Build Verification Testing (BVT Testing) – A Quick Guide

Every tester spends excessive time understanding the application and its specifications to test it. But imagine the wastage of time and cost for testers when the software build, which developers pass for testing, keeps failing every test. All of this is possible to avoid by using Build Verification Testing or BVT.

The process consists of individually checking the software builds to ensure they are going for testing only after the build is stable and ready.

Let’s learn about BVT and its process.

What Is Build Verification Testing?

Build verification testing, or BVT, is a set of tests run on every new build to check if the build is stable and ready for further testing. It consists of test cases that validate the core features of the software build. Any build that fails BVT is rejected and goes back to the developers for resolution. Later, it comes back after a fix, and regression testing happens on it with the same set of test cases.

The idea is to save time and resources by eliminating the back-and-forth between the build and testing phases. And this testing proves highly useful when there are multiple inter-dependent builds. It is also called Smoke testing and mainly checks for build verification and acceptance.

An example of BVT is verifying the basic functions of a registration form, such as page rendering and successful registration upon providing the correct credentials. Any build that functions according to its expected behavior passes the BVT testing and moves ahead for further testing.

Why Build Verification Testing?

BVT aims to ensure that the system or the build exhibits the expected behavior as defined in specifications documents. Some of the reasons why you should perform build verification testing are as follows:

• Early detection of issues: BVT is conducted in the early stages of development or after making significant changes to a system. By verifying the expected behavior, you identify bugs and resolve them early on, reducing the likelihood of more severe problems later in the development cycle.
• Risk mitigation: BVT helps mitigate risks associated with the system’s behavior. It identifies potential risks such as security vulnerabilities, data loss, or incorrect functionality by validating and addressing the expected behavior before the system gets deployed to production.
• Verification of requirements: BVT ensures that the system meets the specified requirements or specifications. It helps validate that the system performs the intended functions and behaves correctly.
• Confidence in system functionality: Performing BVT assures that the system is functioning properly and helps build confidence among stakeholders, including developers, testers, project managers, and end-users, about its quality.
• Efficiency and time savings: By conducting BVT, any deviations from the expected behavior can be identified promptly. This allows developers to make the necessary corrections early on, reducing the overall time and effort required for testing and debugging.
• Customer satisfaction: BVT ensures that the system meets the expected behavior, which in turn increases the likelihood of customer satisfaction as they receive a reliable and functional product.

Principles of BVT

Primarily, the principles of BVT are developing a stable build, verifying the build’s health, and moving toward automation. These three points basically cover multiple aspects of BVT, such as:

• Early Testing: BVT should be performed as early as possible in the development cycle to catch issues and bugs at an early stage. It helps identify and rectify problems before they become complex and costly to fix.
• Focus on Critical Functionality: BVT prioritizes testing the critical functionalities of the system or software component that significantly impact the overall build performance or user experience.
• Test End-to-End Scenarios: BVT should include test scenarios that cover the end-to-end functionality of the system. Such an approach is useful in verifying the interaction between different components of the system.
• Clear and Measurable Criteria: The testing should have clear and measurable criteria for determining each test case’s expected behavior and success measure.
• Reproducibility: BVT should be reproducible, with the tests being the ability to execute multiple times with the same inputs and produce the same results. Reproducibility is important for debugging and investigating issues that arise during testing.
• Documentation: You must be able to well-document the BVT process, including test plans, test cases, and test results. This helps in maintaining a record of the testing process, facilitates collaboration among team members, and provides a reference for future testing and maintenance activities.
• Automation: Whenever feasible, leverage automation tools and frameworks to streamline the testing process. Automation helps increase efficiency, reduce human errors, and enable repeated execution of tests, allowing for faster feedback on the system’s behavior.

The Process of BVT Testing

You know that BVT consists of certain core functionality tests to check if the software build is ready for testing. Now, let’s see how the BVT process happens and what steps are involved in it.

Performing BVT is quite straightforward: run pre-defined, repetitive tests to see if the build is functioning as it is supposed to. And because the tests are redundant, automating your BVT process using automation tools is logical. Follow these steps to run BVT:

• Select the right BVT tests from the already defined test cases.
• Execute the test cases as part of your CI/CD pipeline.
• Analyze and report the test results upon every run.
• In case a BVT test fails, send it back to the developer, log the results, and reject the build.
• Now, developers will work on the issue resolution based on your report and feedback.
• They will send back a new build after fixing the problem, which will again go through BVT with the same set of tests.
• If the build passes BVT, move it forward for testing; otherwise, reject it and send it back for further resolution.

