News

ISTQB® has released the Certified Tester AI Testing (CT-AI) version 1.0. This is the first CT-AI certification and is part of the specialist stream within the ISTQB® Certified Tester Scheme. It is an in-demand next step after the ISTQB® Certified Tester Foundation Level (CTFL).

The release consists of the ISTQB® Certified Tester AI Testing Syllabus (v1.0), Sample Exam Questions and Answers (v1.0), CT-AI Overview (v1.0) and Accreditation Guidelines (v1.0) each supported by ISTQB® Glossary keyword items and Business Outcomes with full Learning Objectives traceability. The combined Exam Structure and Rules has been updated to v1.1 and Exam Structure Table to v1.2.

An overview of the product as well as sunset and grandfathering are in the Release Notes on the ISTQB® website.

The content of the new syllabus addresses 7 business outcomes via 68 learning objectives.

What does this ISTQB® CT-AI release mean?

• The 1.0 syllabus for CT-AI will be the prevailing current version.
• The other AI relates syllabi from A4Q, AiU and CSTQB/KSTQB will be valid to October 12th 2022
• Accredited Training will remain as 4 days (minimum 25,1 hours)
• Accredited courses require accreditation of training materials, as described in the ISTQB® Accreditation Process
• Holders of the A4Q, AiU and KSTQB & CSTQB AIT previous versions continue to hold a valid certification

ISTQB® President Olivier Denoo stated:

“AI has moved into high gear. From a simple writer's dream, from a filmmaker's fantasy, it has become a reality and invites itself today in many aspects of our daily life, whether we are aware of it or not. It sorts, advises, guides our decisions, entertains us or even corrects our mistakes sometimes.

It is also, more and more often, our ally to better test these ever more complex and ever more present software.

This new ISTQB® syllabus and the accompanying certification are designed to help you test AI better (because yes, of course, AI can be tested too) or to understand how to test better with AI. It is the result of a long collaboration with world-renowned experts from service companies and academia.

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all the members of this multidisciplinary task force who have worked hard to bring the best of AI to you.

Enjoy your reading!”

Chair of ISTQB® Marketing Working Group Sebastian Małyska, noted:

“AI, Machine Learning and/or Deep Learning is not a new concept. Over the years people were more or less enthusiastic about this technology. However a strong mathematical background and increasing power of our processors caused us to witness real productization of such technology which gives real benefits to its users. Those have many implications and, as an example, software needs to be designed and tested with new approaches. We are defining new quality characteristics. AI can be part SUT as well as an everyday tool used in testing activities. And many, many more. One of the manifestations of the wide interest in this topic was several syllabuses launched into the market in recent times. Three independent organizations developed three different syllabuses targeting the same area of knowledge. Thanks to ISTQB®, the certification standard for testing related to AI has been stabilized and unified allowing, in my opinion, for further development of the testing knowledge base on the widely understood AI systems. I personally see a greater advantage in such unification that allows tests to find one complementary source of information allowing us to make our testing even more advanced than before.”

Thank you to all who have supported this syllabus. Especially the task force team Klaudia Dussa-Zieger (chair), Werner Henschelchen, Vipul Kocher, Qin Liu, Stuart Reid, Kyle Siemens, and Adam Leon Smith. Also authors of the three contributing syllabi:

• A4Q: Rex Black, Bruno Legeard, Jeremias Rößler, Adam Leon Smith, Stephan Goericke, Werner Henschelchen
• AiU: Main authors Vipul Kocher, Saurabh Bansal, Srinivas Padmanabhuni and Sonika Bengani and co-authors Rik Marselis, José M. Diaz Delgado
• KSTQB & CSTQB AIT: Stuart Reid, Qin Liu, Yeoungjae Choi, Murian Song, Wonil Kwon

The team thanks the Exam, Glossary and Marketing Working Groups for their support throughout the development of the syllabus.

Wunderman Thompson Technology Katowice has joined the program at the Gold Partnership level.

