CTEL-ITP-ATP: Certified Tester Expert Level Assessing Test Processes

As a test manager, you are asked to apply causal-analysis techniques to determine why a regression test that passed during system testing failed in production use. This caused significant reputational damage to the business, so you want to ensure that you find the true cause of the issue.

You interview the test engineer who created and executed the test. The test object was a complex overnight batch. The batch processed a significant volume of financial-market data and calculated financial risk.

As you discuss the details with the test engineer, it appears they executed the test during working hours rather than overnight. You also discover that the batch processed live financial data instead of specially crafted test data. You ask why live data was used, and the test analyst explains that this was approved because the data is public. They also explain that the expected result is for the result to match the live system, because otherwise the expected result is too difficult to calculate.

You ask a business analyst to help determine the cause. They investigate and establish that the issue could be reproduced only during a particular time window, when a particular data boundary was crossed.

You want to draw a fishbone analysis of this. From left to right, which is the MOST correct diagram to draw: