Introduction
In the current technological context, the most common and the most affordable device for communication is the cell phone. Today, almost everyone in society has a cell phone with modern communication features. These devices are not only used for ordinary communication but also in data handling within a workplace context. Mobile applications are fast taking over from the traditional computer applications that have been used in various industries, such as the healthcare sector in providing services.
The healthcare informatics has been using computer applications built with customized features to serve the healthcare needs of patients and enhance communication within a healthcare facility. With the introduction of mobile applications as the new software invention, the informatics approach in service delivery will be more effective than traditional computer applications. Just like in a computer-based software application testing plan for a mobile application before it is adopted as the healthcare technology platform, it is essential in determining whether it is effective.
Comprehensive Test Plan
Scope of the Test Plan
The scope of software testing is to investigate its ability to provide the stakeholders in the healthcare facility with quality care services with cell phone devices. The testing, in this case, is a process undertaken to verify and validate the mobile application (Glad, Buffet, Simonin, & Charpillet, 2009). During the testing process, the intention of the tester is to find errors and defects in the mobile application and correct them if possible. The tester used must have the technological ability to identify the application to be tested and the tools needed to conduct an effective testing process (Lewis, Dobbs, Veerapillai, & Chen, 2011). Consequently, the testing method chosen should be organized, thorough, and have logical facets of executing the test.
Schedule
The test schedule has two phases. The first phase includes information gathering, planning, designing, development, execution, and evaluation. This includes the preparation for the second phase of the test. The second phase includes the test execution and evaluation, acceptance testing, and summary of the test report (Em & Reddy, 2015). Each of the phases takes the duration of two weeks to be completed.
Assessment of the Mobile Application Resources
Before conducting attest for a mobile application, it is important to understand the workflow in the health industry. Healthcare mobile application has a list of systems that must operate effectively for it to provide various services. The systems must be assessed first before conducting the test (Liu & Chen, 2009). The member system is used in maintaining the policyholder data, listing several plans with their benefits, generating premium bills for the policyholders based on their insurance plans. The provider system is essential in maintaining the data for the healthcare provider. Another important one is the broker system, which maintains broker data and calculates the commissions for the brokers. Claims System is used to make entries and validation of claims (Krawczyk, Barylski, & Barylski, 2013).
One of the most important components of an application is the Financial System. It is used for financial transactions between the recipients of healthcare services and providers. The system does the necessary payments to the provider, staff, member, and broker among other legible individuals based on the operations of the specific healthcare facility (Liu & Chen, 2009). Another important system that must be assessed before the testing process is the member portal, which displays the policyholder information, facilitates premium payments, and allows the policyholders to change their information. The provider portal displays information about the care provider and allows them to change the information based on the changing needs of the policyholders (Lewis et al., 2011). The last component of the systems is the broker portal, which displays information about brokers and allows them to change information based on the changing aspects of healthcare provision.
Testing Workflow of Accepted Deliverables and Resources
It is important to note that the healthcare mobile application cannot be tested in any order of the users’ desire. In this sense, a predetermined workflow must be followed. For the policyholders to enroll in a given health plan, they must be assigned to a specific care provider or a provider network (Liu & Chen, 2009). Therefore, the member system must have the ability to validate the membership of the assigned provider. The member system should be connected to the provider system because the data is fed periodically from the provider system to the member provider (Glad et al., 2009). Thus, the test should be done on the provider system fast before testing the member system of the mobile application. On the other hand, a claim should include the provider ID and the member ID as well as other details based on the standards and practices used within the healthcare facility (Krawczyk et al., 2013).
The claim system should also be tested for its ability to validate the member and provider information so that the claims can be valid. This implies that the user should test the member and provider systems first and get them ready for use before the claim system test is initiated as its functionality depends on the availability of the two first systems (Em & Reddy, 2015). For the finance system to operate effectively, it should contain data from the member system, provider system, claim system, and broker system. With this information, the finance system will be able to write checks and make EFT payments to various individuals and entities. From the above testing of the mobile application structure and workflow, it is important to note that the provider system and broker system operate independently from other systems (Considine et al., 2016). Since the portals require data from other applications, their test should be done last.
