Early Estimate the Size of Test Suites from Use Cases

Software quality becomes an increasingly important factor in software marketing. It is well known that software testing is an important activity to ensure software quality. Despite the important role that software testing plays, little is known about the prediction of test suites size. Estimation of testing size is a crucial activity among the tasks of testing management. Work plan and subsequent estimations of the effort required are made based on the estimation of test suites size. The earlier test suites size estimation we do, the more benefit we will get in the process of testing. This paper presents an experience-based approach for the test suites size estimation. The main findings are: (1) Model of use case verification points. (2) Linear relationship between use case verification points and test case number. The test case number prediction model deduced from the data of real projects in a financial software company.