Visit https://www.wundermanthompson.com/ to learn more about the partner and partner.istqb.org for more details about the Partner Program.

TENEDORA PRAXIS SAPI DE CV has joined the program at the Platinum Partnership level.

Visit https://mexico.praxisglobe.com/ to learn more about the partner and partner.istqb.org for more details about the Partner Program.

Shanghai NAEN Automotive Technology CO., Ltd has joined the program at the Silver Partnership level.

Visit http://www.naen-china.com to learn more about the partner and partner.istqb.org for more details about the Partner Program.

TESTPRO, LLC has joined the program at the Silver Partnership level.

Visit https://testpro.io/ to learn more about the partner and partner.istqb.org for more details about the Partner Program.

KERNEL TECHNOLOGIES GROUP SA DE CV has joined the program at the Silver Partnership level.

Visit https://kerneltechnologiesgroup.com to learn more about the partner and partner.istqb.org for more details about the Partner Program.

ITWorkers SA. de CV. has joined the program at the Gold Partnership level.

Visit https://www.itw.mx to learn more about the partner and partner.istqb.org for more details about the Partner Program.

SOFIS SRL has joined the program at the Silver Partnership level.

Visit https://sofis.lat to learn more about the partner and partner.istqb.org for more details about the Partner Program.

SRM Technologies Pvt. Ltd has joined the program at the Silver Partnership level.

Visit https://www.srmtech.com/ to learn more about the partner and partner.istqb.org for more details about the Partner Program.

Pit Solutions Pvt Ltd has joined the program at the Gold Partnership level.

Visit https://www.pitsolutions.ch/ to learn more about the partner and partner.istqb.org for more details about the Partner Program.

Internet & Idee S.r.l. has joined the program at the Silver Partnership level.

Visit https://www.internet-idee.net/ to learn more about the partner and partner.istqb.org for more details about the Partner Program.

GBSYS SA has joined the program at the Gold Partnership level.

Visit www.gbsys.com to learn more about the partner and partner.istqb.org for more details about the Partner Program.

Neusoft Corporation has joined the program at the Gold Partnership level.

Visit www.neusoft.com to learn more about the partner and partner.istqb.org for more details about the Partner Program.

GECKO SOLUTIONS DOO has joined the program at the Silver Partnership level.

Visit https://www.gecko.rs/ to learn more about the partner and partner.istqb.org for more details about the Partner Program.

AIQVE ONE Inc. has joined the program at the Gold Partnership level.

Visit https://www.aiqveone.co.jp/ to learn more about the partner and partner.istqb.org for more details about the Partner Program.

Sobal Corporation has joined the program at the Platinum Partnership level.

Visit https://www.sobal.co.jp/ to learn more about the partner and partner.istqb.org for more details about the Partner Program.

ProVision Inc. has joined the program at the Platinum Partnership level.

Visit https://www.pro-vision.jp/ to learn more about the partner and partner.istqb.org for more details about the Partner Program.

QA Support Department, IMAGICA DIGITALSCAPE Co.,Ltd. has joined the program at the Silver Partnership level.

Visit https://dc-qas.dsp.co.jp/ to learn more about the partner and partner.istqb.org for more details about the Partner Program.

STEPIN2IT INC has joined the program at the Silver Partnership level.

Visit https://stepin2it.com to learn more about the partner and partner.istqb.org for more details about the Partner Program.

Visit http://en.digitalhearts.com/ to learn more about the partner and partner.istqb.org for more details about the Partner Program.

Check out the Flip Card Quiz in the new version of the official ISTQB^® Glossary App - now including a “Keywords only” search and language selection!

Use it to practice terminology as part of your exam preparation!

Only the official ISTQB^® Glossary App directly accesses the central ISTQB^® glossary database and the quiz is the only one guaranteed to provide the right answers and terms for those preparing for ISTQB^® certification!

