iSQI TMMi-P_Syll2020 TMMi - Test Maturity Model Integration Professional Exam Practice Test

Aspecific practiceis an expected component of the TMMi model. Expected components describe what an organisation will typically implement to achieve required components, such as specific and generic goals. Specific practices are activities that are crucial for achieving the specific goals of a process area, and they are evaluated during assessments to determine whether the goals have been met.

A. Required component (II): Must be achieved. These are specific and generic goals that are mandatory for reaching a particular maturity level.

B. Expected component (III): Will typically be implemented. Expected components include specific and generic practices, which provide guidance on how to achieve required goals.

C. Informative component (I): Supports the understanding. Informative components provide details that help organisations understand and implement the required and expected components effectively, such as sub-practices and example work products.

The specific practice "Testers review test basis documents" belongs to thePeer Reviewsprocess area. At TMMi Level 3, the Peer Reviews process area involves static testing activities where testers and other stakeholders review key work products, such as requirements and design documents, to identify defects early in the lifecycle. By involving testers early through these reviews, organisations can enhance testability and improve overall quality.

At TMMi Level 5, theQuality Controlprocess area becomes relevant as it focuses on statistically managing and controlling the test process. Since the organisation is already at TMMi Level 4, moving to Level 5 involves ensuring that the test process is fully predictable, measured, and statistically controlled.Quality Control is a key process area in achieving TMMi Level 5 compliance, alongside other areas such as Defect Prevention and Test Process Optimization.

Informal assessments, as described in the TMMi framework, are often quicker and cheaper as they do not require the extensive corroboration of evidence that formal assessments do. One key characteristic of informal assessments is that they may rely solely on interviews, without using other forms of corroboration such as documentation reviews or observations. These informal assessments provide an indicative view of the organization's maturity level but do not result in formal certification​

At TMMi Level 3, the organisation's test processes become more structured, managed, and standardised. It requires defining and implementing a consistent set of test processes across projects and organisational units. One key factor for achieving TMMi Level 3 is the integration of process asset development.

"Process Asset Development" is directly related to establishing organisational test process assets, which is a critical element at TMMi Level 3. This practice area includes developing and maintaining organisational process assets, which encompass the standard processes that will be used across various projects. These assets are required to ensure that testing is a well-defined, repeatable, and efficient process throughout the organisation.

According to the TMMi Framework 1.3, process asset development supports the implementation of defined and repeatable processes and helps with creating guidelines for tailoring processes across the organisation. It provides the necessary framework for consistency in test planning, execution, and reporting, which are key at this maturity level​.

This practice aligns with the goals of TMMi Level 3, where the focus is on defining, standardising, and integrating the test lifecycle within the overall development lifecycle, thus ensuring that test processes are well-established across the organisation. Hence, Process Asset Development (Option B) is critical for the organisation's progression to TMMi Level 3.

In a staged model like TMMi, an organisation follows a predefined improvement path that includes a set of process areas organised by maturity levels. Each level builds upon the previous one, and the organisation progresses in a step-by-step manner through these maturity levels to improve its processes. The staged model is well-structured and prescriptive, offering a clear improvement roadmap for the organisation.

The generic practice"Establish a defined process"addresses the need to tailor a managed process from the organization’s set of standard processes. This practice is part ofGeneric Goal 3 (GG 3), which aims to ensure that processes are standardized and defined across the organization. By tailoring processes based on established guidelines, organizations can create specific implementations that fit their projects while maintaining consistency and control across the organization.

TMMi References:

In TMMi, establishing a defined process involves tailoring standard processes to suit specific project needs, ensuring the institutionalization of best practices across projects​​.

TheTesting quadrantsmodel is an Agile practice that helps establish a test strategy, as it provides a framework for categorising different types of tests (e.g., business-facing or technology-facing) and helps in balancing test activities. Within the TMMi Level 2 process area for Test Policy and Strategy, testing quadrants offer an Agile way to define and implement a test strategy that ensures comprehensive testing across various levels and types of testing activities.

The assessment described, where only interviews are used to collect evidence, aligns with aninformal TMMi assessment. Informal assessments are more flexible and do not require documentary evidence to corroborate interview data. They provide an indicative view of the organisation’s maturity but do not result in a formal maturity rating or certification​​.

This statement isFALSEbecause in Agile environments, acentralized process improvement projectmay not align with the decentralized, self-organizing nature of Agile teams. Agile emphasizes local, team-driven improvements rather than a top-down, centralized approach. Continuous, local improvements within Agile teams are more suitable than attempting to manage improvements across the organization in a centralized manner, which is more characteristic of traditional environments.

TMMi References:

In Agile contexts, improvement actions are typically implemented locally within teams rather than through a centralized project, aligning with Agile's principles of team autonomy​​.

A test policy is a high-level document that outlines the objectives, goals, and strategic views regarding testing. It serves to align testing activities with the organisation's business objectives and quality goals. One of the critical elements in a test policy is defining thequality levels to be achieved, which ensures that testing aligns with the expectations for product quality, both functional and non-functional. Other aspects, such as risk categories, test types, and regression testing approaches, are typically defined in more detailed test strategies or plans, not in the high-level policy.

