Deriving high-priority acceptance test cases using utility trees: A case study

Even though software testing is considered a mature field in software engineering, deriving test cases is still an important issue and even more when related to quality requirements. Utility Trees are used to evaluate software architectures, organizing requirements as scenarios associated to quality attributes and decorating them with stakeholder-given priority and developer- given difficulty. In this article, we propose an approach to use Utility Trees to derive prioritized acceptance test cases allowing to focus in high-value tests. The technique has been tried in two medium-sized projects for a Chilean public agency, with positive results. This innovative use of Utility Trees offers a simple, collaborative way to focus testing resources.