What Is Baseline Testing and How It Enhances Software Quality

A couple of years ago, a committee of Chief Information Officers and senior technical managers calculated that the average organization spent roughly 23% of their annual IT budget on quality assurance and software testing services.

Proportion of IT budget spent on QA and software testing, Statista

The purpose of subsidizing quality assurance and testing is to demonstrate that a company’s software products are secure and defects-free.

However, the most consequential problem associated with IT quality assurance and testing is often represented by its cost.

The average software development company reportedly spends more than a quarter of its IT budget funding these functions, so it is little wonder that they are trying new means (e.g., AI in software testing, automated tools, etc.) to lower these costs.

Today, we will dwell on the essentials of baseline testing: what it is, why it is performed, and how to use free tools such as Storm Petrel Expected Baselines Rewriter to downsize QA expenses.

What Is Baseline Testing?

Baseline testing refers to taking a snapshot of how the software application performs or functions at the beginning. This “baseline” becomes a reference point to test future changes and verify that updates do not damage the software’s performance or functionality.

Speaking about software testing, the baseline testing checks several important areas, including:

• How well the system performs (speed, resource usage, etc.).
• Whether central parts of the software work correctly.
• Evenness in the look and feel of the user interface.

Importance and Benefits of Baseline Testing

Overall, baseline testing confirms consistency in the performance and functionality of an application throughout its lifetime.

In particular, its value lies in its capacity to find performance regressions introduced by updates or optimizations; validate amendments before deployment to minimize end-user disorders; and build trust in software dependability by sticking to standards that remain intact.

Without a base, comparisons of new iterations against previous versions involve high-handed decisions in which mistakes or omissions can be made.

Baseline performance testing also serves to clarify communications among developers, testers, and other team members. Because it uses the same set of performance metrics, it keeps everyone on the same page regarding what good output is.

The shared understanding engenders trust with the stakeholders and exhibits the team’s commitment to delivering reliable software.

Besides, baseline testing saves a lot of time and money. Problems found earlier result in fewer costly fixes later on. Baseline testing can also facilitate continuous improvement by highlighting clear evidence of performance improvement over time.

In industries where regulatory standards are a must, baseline testing helps keep the system in compliance. It also helps teams understand how the system will scale when it has to grow or face more complex tasks.

Examples of Baseline Testing

Baseline testing is done across many situations to prove the software systems behave predictably and that their reliability remains the same over time with all updates and modifications.

In web performance, baseline tests are in most cases done before releasing new features. It may also involve checking the loading time of a website, server response speed, or efficiency in database queries.

Baseline testing for mobile applications is mainly done to measure battery consumption, responsiveness of the app, and crash rates.

For API performance, baseline tests are run to determine latency—how long it takes for data to cross from one system to another—and throughput, which is how much data can be processed at any one time.

These tests provide confidence that newer API integrations work according to expected performance norms and will not cause delays or malfunction in communicating systems.

Baseline Testing in the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)

Baseline testing is very important in every stage of the SDLC because it confirms that the software is working well at every particular stage.

During the requirement analysis phase, it helps the teams to clearly state what software should perform and what features the software should have.

Baseline testing, at the start of development, shows that early versions of software are in conformance with set goals so the problems can be proactively found and fixed.

During the testing phase, it checks whether updates or new features have caused performance problems or breakages in existing functionality.

Even after the software is launched, baseline testing stays practical. During the maintenance phase, it ensures that patches or updates don’t harm the software’s performance or resilience.

Baseline vs. Benchmark Testing

Baseline testing and benchmark testing may sound similar but in reality, they have different objectives.

Baseline testing is a starting point to measure changes over time. It answers such a question as, “Are we remaining consistent with our original standards?”

Benchmark testing, however, compares your software’s performance against industry standards or competitors. This is the type of testing that answers another question: “How do we compare to others?”

To put it briefly, baseline testing looks inward and tracks consistency within your project, whereas benchmarking looks outward to determine how your software stands up to the competition.

Baseline vs. Load Testing

Baseline performance testing is often compared to load testing. Still, baseline testing tests the behavior of the system during normal, everyday use. It provides a point of reference to monitor changes to the system over time.

Load testing, in its turn, examines how the system performs under intense conditions, such as a high number of users or resource-hungry processes, to determine its threshold and maximum capacity.

Points to Be Considered in Baseline Testing

To make baseline testing more organized and systematized, there are a few things to pay attention to.

First things first, focus your testing on the most important metrics of your application—those that directly relate to its success. Second, run your tests in a stable, controlled environment so the results are accurate.

Likewise, it is relevant to clearly document your baseline and store it for comparisons later. Keep in mind that as your system continues to develop, the baseline should be updated to reflect changes.

Finally, where possible, use automation tools in repetitive testing tasks. Automation saves lots of time and provides consistency throughout the process of testing.

SCAND’s Free Baseline Testing Software: Storm Petrel Expected Baselines Rewriter

If you are looking for a robust yet free system for directing baseline testing, Storm Petrel Expected Baselines Rewriter by SCAND is the perfect option. This utility has been developed keeping in mind ease of use and high productivity.

Storm Petrel will let you capture and record initial performance baselines with ease to provide a consistent reference for future comparisons.

The instrument also makes it easy to update and rewrite baselines after system upgrades, so your benchmarks stay relevant as your software unwinds.

In addition, it integrates with continuous integration/continuous deployment pipelines and can complement your code coverage work by helping you maintain well-ordered testing against the whole system.

In general, Storm Petrel helps keep the standards of performance without any cost; hence, practical use in teams of any size.