Thedebugging-oriented phaseof the evolutionary testing model aligns closely with TMMi Level 1 (Initial). At TMMi Level 1, testing is often chaotic and is not formally separated from debugging. The primary focus is on finding and fixing bugs, which reflects the characteristics of the debugging-oriented phase described in the Gelperin and Hetzel evolutionary testing model. Testing at this level lacks structure and is mainly an ad hoc activity aimed at removing defects from the software.

The specific practice "Define a coordinated approach that coordinates both static and dynamic testing" is part of theAdvanced Reviewsprocess area at TMMi Level 4. The goal of this process area is to integrate static and dynamic testing, particularly through peer reviews, which helps optimise both defect detection and product quality management throughout the lifecycle​​​.

An indirect benefit of a test improvement programme is improved staff motivation. While direct benefits, such as shortened lead time or higher defect detection rates, are focused on measurable improvements, indirect benefits include enhanced morale and engagement of the staff involved. A well-structured test improvement programme can lead to better recognition of the testing function within the organisation, leading to increased satisfaction and motivation among testing professionals.

TheDebugging-oriented phasefrom Gelperin and Hetzel's evolutionary testing model is associated withMaturity Level 1 "Initial"of TMMi. At this maturity level, testing is not yet a distinct and well-defined process but is often interleaved with debugging. Organizations at this level have chaotic and ad-hoc testing activities, with no separation between testing and debugging.

Maturity Level 1organizations lack formal processes, and testing is often reactive, performed alongside fixing bugs in the code. This is in line with the debugging-oriented phase, where testing and debugging are seen as part of the same activity.

TMMi References:

TheTMMi frameworkdraws directly from the evolutionary model of Gelperin and Hetzel, associating theDebugging-oriented phasewith Level 1, which describes a chaotic, unmanaged testing environment​​.

This statement isFALSEbecause in thestaged representationof CMMI, therearefixed levels or stages that an organization must proceed through in a predefined sequence. These stages guide organizations to improve their processes systematically by following a maturity path, with each stage building on the processes defined in the previous one.

Thestaged representationis designed with predefined levels that organizations must achieve in an orderly manner, making sure that process improvements at each level lay the foundation for the next one.

In contrast, thecontinuous representationallows organizations to select specific process areas from various categories based on their improvement goals and does not impose a strict sequence of levels.

TMMi References:

The CMMI documentation within TMMi clearly states that thestaged representationinvolves afixed set of levelsthrough which organizations progress​.

CMMI also has acontinuous representationwhere organizations can select improvement areas freely from different process categories​.

This statement is false because the CMMI does not have defined levels specifically for testing maturity. The CMMI model is more general and focuseson overall process improvement across various disciplines, including but not limited to testing. CMMI includes practices like verification and validation but does not specifically address a structured path to testing maturity, unlike TMMi, which defines specific levels for testing process maturity. Therefore, statement D is incorrect.

In theActing phaseof the IDEAL improvement model, the focus is on implementing the changes that were identified and planned in the earlier phases. The two main activities in this phase areCreate SolutionandImplement Solution. This phase generally consumes the most effort, as creating and deploying solutions to improve the processes are resource-intensive activities. These activities align with option D, making it the correct answer .

The correct order of TMMi maturity levels fromlow to highis:

Managed(Level 2): Testing becomes a managed and separate process from debugging, with formal strategies and plans.

Defined(Level 3): Testing is fully integrated into the development lifecycle, with standardized processes across projects.

Measured(Level 4): Testing processes are measured quantitatively, and product quality is evaluated with formal metrics.

This sequence reflects the increasing maturity and sophistication of an organization's testing processes as they progress through the levels.

TMMi References:

The TMMi maturity levels follow the order ofManaged (Level 2),Defined (Level 3), andMeasured (Level 4)​​.

In theLearning phaseof the IDEAL model, one of the critical activities is"Analyse and Validate". This involves reviewing the entire improvement process to determine whether the intended goals were achieved and identifying what worked well and what could be improved. The objective is to learn from the experience to enhance future improvement initiatives and continually refine the ability to implement change​​.

In the Test Design and Execution process area of TMMi Level 2, there are four specific goals. The relevant goals for this question are SG 2 (Perform Test Implementation) and SG 3 (Perform Test Execution):

SG 2 Perform Test Implementationincludes practices such as developing and prioritising test procedures and creating specific test data. Therefore, the specific practice that aligns with this goal is"Create specific test data" (III).

SG 3 Perform Test Executioninvolves executing the tests and logging the outcomes. One of the specific practices here is"Write test log" (II), which documents the execution data in a structured manner.

Thus, the correct pair is SG 2 withIII (Create specific test data)and SG 3 withII (Write test log)​​.