These steps are general guidelines, and the actual implementation of BVT may vary based on the project’s specific needs, complexity, and context.

Why Automation Is Essential For Build Verification Testing?

BVT tests must be automated because automation makes testing extremely accessible and easy. And since these tests are run repeatedly to ensure the build is ready for the testing phase, automation also saves time and cost. The best way to approach BVT automation is to automate everything from start to end, including the build release process and the BVT results.

Automation tools assist in running the tests. And because BVT focuses only on core functionalities, you can go for tools that offer simple yet effective ways to write and execute tests. Testsigma is one such automation tool that provides testers the ability to save and re-run test cases, which is an important part of the BVT process. Another advantage of using Testsigma for BVT is the tool’s feature allowing testers to create test cases in plain English and save them whenever. It further helps that the tool supports web, mobile, desktop and API testing broadening your testing horizons.

Automate your BVT tests, for web, mobile, desktop, and APIs, from the same place, with Testsigma

Some Benefits Of BVT Testing

Behavioral Verification Testing (BVT) offers several benefits in the software development process. Some of the key benefits of BVT include:

• Checks all major core functionalities before executing in-detail tests, thereby saving time and money
• Detects potential bugs even before the testing phase starts
• Helps mitigate risks associated with the behavior of the system
• Ensures that the system adheres to the specified requirements or specifications
• Instills confidence in the development team, testers, project managers, and stakeholders by thoroughly verifying the behavior of the system

Tips For Selecting Build Verification Tests

Some tips you should keep in mind while selecting build verification tests are:

• Choose all the test cases that cover the core and major functionalities of the software.
• Select test cases that cover end-to-end scenarios of user interactions or system processes.
• Include test cases that cover various input combinations, boundary values, error conditions, and exceptional scenarios.
• Ensure to mention the right version details about the build in the tests.
• Go for test cases that can be automated and executed within 30 minutes.
• Add BVT tests as a part of your CI process.
• Allocate more test cases to high-risk areas to verify and mitigate potential risks thoroughly.
• Select the scalable tests that can be re-used with new additions and modifications of build functionalities.

Build Verification Testing Checklist

By now, you have a clear idea about BVT and its scope. And while you can start performing the tests, it is good to have a checklist ready to make sure no critical step goes missing. Follow the below list for running your BVT process.

• Develop a BVT test plan outlining the objectives, scope, and test coverage.
• Verify that all the test cases within BVT cover the major functionalities of the build.
• Check if all the tests included in the final testing process are sufficient for build verification.
• Define the entry and exit criteria and follow them strictly.
• Identify and prioritize the test cases.
• If feasible, try to automate all tests.
• Provide detailed reporting of the bugs and rejected builds.
• Follow a standard guideline when the build fails BVT and goes back to developers for a fix.
• Ensure to properly follow the build pass criteria, i.e., do not even overlook any minute issue when it comes to qualifying the build as pass or fail.
• Maintain the automation script with the right input values to re-run them for testing rejected builds after resolution.

Conclusion

BVT is a test that is conducted before the detailed testing phase on every new software build. The goal of BVT is to check the core features of the build to see if it is stable and ready for testing. BVT prevents the failing of test cases when the testing on the build actually starts. Build owners work on incoming builds to identify the issues and reject or pass them based on the outcome. With BVT, we only aim to validate the basic functionality of the software rather than verifying all the possible edge cases.

Most of the BVT test cases are automated as they need to be re-run to test new or existing builds that keep coming for testing. You can automate BVT test cases using tools that support writing and executing small, basic tests in record time with lesser resources. Testsigma is equipped with AI to assist testers in creating tests that can be saved, re-run, and written in plain English to perform the BVT process easily. The tool is popular for its accessible testing methods, including NLP-based scripting, data-driven testing, and reusable test groups, which are all required for BVT.

We encourage you to explore Testsigma for all your testing requirements. Register for a free demo to learn more about the tool and how it will help you to create end-to-end tests 5X faster for web, mobile apps, & APIs.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who performs BVT?

Developers or testers can both perform BVT. Often, the person who executes and maintains BVT results is called the BVT owner and takes care of the testing process before rejecting or passing the build as per the outcome.

What is the difference between build verification testing and build acceptance testing?

Build verification testing is also called build acceptance testing, which focuses on accepting the build for the detailed testing phase. Both terms are interchangeable in meaning.

What is an example of BVT testing?

An example of BVT can be verifying the core functionality of an e-commerce application by signing in and adding products to a cart to buy. For a video/audio sharing app, it can be checking if the videos/audios are displaying and playing as intended. By definition, BVT does not include every edge case but only focuses on validating the primary feature of the build.