The official ISTQB^® Glossary is available at the iOS App Store for Apple mobile devices and the Google Play Store for Android mobile devices. Both are provided by ISTQB^® free of charge and without advertising.

#software #testing #softwaretesting #certification #exampreparation #GooglePlayStore #iOSAppStore

ISTQB^® has released the Certified Tester Advanced Level (CTAL) Technical Test Analyst (TTA) Version 4.0. This is a major update to the CTAL-TTA certification. CTAL-TTA is a “Core” module within the ISTQB® Certified Tester Scheme and an in-demand next step after the ISTQB^® Certified Tester Foundation Level (CTFL).

The release consists of the ISTQB^® Advanced Level Technical Test Analyst Syllabus (v4.0), Sample Exam Questions and Answers (v4.0), CTAL TTA Overview (v4.0) and Accreditation Guidelines (v4.0) each supported by ISTQB® Glossary keyword items and Business Outcomes with full Learning Objectives traceability. The combined Exam Structure and Rules has been updated and released also (v1.1).

An overview of the main changes in the new 4.0 version compared with the 3.0 (2019) version can be found in the Release Notes on the ISTQB^® website. Overall v4.0 updates impact 8 out of 40 Learning Objectives.

Please note the year of the syllabus release is no longer specified in the version control naming convention for CTAL-TTA meaning:

• 2021 version is referred to as v4.0
• 2019 version is referred to as v3.0
• 2012 version is referred to as v2.0

What does this CTAL-TTA update mean?

From June 30th 2021 the following will apply

• For English language - the 4.0 syllabus for CTAL-TTA will be the prevailing current version.
• The previous 3.0 version in English will be valid to June 30th 2022
• For non-English Syllabi, the 3.0 version will be valid to December 31th 2022
• Accredited Training will remain as 3 days
• Accredited courses require accreditation of training materials, as described in the ISTQB® Accreditation Process
• Training courses and exams in other languages may continue for the CTAL-TTA 2012 (v2.0) syllabus until August 3rd 2021 and for the CTAL-TTA 2019 (v3.0) until December 31st 2022
• Training courses and exams in English language for CTAL-TTA 2019 (v3.0) will be valid until June 30th 2022
• Training courses and exams in English language for CTAL-TTA 2012 (v2.0) are no longer valid
• Holders of the CTAL-TTA 3.0 and any previous versions continue to hold a valid certification.

ISTQB® President Olivier Denoo stated:

"The ISTQB^® is proud to release a major update to Advanced Level Technical Test Analyst (CTAL-TTA).

This update was required in order to address important and relevant issues in the 2019 version reported by Member Boards and other stakeholders.

A timely response was required to protect the reputation of ISTQB® and to improve the acceptance of the CTAL-TTA syllabus in the testing community.

Therefore, the Advanced and Expert Level Working Group has spared no effort to make the necessary changes to make this syllabus an even better and even stronger international reference.

I would like to thank the entire team for having been able to make these corrections quickly and effectively in these times troubled by the health crisis.

I hope that you will immediately start using these updated materials as part of the career development programs in your organizations to accelerate your technical testing skills.

I wish you all a happy reading. Stay tuned and take care..."

Chair of ISTQB® Marketing Working Group Sebastian Małyska, noted:

"Our organization is never giving up on our journey to quality. We are committed to the QA community and always open for constructive feedback. If this occurs we react. Never forgetting the need for business continuity which is very important for our partners and those aiming for certification."

Thank you to all who have supported the update including Mette Bruhn-Pedersen (ISTQB Advanced & Expert Level Working Group Chair), Armin Born, Adam Roman, Christian Graf, Stuart Reid (Authors) and many others from Exam & Marketing Work Groups.

METHODS TECHNOLOGIES AND PROCESS TO INFORMATION SYSTEMS, S.A DE C.V has joined the program at the Silver Partnership level.

Visit http://www.mtpinternational.com.mx/ to learn more about the partner and partner.istqb.org for more details about the Partner Program.

