Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Test Management Tool'

A novel model was developed to test the use of short data sets for testing various alarm thresholds as part of an energy management program. Several years of 15-minute interval data were utilized from five buildings in Jacksonville, Florida. The model aggregated the data by day type and occupancy so that there were four period types used. For all of the buildings’ meters, their daily usage by period type was tested against the threshold to determine if an alarm would be triggered, which would then be assigned a reward and cost based upon the type and duration of response. The risk management value was converted to dollars, in order to normalize the energy and time. It was determined that the 5-month short data set was the most appropriate choice for short data sets. In addition, it was concluded that the thresholds should be set between 0.8 and 1.0 standard deviation above the average of the short window. Several recommendations for further study are also enclosed.

ITC/USA 2012 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-Eighth Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 22-25, 2012 / Town and Country Resort & Convention Center, San Diego, California
Increasing demands for telemetry bandwidth in conjunction with commercial encroachments on telemetry spectrum have created a need for test range operations personnel to make frequency assignments in the most efficient manner possible. The Spectrum Management System (SMS) project researches a potential tool to bring advanced capabilities to the assistance of test range operations. Features that appear to have significant utility are: frequency assignment optimizations to simultaneously satisfy device and spectrum constraints, prediction of RF channel quality across airspace, and support for frequency reuse. A prototype system is currently being trialed at selected test ranges.

Automated testing is a fast-growing requirement for many IT companies. The idea of testing is to create a better product for both the company and the customer. The goal of this study is to examine different aspects of au- tomated testing and Xray as a test management tool. The literature study considers information from several different scientific reports. It shows that the benefits of automated testing include increased productivity and reliable software but also pitfalls like a high initial cost and a maintenance cost. Research suggests that automated testing is complementary to man- ual testing. Manual testing is more suited for exploratory testing, while automated testing is better for regression testing. Using historical data manual tests can be placed into prioritised clusters. The coverage of each test within a cluster determines its priority, where a test with high cover- age has a high priority. A near-optimal solution for prioritising automated tests is the combination of two well-known strategies, the additional cov- erage strategy and the total coverage strategy. Tests are prioritised based on how much of the code they uniquely cover. Code coverage is mea- sured using statements, methods or complexity. Furthermore, this thesis demonstrates a proof of concept for how the unified algorithm can pri- oritise Xray tests. Xray is evaluated according to the ISO/IEC 25010:2011 standard together with a survey done on Xray practitioners. The evalua- tion for Xray shows that Xray provides the necessary tools and functions to manage a testing suite successfully. However, no official encryption exist for the Jira server, and Xray lacks integrated documentation.

Test management software is used to evaluate the permanence and functionality of technical systems. These systems also support documenting tests and evaluations. This thesis describes the implementation of a report template editing tool within an existing testing suite. The tool – TDR Template Editor (TDRTE) - was developed using SpringMVC, Hibernate, and PostgreSQL in Java, Javascript, JSP and JSTL. TDRTE provides a step-by-step editor for editing and creating complete report templates. A separate editor for calculating derived test values from measurement data was also developed.

Test management tools are used to structure and manage test processes in software and hardware development. The purpose of this project was to design a test report template editor for a test management tool with a focus on usability. Requirements analysis was made using domain analysis and stakeholder interviews. In the design phase, usage scenarios were developed as well as two paper prototypes. A final paper prototype was created based on feedback from the stakeholders. TDR reports is a WYSIWYG editor that provides a set of features that allow users to choose which information to include in their test reports. A basic usability evaluation was performed at the end of the study that indicated that the initial requirements were fulfilled.

This diploma thesis deals with the area of software testing, more precisely with the topic of managing test results. The aim of this work is to find, set up and implement a system that complements the missing functionality of the TMT tool, which is going to replace the Nitrate tool in Red Hat as a test management system. The content of this work is a basic introduction to the tools Nitrate, TMT and other technologies used in Red Hat. Furthermore, the work presents the current state of the test infrastructure and collected user requirements for a new system for managing test results. Subsequently, the ReportPortal tool is introduced as a system for test results management and the missing functionality is defined. The rest of the work is devoted to setting up the system itself and implementing the missing functionality, along with implementing the infrastructure needed to import test results into ReportPortal. The work describes the method of deploying the system in use and feedback from users. The deployed system is evaluated and its further possible improvements are discussed.

Due to new regulation GDPR, a whole industry had to change its way of handling data. This industry is the test data management industry, an industry that bases its products on managing PII (Personally Identifiable Information). This leads to an increased demand to how data is stored, which by its own leads to different solutions and several companies that try their chances to establish themselves in this market. The overall purpose of this study is to extract the good and bad aspects from five different test data management tools. In addition to the collection of fact, tests are performed to gain experience with each program to later summarize them both. The result consists of the result from the test cases and the result from the comparison matrix and together they form the grade on the test data management tool. The conclusion that can be drawn from this mapping is that the programs with the highest flexibility have a greater chance of success, but there are also simple programs that show that simplicity is at least as important.
På grund av den nya förordningen GDPR var en hel bransch tvungen att ändra sitt sätt att hantera data på. Denna bransch är testdatahanteringen, en bransch som baserar sina produkter på att hantera PII (Personally Identifiable Information). Detta leder till ett ökat krav på hur data förvaras leder till olika lösningar och flera företag som tar chansen att etablera sig i marknaden. Det övergripande syftet i denna undersökning är att ta fram de positiva och negativa aspekterna ur fem olika testdatahanterare. Utöver bara faktainsamling utförs tester för att få erfarenhet med varje program och därefter sammanfatta åsikterna med konkreta fakta. Resultatet består av resultatet från testfallen och resultatet från jämförelsematrisen och tillsammans bildar de ett betyg på testdatahanteringsverktyget. Den slutsats som kan dras från denna kartläggning är att de program med högst flexibilitet har större chans att lyckas men även finns det enkla program som visar att simpelhet är minst lika viktigt.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 23-26, 2000 / Town & Country Hotel and Conference Center, San Diego, California
Automatic spectrum management and monitoring systems are very useful to manage frequencies at test ranges and assure interference-free transmission of telemetry signals. Spectrum management systems assign telemetry frequencies using database information on available and occupied channels and analysis tools which can determine whether a data link will support telemetry. Modern, DSP-based spectrum monitoring systems, in fixed or mobile configurations, automate the process of performing spectrum occupancy to verify clear channels and identify and locate sources of interference; they are integrated with and utilize the management system database. Such systems are important to assure reliable communications channels for telemetry.

Big amounts of test data generated by the current used software testing tools (QA-C/QA-C++ and Cantata) contain a variety of different values. The variances cause enormous challenges in data aggregation and interpretation that directly affect generation of test metrics. Due to the circumstance of data processing, this master thesis introduces a database-centric test management framework for test metrics aims at centrally handling the big data as well as facilitating the generation of test metrics. Each test result will be individually parsed to be a particular format before being stored in a centralized database. A friendly front-end user interface is connected and synchronized with the database that allows authorized users to interact with the stored data. With a granularity tracking mechanism, any stored data will be systematically located and programmatically interpreted by a test metrics generator to create various kinds of high-quality test metrics. The automatization of the framework is driven by Jenkins CI to automatically and periodically performing the sequential operations. The technology greatly and effectively optimizes and reduces effort in the development, as well as enhance the performance of the software testing processes. In this research, the framework is only started at managing the testing processes on software-unit level. However, because of the independence of the database from levels of software testing, it could also be expanded to support software development at any level.

