Application Independence

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Discussion

Application Independence is a property of a subject whose governing intent, semantics, criteria, and required outcomes do not depend on the design, implementation, or selection of a particular Application.

The subject may include:

A specificationA modelA testA Test DefinitionAn evaluation methodA data exchangeAn interfaceA policyA procedureA requirementApplication Independence separates the governing characteristics of the subject from Application-specific design and implementation choices.

Application-specific mechanisms remain consistent with Application Independence when they preserve the governing:

IntentSemanticsEvaluated characteristicsEvaluation methodAcceptance CriteriaRequired outcomesEvidence obligationsTraceabilitySuch mechanisms include:

AdaptersMappingsInterface bindingsData transformationsTest fixturesExecution proceduresConfigurationsA change to a governing characteristic constitutes a change to the subject rather than an Application-specific adaptation.

Definition

property of a subject whose governing intent, semantics, criteria, and required outcomes do not depend on the design, implementation, or selection of a particular Application

Source

DIDO-TE Mission Objective MO-006: Application-Independent and Infrastructure-Independent Testing

DIDO-TE Mission Objective MO-006a: Application-Independent Testing

DIDO Reference Implementation Conceptual Model

Note

Application Independence does not mean the absence of an Application.

Application Independence does not require identical execution across Applications. Different Applications may require different adapters, mappings, interfaces, Configurations, or execution procedures.

An adaptation preserves Application Independence when the adaptation does not change the governing intent, semantics, criteria, required outcomes, Evidence obligations, or Traceability.

Application Independence differs from Infrastructure Independence:

Application Independence concerns separation from a particular ApplicationInfrastructure Independence concerns separation from particular InfrastructureA subject may possess Application Independence without possessing Infrastructure Independence, or Infrastructure Independence without possessing Application Independence.

Example

DIDO-TE applies one Test Definition and one set of Acceptance Criteria to two sanctions-screening Applications.

Each Application uses a different interface adapter. The adapters map the common test inputs to the Application-specific interfaces and map the resulting outputs back to the common result format.

The adapters preserve the testing intent, semantics, evaluated characteristics, Acceptance Criteria, Evidence obligations, and required outcomes. The test therefore possesses Application Independence.

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