Network and Other Equipment
The network system is an important component of the healthcare mobile application, which must be tested to determine the functionality of the system. Availability of network allows for the execution of activities within and outside the healthcare system through the mobile devices of the members, brokers, and health care providers. The application is tested against the strength of the network provider. In this context, real mobile devices integrated with the software application. Cloud-based computer equipment can be useful in testing the strength and effectiveness of the network provider. If it is necessary to bypass the lower layers of the network, a device emulator can be used to ignore the GPRS tunneling system and instead use TCP or IP to connect directly to the network server (Em & Reddy, 2015).
Risks and Contingencies
The main risk that many healthcare facilities face is a lack of skilled and experienced personnel to execute the testing procedure. The incompatibility of hardware, software and data or tools can interfere with the effective testing plan. Many unsuccessful testing procedures occur because of the incompatibility issues (Liu & Chen, 2009). Mobile devices and their applications come with new technologies of operating systems and features that are not compatible with the traditional hardware and software systems. Delayed training of the system management staff can also be a serious risk, especially during and after the test. Making changes to the original design of the technology system can create problems and complexities during the testing process. To avoid such risks, it is important to specify actions for various events and activities during testing, which should include a schedule (Krawczyk et al., 2013).
On the other hand, testing procedures include various contingencies. For instance, the testing of the system should take several days and majority of healthcare facility managers rarely allow this to happen because they always place fixed delivery dates (Em & Reddy, 2015). As a result, a substantial number of tests might be omitted and this increases the number of defects accepted into the system. Once the system is accepted for testing, the health care facility will add both material and human resources to execute the test project, which implies additional costs (Considine et al., 2016). Because of the technology gap created during the testing, the management might want the test team to work overnight and this lowers their morale as well as productivity.
Testing Method
The main testing method used to test the mobile application is the Gray Box technique. This method combined the techniques used by the white box and black box models of testing. The white box testing assesses the internal structure of the software code (Krawczyk et al., 2013). On the other hand, the black box model tests external structure of the software such as its displays and interactivity aspects. Even though they are also preferred in the effective testing of the software, they are focused on either external or internal aspects of the application. This is opposed to the gray box model that tests both the internal software code and the external features. The model is also used to test the web service applications such as cloud computing system expected to aid the functionality of the mobile application (Considine et al., 2016).
Advantages of Gray Box Method
The primary advantage of the gray box testing is its combined white-box and black-box capacities. It has the capacity of handling complex tests, especially for systems that are expected to serve a large medical facility. Throughout the testing procedure, gray box maintains a clear boundary between independent testers and developers. It also saves time because the internal and external tests occur at once (Em & Reddy, 2015).
Disadvantages
The gray box testing cannot effectively complete the white box test because of the inaccessibility of the source code and binaries of the program. Moreover, it is difficult to relate the defects when conducting gray box testing for a distributed software system.
Evidence-Based Recommendations
Mobile applications are the prevailing technology platform many industries adopt in their daily operations. The mobile-based applications can be used in the healthcare system to provide healthcare services to patients in the comfort of their homes (Sun, Qian, & Liu, 2015). However, this can only be achieved when the application has been tested for the detection and removal of errors and defects. Based on the Smart Point of Care Platform developed by patient safe solutions, a good mobile should include services such as wireless care, recruitment and online payment platforms. The application should also be connected with the social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Blogs where the facility can provide and at the same time gather health related information (Patient Safe Solutions, 2016).
Conclusion
All people across the world have embraced mobile devices as their communication gadgets. They use their mobile phones to access internet resources, interact with people on the social media and download various mobile applications for different purposes. Healthcare is one of the sectors that need mobile applications to enhance flexibility in healthcare provision. While many developers of mobile applications have emerged, creating a comprehensive mobile application that would connect stakeholders in the healthcare system is difficult. Although many developers create these apps, they do meet the desired standards because of software errors and defects ignored and passed to the end user. Before adopting a mobile application in a healthcare system, it is advisable to conduct a software test that would identify and eliminate bugs from the software.
References
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