ISTQB^® has released the 2nd increment of the Advanced Level (CTAL) Agile Test Leadership at Scale (ATLaS) version 0.4. This is the second of the six increments planned in the CTAL-ATLaS certification. CTAL-ATLaS is an “Agile” module within the ISTQB^® Certified Tester Scheme and an in-demand next step after the ISTQB^® Certified Tester Foundation Level (CTFL) and ISTQB^® Certified Tester Foundation Level Agile Tester (CTFL-AT).

The release consists of the first (Quality Assistance) and second (Improve Quality and Flow in a Value-Driven Organization) chapters of the ISTQB^® Advanced Level Agile Test Leadership at Scale syllabus (v0.4), body of knowledge (v0.4) and sample exam questions and answers (v0.4).

Because of the incremental model the Release Notes will not be available until the very end of development of the complete ATLaS product.

This is the first time that ISTQB^® has developed and released a certification incrementally. According to Agile principles, iterations ensure better quality through early feedback and continuous improvement.

When will the complete CTAL-ATLaS certification be ready?

We are planning to have it available by Q4 2022 (current estimation).

More information can be found in the CTAL-ATLaS FAQ section.

Product Owner of the CTAL-ATLaS v0.4 Mette Bruhn-Pedersen, said:

"With the modern demand for business agility there is an even greater need for accelerated quality. This is not achievable if all responsibility for quality remains in individual teams or specific roles such as testers. Therefore, test management becomes quality management and organizations need to adopt lean principles across the organization as well as within delivery teams. This changes the role of quality assurance and test professionals to be closer to agile test leadership and to fostering a quality culture and mindset.

The ISTQB® is offering a new certification on Advanced level to help people build the competencies needed to effectively contribute to such demanding business environments. The certification is called Agile Test Leadership at Scale (ATLaS) and the second chapter is now available for download on ISTQB®’s website.

In this second chapter you will learn the need to Improve Quality and Flow in a Value-Driven Organization. The certification looks at what Value Stream Mapping is and the skills that you need to support this. It supports implementing Value Stream Mapping as a key tool to improving process flow and therefore product or service quality. It explores the analysis of value streams from a quality and testing perspective. This chapter covers basic visualization techniques, typical steps in value stream mapping, and how to identify non-value adding activities in the form of the 8 different types of waste.

Implementing these techniques in your organization brings value by:

• Identifying and removing waste
• Improving the efficiency of your value driven processes
• Aligning cross functional teams on business objectives and customer satisfaction

By releasing the second chapter the ISTQB® continues the agile approach to certification adopted in the first chapter (see link to chapter 1 news). We will continue to release each chapter as it is developed so that member boards can disseminate this to their customers to gain interest; for training providers to start building courseware and so that exam providers can build exams. We also want to gain early feedback directly from our customers to help us tailor this certification to market demands.

This is a new way of releasing for the ISTQB®, using an iterative method building assets up until the final full launch when all materials, including exams will be ready. You will also see a new look syllabus format which focuses on the learnings you will gain, supported by a Body of Knowledge giving you rich examples and walking you through each learning objective in detail.

The Agile Test Leadership at Scale qualification is aimed at people who work in an organization which is pursuing agility at scale or business agility and already have a basic understanding of agile and agile testing. The ISTQB® Foundation Level certificate and Foundation Level Agile Tester certificate are pre-requisites for taking the Advanced Level Agile Test Leadership at Scale certification exam."

ISTQB® President Olivier Denoo added:

"The ISTQB® is proud to release the next chapter of our new Advanced Level certification, Agile Test Leadership at Scale.

While Agile methods are spreading fast and becoming the new norm in software development and testing, the time has come to scale up and focus on a new dimension: Agility at Scale.

More than just isolated projects, organizations are facing challenges to align Agility across their whole business. Many different approaches have already been adopted by industry such as SAFe® and Spotify.

