applicable	Not Applicable	Not Applicable	Not Applicable
Test Implementation	Completed	Not Applicable	Not Applicable	Not Applicable	Not Applicable
Test Execution	Completed	Not Applicable	Not Applicable	Not Applicable	Not Applicable
Test Reporting	Completed	Not Applicable	Not Applicable	Not Applicable	Not Applicable

(*) Potentially some commercial component integration testing of COTS software components may occur during vendor and product evaluation.

Guidelines

Most COTS components were not designed to work together.
Even if multiple COTS components were designed to work together (and better yet, are developed by the same vendor), there is still no guarantee that they do not contain interface defects.
Tailor out if no COTS components are to be used or if the COTS components do not interface.
Component integration testing can elicit failures produced by defects that are difficult to detect during system or launch testing once the components have been completely integrated into the system.