Master of Technology Marketing Management in the Faculty of Business at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2013
The advent of IT technology in particular, mobile technology has forced most of the private sector to re-evaluate how they interact and communicate with their intermediaries. Since the early 1990s most businesses have put the intermediary at the centre of their business by means of business strategies like Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solutions. However, the speed at which technology is evolving is forcing businesses to evaluate new and alternative means of managing intermediary relationships, as intermediaries now drive the economy, not businesses. The very essence of a good CRM programme is its reliance on an IT system which is advanced enough to analyse the captured intermediary data, transform that data into usable knowledge, which is then stored in a centralised, crossfunctional database or data warehouse. Most businesses agree that the goal of CRM solutions is to maximise business profits by maximising the value of interaction with intermediaries. Successful CRM businesses have strong, clearly defined business strategies that focus on the intermediary and generate a process-orientated view of the organisation. CRM functionality therefore creates a single view of the intermediary and the business as well as support to the Marketing, Sales, Order, Production and Service processes. This dissertation investigated the CRM functionality within the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) wholesale and retail liquor sector of the City of Cape Town, paying particular attention to the three channels that the liquor industry operate in. These three channels are segmented as the formal Off-premise consumption, formal On-premise consumption and the Informal Main market. The formal Off-premise consumption channel consist of the mainstream convenience and self-service liquor retailers where stock is purchased and consumed at another location by the end user. The formal On-premise consumption channel consists of venues where patrons purchase and consume liquor on the spot. The informal Main market, which is dominated by shebeens and taverns, is a combination of the Off- and On-premise consumption channels where bottle purchases and consumption occur on site together. This dissertation investigates one primary and four secondary questions within these channels. The primary question will establish whether a mobile CRM programme can be used as a marketing instrument to create a competitive advantage within the B2B licensed liquor industry of South Africa. The secondary questions establish whether intermediaries are willing to adopt CRM technology, what barriers exist, what the benefits are for both intermediary and company and whether there will be a reduction in communication costs for both parties. The South African government regulates the South African liquor industry in that only licensed outlets may trade in liquor. Within the Western Cape region, there are approximately 4,000 licensed outlets of which approximately 2,000 licences (data obtained from a leading liquor wholesalers company database) fall within the boundaries of Cape Town. A leading liquor wholesaler has legal contracts with each one of these accounts, providing a defined database from which primary research was conducted. Primary researches, in the form of quantitative interviews with a random sample of 150 intermediaries, across the three identified channels were conducted for this study. Questionnaires were used to establish how a competitive B2B mobile CRM programme can be implemented, while possible barriers and facilitators to mobile CRM were also considered. The findings produced two results: one result was expected but the second result was not expected by the researcher. The first results were that 57.5% of respondents, across all business channels, indicated their willingness to receiving a mCRM programme on their mobile devices. The unexpected finding was that 57.3% of respondents across all business channels had no idea or did not know what a CRM programme was. From these findings several recommendations are discussed namely: the implementation of a six month tactical marketing campaign which would expose intermediaries to the concepts and ideas of a CRM programme; the establishment of a comprehensively updated intermediary database; welltrained field sales staff who would support the CRM programme once implemented; a simple, easy to use and navigate mCRM programme to begin with. This programme would have to have the ability and capability to progress in the future as intermediaries become more familiar with the system; and a complete company philosophy, with a clear, holistic and coherent business strategy, that would embrace the mCRM concept to drive future growth opportunities. Key Words: business-to-business; customer relationship management; electronic customer relationship management; Information Technology and mobile customer relationship management.

Studien undersöker de automatiserade testverktygen: Ghost Inspector och Selenium. En limiterad litteraturstudie och två fallstudier görs, för att undersöka och utvärdera testverktygen. Detta för att kunna tillgodose riktlinjer som är användbara, vid val av ett verktyg för att utföra regressionstestning på webbapplikationer.IStone använder Ghost Inspector som verktyg vid regressionstest på webb applikationer, eftersom det ger dem en effektiv konfigurering och underhålls- process. Selenium kräver mer ansträngning för konfigurering och underhåll, eftersom verktygen inte är en tjänst. Miljön i Ghost Inspector underlättar för iStone att exekvera test kontinuerligt och förser projektteamet med det senaste testresultatet.
The study evaluates the automatic testing tools: Ghost Inspector and Selenium. and focuses on comparing them in terms of the set up and maintenance processes. The study includes a limited literature study and two case studies. The purpose is to evaluate the tools and provide guidelines for choosing a regression testing tool when testing the functionality of web applications.IStone use Ghost Inspector as regressions testing tool on web applications, since it offers an effective set up and maintenance process. Selenium requires more effort to set up and maintain, since Selenium is not a service. The Ghost Inspector environment comforts iStone with the ability of executing test continuously and supplies the latest test results to the project team.

The topic of this thesis is the issue of software testing. The thesis places main emphasis on tools to support test management, manual and automated functional testing and last but not least the tools for defect tracking. The aim of this thesis is introduce readers with software testing, especially with tools that can be used to support testing. The aim is offer an overview of the basic commercial and freely distributed tools for test management, manual testing, automated functional testing and defect tracking. Another aim is design criteria that simplify selection of tool. The second aim of this thesis is practical example of the configuration and description of the basic work with tools IBM Rational - ClearQuest, ClearCase, Manual Tester and Functional Tester. The aims of this thesis were achieved by studying available sources and by own practical experience with the tools to support testing. The contribution of this thesis lies in the characteristics of the selected tools to support testing and especially in design of criteria by which tools can be selected. The last part of thesis provides practical instruction how to configure and work with the tools to support testing of IBM Rational. The thesis is conceived in three main parts. The first part attends to basic terms, which can be found in the area of testing, and to overview of types of tests. There are also described two most famous life-cycle models and methodology RUP. The second part attends to overview of tools to support testing, attention is given to areas: test management, manual testing, defect tracking, and automated functional testing. For each category of tools has been defined criteria according to which tools can be selected. The last part attends to practical example of setting and basic work with the selected tools to support testing of IBM Rational.