Management commitment is highlighted as one of the critical success factors in the context of implementing and sustaining test process improvements. Within the TMMi framework, senior management support is crucial for ensuring that necessary resources, funding, and priority are allocated to the improvement initiatives. This commitment must be sustained throughout the process to overcome potential resistance and ensure that the improvements are institutionalised. Without strong management commitment, the efforts may lose momentum, and the improvement goals may not be achieved.

This factor is critical across several levels of TMMi, as seen in processes related to institutionalising the test process (such as defining organisational policies, resource allocation, and performance evaluation).

ISO/IEC 15504, which is known for its process assessment model, was not one of the sources used during the development of the TMMi model. The TMMi model was developed using inputs from sources such as the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI), international testing standards (like those from ISO and IEEE), and industry testing best practices surveys. While the ISO/IEC 15504 model has relevance to general process assessments, it was not specifically referenced in the creation of the TMMi.

TheTMMi process area Test Planningis indeed supported by severalCMMI process areas, includingProject Planning,Requirements Management, andRisk Management. These CMMI areas provide foundational support for ensuring that the test planning process incorporates adequate project management, requirement traceability, and risk identification, all of which are critical for effective testing.

Specific Goal 2 of the CMMI Validation process arearelates to validation activities, not peer reviews, and therefore does not support the TMMi Peer Reviews process area.

Causal Analysis and Resolutionis linked toDefect Preventionin TMMi, not Quality Control.

Performance Managementdoes not directly support the Non-Functional Testing process area in TMMi.

TMMi References:

TheTMMi Test Planningprocess area is supported by relevant CMMI process areas, such asProject Planning, which helps in aligning project goals with test planning activities​​.

For aformal TMMi assessment, bothstaff interviews and document studyare required to collect sufficient evidence. The assessment must adhere to the TMMi Assessment Method Accreditation Requirements (TAMAR), which state that formal assessments require thecorroboration of interview data with documentary evidence (artifacts). These can include documents, templates, or screenshots, ensuring that the evaluation is robust, repeatable, and auditable​​.

In theActing phaseof the IDEAL model, the focus is on the implementation of the proposed solutions. Activities such as refining the solution and implementing the solution are key components of this phase. These actions are based on the plan developed in the earlier phases, and they are designed to apply the solutions to achieve the desired improvements. Specifically:

Refine solutions (i)refers to improving or adjusting the solution based on feedback from pilots or initial tests.

Implement Solution (iii)refers to the full implementation of the refined solution across the test process or organisation​​.

In an Agile context, some practices from TMMi levels 4 and 5 might be considered less relevant or adjusted to fit the Agile methodology. Specifically, at TMMi level 5, testing with statistical methods may indeed be less relevant. In Agile projects, operational profiles or usage models, which are essential to perform statistically valid testing, are often not utilised. Agile methodologies focus more on incremental development and continuous feedback loops, which do not typically rely on statistical sampling methods. Therefore, the statement that "Agile projects normally do not use operational profiles or usage models of a product on which to base statistically valid inferences to help create a representative sample of tests, thus the TMMi level 5 specific goal 'Testing is performed using Statistical Methods' is considered not relevant in an Agile context" is true​.

The statement thatSpecific Goal 1of theTest Measurement (4.1)process area covers the communication of test measurement results after analysis isFALSE. Specific Goal 1 focuses on aligningtest measurement and analysis activities, which involves setting measurement objectives, specifying the measures to be taken, and establishing procedures for data collection, storage, and analysis. However, the communication of results comes underSpecific Goal 2, which deals with the analysis and reporting of test measurement results.

TMMi References:

Test MeasurementatTMMi Level 4includes defining measures, data collection, and storage as part of aligning test measurement and analysis activities, while communicating results is part of a different goal​​.

With a 40% achievement in the Test Planning process area, the rating would be "Partly achieved." According to TMMi, a process area is rated "Partly achieved" when the percentage of achievement is between 15% and 50%. This indicates that some practices have been implemented, but significant improvement is still required to meet the full requirements of the process area.

One of the key differences between informal and formal assessments is that informal assessments are not as rigorous. Informal assessments are more flexible, quicker, and less costly; however, they do not provide the same level of detail or accuracy as formal assessments. The statement that "informal assessments provide a result just as accurate as with a formal assessment" is therefore false. Formal assessments involve multiple types of evidence and a more thorough evaluation, while informal assessments typically rely on fewer types of evidence (often only interviews)​​.

In an Agile context, the emphasis is typically placed on lightweight, flexible documentation. Test documentation should be "just enough" to support the test process, and excessive documentation may be seen as unnecessary overhead. Therefore, calling formore rigorous and thorough documentationisnotin line with Agile principles. Instead, Agile favours working software and collaboration over comprehensive documentation, supported by mentoring and just-in-time guidance rather than formalised documentation​.

For theTest Policy and Strategyprocess area, with a40% achievement, the appropriate compliance rating is"Partly achieved". According to TMMi, a process area is rated as "partly achieved" when a portion of the practices has been implemented, but significant improvements are still needed​​​.