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         +===================================================+
         +=======    Quality Techniques Newsletter    =======+
         +=======               May 2004              =======+
         +===================================================+

QUALITY TECHNIQUES NEWSLETTER (QTN) is E-mailed monthly to
subscribers worldwide to support the Software Research, Inc. (SR),
eValid, and TestWorks user communities and to other interested
parties to provide information of general use to the worldwide
internet and software quality and testing community.

Permission to copy and/or re-distribute is granted, and secondary
circulation is encouraged by recipients of QTN, provided that the
entire document/file is kept intact and this complete copyright
notice appears in all copies.  Information on how to subscribe or
unsubscribe is at the end of this issue.  (c) Copyright 2003 by
Software Research, Inc.

========================================================================

                       Contents of This Issue

   o  International Workshop on Web Quality (QW-2004)

   o  eValid: Latest News and Updates

   o  International Workshop on Web Quality (QW2004)

   o  eValid: A Quick Summary

   o  QTN Article Submittal, Subscription Information

========================================================================

          International Workshop on Web Quality - WQ 2004
                          Munich, Germany
                           27 July  2004

            http://www.elet.polimi.it/conferences/wq04/

                      Held in conjunction with
       ICWE 04 - International Conference on Web Engineering

                             Organizers

Luciano Baresi, Politecnico di Milano - Milano (Italy),
Email:  baresi@elet.polimi.it

Sandro Morasca Universit=E0 dell'Insubria - Como (Italy)
Email:  sandro.morasca@uninsubria.it

                         Rationale and Aims

Modern Web applications are complex distributed systems that use the
Web as their interaction means and the Internet as their
communication infrastructure. Web applications allow users to
navigate to retrieve information they need and use a wide variety of
services that are now fundamental for an increasing number of
business processes.

The interaction of hypertextual information repositories and
business models is turning Web applications into unique information
systems where the navigational aspects demand usability, user-
friendliness, and robustness, while the application logic requires
correctness and reliability. In general, a number of different
qualities need to be taken into account. What makes Web quality (WQ)
unique is the mix of aspects of Web applications, coming from the
two different domains, namely hypermedia applications and
distributed systems, and the fact that Web applications may be used
by classes of users that are not easy to identify clearly
beforehand. Thus, it is necessary to carefully study, define,
combine, and use the many quality dimensions that characterize Web
applications and their indicators. In addition, it is necessary to
study the influence of these quality dimensions on specific
attributes of the Web application development processes such as
development effort and time, which have a fundamental impact on the
economically successful building of Web applications.

The goal of the International Workshop on Web Quality (WQ 2004) is
to provide a forum to discuss the various aspects of Web quality and
the deployment of quality applications and services. In addition, WQ
2004 will address the study of the quality models underlying the
fundamental approaches, and the investigation of the relationships
between the qualities of the Web products and those of the Web
processes.

The workshop is an opportunity for the communities that work on the
assessment and improvement of the quality of Web applications to
meet and share their knowledge to set appropriate theoretical
foundations, define special-purpose methodologies, and develop
supporting technology.  The workshop also aims at promoting research
directions on Web quality engineering by providing a forum where
academic and industrial researchers can share and disseminate ideas.

The workshop aims at hosting significant, high-quality contributions
in all topics related to Web quality engineering, with the goal of
letting participants gain insights into the current state of the art
and future challenges, create synergies through integration, and
foster cross-cooperation.

                           Covered Topics

Areas of particular interest for the workshop include:

  - Test of Web applications
  - Quality assessment methods, standards, and tools
  - Quality measurement
  - Empirical studies
  - Cost and time estimation
  - Usability analysis/test
  - Formal verification
  - Models for Web quality
  - Agile quality processes
  - Accessibility analysis/test
  - Data mining of quality information
  - Load and performance test
  - Run-time monitors for Web quality
  - Benchmarking of web sites
  - Comparative analysis of metrics
  - Validity of models

========================================================================

                eValid: Latest News and Information

         Here's a roundup of the latest news from eValid...

                       New Save-Data Commands

eValid has introduced a new series of commands that involve Saving
Data To Files during eValid playback.

An important addition to this set of commands is the SaveFullHTML
Command that exposes the Complete HTML used internally by eValid.
This feature should allow users of eValid's Interactive Mode
increased power and flexibility in controlling sophisticated
playback activity. There's a full description of these commands at:
  http://www.soft.com/eValid/Products/Documentation.40/Interactive/current.page.html

                 New Dashboard Convenience Features

To increase user convenience we have added direct connections from
eValid's Dashboard to the eValid settings, to eValid's on-line
documentation, and to eValid's cache manager.  These new features
saves steps and saves time! Take a look at:
  http://www.soft.com/eValid/Products/Documentation.40/GUI/dashboard.html

           German Version of "WebSite Quality Challenge"

We are pleased to offer a translation of WebSite Quality Challenge
into German: Qualitat von Webprasenzen -- Eine Herausforderung,
translated by our eValid business partner Dr. Jurgen Pitschke, BCS,
Germany. Read the paper:
  http://www.soft.com/eValid/Technology/White.Papers/WebSiteQualityChallenge_German.pdf

                OnePage Benchmark Comparison Results

The idea that you really need to assess performance at the user's
desk-top -- the "last mile" of the web connection -- is a very good
one.

But we've been worried for some time that companies using well-
known, highly publicized performance benchmarks may be getting less
than complete information.  For example, the download time measured
at an ISP using HTTP/S checks from a PERL script will vary
drastically from that measured within eValid running on a DSL and
including full page rendering time.

If you rely on those numbers you may be getting a false impression.
In fact, in our recent experiments we found from ~3:1 up to ~8:1
differences between our measured full page download times and
others' timings.

