An intelligent approach to verification and testing of the configurator

The configurator verification requires three basic processes: generating the test data, analyzing the actual and expected outputs, and fixing the deviations. The typical verification processes of today´s configurators are to manually provide the test case and expected output, and then analyze the differences between the expected and actual test outputs. This manual approach not only constrains the testing and verification of the configurator but also is not feasible for the large computer configurator program such as IBM ES/900. An intelligent approach to verification and testing of large computer configurators is introduced where test data are generated automatically and test results are analyzed intelligently with little human intervention. This approach utilizes a generic configurator model where the a priori computer configurator knowledge is captured and applied to generate a large number of potential test data and to analyze the test results automatically. With this intelligent approach, human experts´ knowledge and skills can be better utilized to initialize the configurator model and to review the potential faults of the configurator program as revealed by the testing results