Complementing our core Foundation and Agile Tester certifications, the Advanced Level Agile Test Leadership at Scale qualification is approach-and-methods-agnostic. It is aimed at people who work in an organization which is pursuing agility at scale or business agility. In this first chapter you will learn the need to foster a value-driven quality mindset and culture.

It is also important to notice that for the first time, an ISTQB® certification is being released in several parts. Not only is this a great opportunity for our dedicated team to "walk the talk", but also a new approach to better streamline the efforts within our ecosystem. By publishing the certification in increments member boards, training providers and exam providers have the opportunity to iteratively localize materials, design courseware, and create exam questions so everyone is ready when the full certification is launched.

I hope that you will immediately start using these materials as part of the career development programs in your organizations to accelerate your business agility transformations.

I wish you all happy reading. Stay tuned and take care..."

Chair of ISTQB® Marketing Working Group Sebastian Małyska, noted:

"All of us would like to interact with a quality driven organization as a team member or stakeholder or as a customer. On the way there we need to learn how to identify and eliminate the waste. The 2nd chapter would definitely help you gain those skills and knowledge."

Thank you to all who have supported the update including Michael Pilaeten (Working Group Chair); Mette Bruhn-Pedersen (Product Owner); Jean-Luc Cossi, Richard Green, Michael Heller, Leanne Howard, Ebbe Munk, Francisca Cano Ortiz, Samuel Ouko, Tal Pe’er, Murian Song, Marcelo Chanez, Ilia Kulakov, Peter Jetter and Salinda Wickramasinghe (Authors) and Loyde Mitchell and many other from long reviewer list (incl. into syllabus), Exam & Marketing Work Groups.

Engine Core, S.A. de C.V. has joined the program at the Silver Partnership level.

Visit www.enginecore.com.mx to learn more about the partner and partner.istqb.org for more details about the Partner Program.

Intercom Enterprises has joined the program at the Gold Partnership level.

Visit www.intercom.com.eg to learn more about the partner and partner.istqb.org for more details about the Partner Program.

Quality Professional Services (Q-Pros) has joined the program at the Platinum Partnership level.

Visit https://q-pros.com/ to learn more about the partner and partner.istqb.org for more details about the Partner Program.

ISTQB® has released the 1st increment of the Advanced Level (CTAL) Agile Test Leadership at Scale (ATLaS) version 0.3. This is the first of the six increments planned in the CTAL-ATLaS certification. CTAL-ATLaS is a “Agile” module within the ISTQB® Certified Tester Scheme and an in-demand next step after the ISTQB® Certified Tester Foundation Level (CTFL) and ISTQB® Certified Tester Foundation Level Agile Tester (CTFL-AT).

The release consists of the first chapter (Quality Assistance) of the ISTQB® Advanced Level Agile Test Leadership at Scale syllabus (v0.3), body of knowledge (v0.3) and sample exam questions and answers (v0.3).

Because of the incremental model the Release Notes will not be available until the very end of development of the complete ATLaS product.

This is the first time that ISTQB® has developed and released a certification  incrementally. According to Agile principles, iterations ensure better quality through early feedback and continuous improvement.

When will the complete CTAL-ATLaS certification be ready?

We are planning to have it available by Q4 2022 (current estimation).

More information can be found in the CTAL-ATLaS FAQ section.

Product Owner of the CTAL-ATLaS v0.3 Mette Bruhn-Pedersen, said:

“With the increasing demand for business agility there is an even greater need for accelerated quality. This is not achievable if all responsibility for quality remains in the individual teams or specific roles, such as testers. Therefore, test management becomes quality management and organizations need to adopt quality assistance across the organization as well as within delivery teams. This changes the role of quality assurance and test professionals to be closer to agile test leadership and to fostering a quality culture and mindset.

ISTQB^® will offer a new certification at Advanced Level to help people build the competencies needed to effectively contribute to such demanding business environments. The certification is called Agile Test Leadership at Scale (ATLaS) and the first increment is now available for download on ISTQB^®’s website.

