Distributed agile: Component-based user acceptance testing

Testing is conducted at multiple levels during the development of software. User Acceptance Testing conforms that the software meets user's criteria. In this paper, User Acceptance Testing is automatically conducted based on acceptance criteria. The acceptance criteria are written in the form of Given-When-Then Template. These acceptance criteria are broken down into steps and numbered. The dependencies among the steps are determined as Given->When->Then. Henceforth, the steps are arranged in a dependency graph. This graph further leads to the creation of a decision table in which the outcome of one step leads to the outcomes of its dependent steps. The decision table forms the basis of generation of a binary weighted dependency tree. This tree becomes the means to form test coverage (number of combinations to test) which forms the basis of generation of acceptance test cases.