The OnePage Benchmark Summary Report can be read at:
  http://www.soft.com/eValid/Benchmarks/OnePage/summary.html

Our comparisons between eValid data and similar measurements done
with different technology is given at:
  http://www.soft.com/eValid/Benchmarks/OnePage/comparison.html

                   JavaScript Interface Available

We've added a JavaScript interface to eValid.  This new interface
provides a convenient way to:

  - Issue a JavaScript function call from within the eValid script
    file for immediate execution.

  - Issue an eValid command from within the JavaScript on a current
    page.

The aim is to enhance the operation of eValid in complex
applications that require interaction between the script that is
currently playing and the web pages currently in the eValid browser.

Full details at:
  http://www.soft.com/eValid/Products/Documentation.40/Technical/js.script.html

========================================================================

   Second International Web Services Quality Workshop (WQW 2004)
                   Held in conjunction with the
                 Fifth International Conference on
          Web Information Systems Engineering (WISE 2004)

              22-24 November 2004, Brisbane, Australia

                           Aims and Scope

Web services have emerged as a key technology for rendering services
over the WWW. They are interoperable across platforms and neutral to
languages, which makes them suitable for access from heterogeneous
environments. As a consequence of the rapid growth of web service
applications and the abundance of service providers, the consumer is
faced with the inevitability of selecting the "right" service
provider. In such scenarios, the quality of service (QoS) becomes a
benchmark to differentiate services and providers. Quality of
service forms the underpinning for a broad spectrum of web service
activities such as selection, scheduling, pricing and specifying
service level agreements.

This workshop seeks to provide an international forum for discussion
and disseminating of research in the area of web services quality.
Quality is a vital and integral component for the success of the web
services paradigm. The workshop will focus on a holistic view of
quality that integrates the objective view of QoS in terms of
metrics and the subjective perception of QoS in terms of user
context awareness.

The workshop aims to foster and facilitate discussion and
collaboration amongst researchers in the area of web services
quality. The topics for which submissions are solicited include (but
are not limited to):

* Definition of quality metrics
* Automation and validation of web services quality metrics
* Modelling of web services quality
* Quality aware enhancements to UDDI Instrumentation of Web services for QoS
* Agent-based web service architecture as a means of providing QoS attributes
* QoS in grid-based services
* Computation of web processes QoS based on web services QoS
* Semantic description of Web services QoS
* Integration of context-awareness in to web service quality specification
* Estimation and prediction of QoS levels
* Scheduling techniques to support differentiated QoS levels
* QoS driven selection and composition
* QoS driven costing and pricing of web services
* Automated generation of Service Level Agreements from QoS specifications
* Multi-level quality descriptions for web services
* QoE (Quality of Experience) and QoBiz (Quality of Business)

                        Workshop Organisers

                      Dr. Shonali Krishnaswamy
        School of Computer Science and Software Engineering,
                    Monash University, Australia
         Email: Shonali.Krishnaswamy@infotech.monash.edu.au

                           Dr. Seng Loke
        School of Computer Science and Software Engineering,
                    Monash University, Australia
              Email: Seng.Loke@infotech.monash.edu.au

                          Dr. Amit Sharma
                Software Engineering Technology Labs
                     InfoSys Technologies Ltd,
                         Bangalore, India.
                  Email: Amit_Sharma04@infosys.com

========================================================================

                      eValid: A Quick Summary
                       http://www.e-valid.com

eValid technology incorporates virtually every quality and testing
functionality in a full-featured browser.  Here is a summary of the
main eValid benefits and advantages.

  o InBrowser(tm) Technology.  All the test functions are built into
    the eValid browser.  eValid offers total accuracy and natural
    access to "all things web."  If you can browse it, you can test
    it.  And, eValid's unique capabilities are used by a growing
    number of firms as the basis for their active services
    monitoring offerings.

  o Mapping and Site Analysis.  The built-in WebSite spider travels
    through your website and applies a variety of checks and filters
    to every accessible page.  All done entirely from the users'
    perspective -- from a browser -- just as your users will see
    your website.

  o Functional Testing, Regression Testing.  Easy to use GUI based
    record and playback with full spectrum of validation functions.
    The eV.Manager component provides complete, natural test suite
    management.

  o LoadTest Server Loading.  Multiple eValid's play back multiple
    independent user sessions -- unparalleled accuracy and
    efficiency.  Plus: No Virtual Users!  Single and multiple
    machine usages with consolidated reporting.

  o Performance Tuning Services.  Outsourcing your server loading
    activity can surely save your budget and might even save your
    neck!  Realistic scenarios, applied from multiple driver
    machines, impose totally realistic -- no virtual users! -- loads
    on your server.

  o Web Services Testing/Validation.  eValid tests of web services
    start begin by analyzing the WSDL file and creating a custom
    HTML testbed page for the candidate service.  Special data
    generation and analysis commands thoroughly test the web service
    and automatically identify a range of failures.

  o Desktop, Enterprise Products.  eValid test and analysis engines
    are delivered at moderate costs for desktop use, and at very
    competitive prices for use throughout your enterprise.

  o HealthCheck Subscription.  For websites up to 1000 pages, eValid
    HealthCheck services provide basic detailed analyses of smaller
    websites in a very economical, very efficient way.

  o eValidation Managed Service.  Being introduced soon.  the
    eValidation Managed WebSite Quality Service offers comprehensive
    user-oriented detailed quality analysis for any size website,
    including those with 10,000 or more pages.

       Resellers, Consultants, Contractors, OEMers Take Note

We have an active program for product and service resellers.  We'd
like to hear from you if you are interested in joining the growing
eValid "quality website" delivery team.  We also provide OEM
solutions for internal and/or external monitoring, custom-faced
testing browsers, and a range of other possibilities.  Let us hear
from you!

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