Non-functional tests: what are they and how can they help improve applications?

Does your company evaluate the performance of systems? According to a survey released by FGV (Fundação Getúlio Vargas), until then, the Brasil tem cerca de 242 milhões de celulares inteligentes em uso. The survey also shows that if we consider notebooks and tablets, the number of portable devices rises to 352 million, equivalent to 1.6 per Brazilian.

The advance in the use of these mobile devices has impacted the way of interacting with technologies, but that's not all. User behavior has changed and today people are in a hurry to access quality applications at record speed.

Nesse sentido, pode ser que a má experiência de um único cliente com um aplicativo, site ou software não impacte os resultados da empresa em um primeiro momento. Mas caso a experiência não mude, mais clientes podem desistir de usar a aplicação e, com isso, uma série de problemas podem aparecer. Assim, a empresa acaba, por exemplo, perdendo credibilidade e sofrendo prejuízos financeiros.

To ensure that applications performance well and that developers really deliver a product that meets user expectations, there is what we call non-functional testing.

In this article, we explain what these tests are all about, what are the main non-functional assessments and how they can help with the scalability and reliability of applications. Let's go?

What are non-functional tests?

Non-functional tests are assessments applied to identify whether or not a system complies with the resiliency, security and usability requirements necessary for the customer's experience of use. Therefore, they serve to assess not only whether the application works, but how reliable and easy to use the application is.

In these evaluation methods, the flows and performance of the software are tested during the user's navigation, in order to discover possible errors, threats and bottlenecks that can lead to unavailability.

Load, capacity and stress testing: what's the difference?

Quando se trata de engenharia de software, existem uma série de testes que podem ser aplicados para avaliar o desempenho e a qualidade de uma aplicação.

Here, we highlight the non-functional assessments that measure the performance of the website, application or system, such as: load testing, capacity and stress.

1. Load test

Load testing is a type of assessment used to capture and analyze key metrics about the use of an application subjected to different transaction and user loads.

By applying this test, the development team is able to obtain insights that can help resolve questions such as:

• What are the response times of each flow in my application?
• Onde estão concentrados os problemas de performance?
• Can the number of users accessing the application at the same time affect product performance?

2. Capacity assessment

The system capability assessment aims to identify product and infrastructure limits. So here the target is to find the amount of users and operations the application is able to support before stability becomes unacceptable.

• How many users can browse my site, application or system simultaneously without downtime? and make it unacceptable.
• How many transactions can be processed simultaneously within a target time window?

3. Stress test

The stress test is a method that aims to verify the performance of the application when it is subjected to loads above the limit defined by the developers.

In this non-functional test, it is possible to collect data on how the application behaves under extreme conditions to identify which system components may become unavailable or slow during use.

Why is the application of non-functional tests important?

Today, users use smartphones to access news, make purchases, do bank transactions, listen to music, among a series of other activities.

Therefore, we can say that technologies such as smartphones, notebooks and tablets have become almost part of human beings. Also, that the quality of the applications is practically a prerequisite for users to use the products and remain loyal to the company.

Before, waiting six seconds for a website to load was normal. However, today, if an app takes more than 3 seconds to open its features, it is considered slow and immediately replaced by another, better app.

For the user, this change from application to another does not represent much, after all, there is a list of systems available to download on the smartphone or access from the computer. But for the company, which invested in product development, this action could negatively impact its finances and brand image.

In this sense, there are no doubts: making non-functional assessments is very important for developers to identify what needs to be improved in the application. Só assim é possível entregar uma experiência satisfatória aos usuários e melhorar os números de acesso.

Os testes não funcionais podem ajudar na escalabilidade e confiabilidade da aplicação?

The non-functional testing enable the development team to simulate the use of a large number of users and transactions in the software simultaneously.

The result of these tests, in turn, allows professionals to make accurate analyzes on the performance of applications and, on top of that, manage to identify points of improvement to increase reliability and the ability of users and transactions to use the product.

Of course, for the tests to have a good result, it is necessary that the non-functional assessments sejam feitas corretamente. Nesse caso, a Vericode pode ajudar, uma vez que a nossa empresa conta com uma equipe especialista em testes funcionais e não funcionais.

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