In the first chapter you will learn the need to foster a value-driven quality mindset and culture. The certification looks at what Quality Assistance is and the skills that you need. It supports understanding quality assistance as an approach to quality management. It provides examples for the coaching, facilitation, training and change management skills required for quality assistance. Plus uses given quality related problems to illustrate how quality assistance uses a combination of the four important skills.

Using Quality Assistance with your organization brings value by:

• Providing support in changing the mindset and culture to one that scales business agility
• Enhancing everyone’s responsibility for quality
• Giving test leaders and people in other leadership roles new skills to accelerate quality

ISTQB^® will be releasing each increment as it is developed to engage the community; so training providers can start to build courseware and exam providers can build exams. We also wanted to gain early feedback directly from our customers to help us tailor this certification to market demands. This is a new way of releasing for ISTQB^®, using an iterative method building assets up until the final full launch when all materials, including exams will be ready. You will also see a new look syllabus format which focuses on the learning you will gain, supported by a Body of Knowledge giving you rich examples and walking you through each learning objective in detail.

The Agile Test Leadership at Scale qualification is aimed at people who work in an organization that is pursuing agility at scale, or business agility, and who already have a basic understanding of agile and agile testing. The ISTQB^® Foundation Level certificate and Foundation Level Agile Tester certificate are prerequisites for taking the Advanced level Agile Test Leadership at Scale certification exam.”

ISTQB® President Olivier Denoo added:

“The ISTQB® is proud to release the first chapter of our new Advanced Level certification, Agile Test Leadership at Scale.

While Agile methods are spreading fast and becoming the new norm in software development and testing, the time has come to scale up and focus on a new dimension: Agility at Scale.

More than just isolated projects, organizations are facing challenges to align Agility across their whole business. Many different approaches have already been adopted by industry such as SAFe® and Spotify.

Complementing our core Foundation and Agile Tester certifications, the Advanced Level Agile Test Leadership at Scale qualification is approach-and-methods-agnostic. It is aimed at people who work in an organization which is pursuing agility at scale or business agility. In this first chapter you will learn the need to foster a value-driven quality mindset and culture.

It is also important to notice that for the first time, an ISTQB® certification is being released in several parts. Not only is this a great opportunity for our dedicated team to "walk the talk", but also a new approach to better streamline the efforts within our ecosystem. By publishing the certification in increments member boards, training providers and exam providers have the opportunity to iteratively localize materials, design courseware, and create exam questions so everyone is ready when the full certification is launched.

I hope that you will immediately start using these materials as part of the career development programs in your organizations to accelerate your business agility transformations.

I wish you all a happy reading. Stay tuned and take care...”

Chair of ISTQB® Marketing Working Group Sebastian Małyska, noted:

“It’s just a first step towards an awesome journey. Very few organizations, in fact only those that are brave ones, are designing a new product or value driven by the experimental process. This is one of the basic concepts of Agile that is commonly forgotten. Thus, ISTQB^® would like to remind the community that combining two things like innovation not only at product but on the process level and strong knowledgeable and supporting team are the critical ingredients of business success.”

Thank you to all who have supported the update including Michael Pilaeten (Working Group Chair); Mette Bruhn-Pedersen (Product Owner); Jean-Luc Cossi, Richard Green, Michael Heller, Leanne Howard, Ebbe Munk, Francisca Cano Ortiz, Samuel Ouko, Tal Pe’er, Murian Song, Marcelo Chanez, and Loyde Mitchell (Authors) and many other from Exam & Marketing Work Groups.

SYSCO AS has joined the program at the Silver Partnership level.

Visit https://sysco.no/ to learn more about the partner and partner.istqb.org for more details about the Partner Program.

FEKRA has joined the program at the Silver Partnership level.

Visit https://fekra-egy.com/ to learn more about the partner and partner.istqb.org for more details about the Partner Program.