O presente trabalho consistiu na proposta, desenvolvimento e teste de um ambiente computacional hierárquico que vise facilitar a criação, organização e gerenciamento de cursos para serem disponibilizados via Internet, inserido nos projetos de Educação a Distância conduzidos pelo CDCC (Centro de Divulgação Científica e Cultural da USP- São Carlos), tendo como objetivo inicial o treinamento e reciclagem de professores da rede pública, nas disciplinas de física e ciências. O ambiente possui um sistema especialista para o tratamento das dúvidas dos usuários, o Sistema Gerenciador de Dúvidas Online (SGDO) que se tornou uma ferramenta autônoma e hoje faz parte do Plantão de Dúvidas Online do CDCC/USP. O SGDO utiliza o conceito de Education Intelligence, através do uso de data mining, possibilitando ao instrutor selecionar dados, analisar informações, identificar tendência e tomar decisões no decorrer de um curso a distância. A ferramenta WebCourse é um ambiente hierárquico baseado na Web consistindo de quatro módulos: WebCourse Instrutor, WebCourse Monitor, WebCourse Aluno e WebCourse Administrador. Cada módulo possui ferramentas específicas, desenvolvidas para as necessidades dos agentes participantes do ambiente (instrutores, monitores, alunos e administradores). O ambiente é dito hierárquico porque algumas de suas ferramentas somente podem ser usadas por certos módulos. Cada módulo está altamente conectado aos outros e todas as ferramentas são baseadas em templates HTML, usando a linguagem script Lite, do banco de dados mSQL, para a geração de arquivos HTML dinâmicos. Todo o sistema é gerenciado através de um banco de dados mSQL, localizado num servidor web, onde os dados são armazenados e recuperados sob demanda.
The present work consisted on the proposal, development and test of a hierarchical computational environment to facilitate the creation, organization and management of courses to be available over the Internet, inserted on the projects of Distance Education conducted by CDCC (Center for Scientifical and Cultural Dissemination at the University of São Paulo at São Carlos). Its initial objective was training public school teachers of Physics and Sciences. The environment has a specialist system for the treatment of online doubts called Online Doubt Managing System (ODMS), which became an autonomous tool inside the Online Doubt Helping Center at CDCC/USP. ODMS utilizes the concept of Education Intelligence through the use of data mining, making it possible for instructors to select data, analyze informations, identify trends and take decisions during a course carried via Web. WebCourse is a hierarchical web-based tool for the creation and management of web-based courses which consists of four modules: WebCourse Instrutor (Instructor Module), WebCourse Monitor (Teacher Assistant Module), WebCourse Aluno (Student Module) and WebCourse Administrador (Administrator Module). Every module has a set of specific tools, developed to meet the necessities of the environment\'s participant agents (instructors, teacher assistants, students and administrators). The tool is said to be hierarchical since some of its tools can only be used by certain modules. Each module is highly connected to the others and every tool is template-based, using the mSQL database\'s Lite scripting facility in order to generate HTML files on-the-fly. All the system is managed through a mSQL database, located on a web server, where data is stored and recovered on demand.

Contemporary technological systems generate massive quantities of log messages. These messages can be stored, searched and visualized efficiently using log management and analysis tools. The analysis of log messages offer insights into system behavior such as performance, server status and execution faults in web applications. iStone AB wants to explore the possibility to automate their debugging process. Since iStone does most parts of their debugging manually, it takes time to find errors within the system. The aim was therefore to find different solutions to reduce the time it takes to debug. An analysis of log messages within access – and console logs were made, so that the most appropriate data mining techniques for iStone’s system would be chosen. Data mining algorithms and log management and analysis tools were compared. The result of the comparisons showed that the ELK Stack as well as a mixture between Eclat and a hybrid algorithm (Eclat and Apriori) were the most appropriate choices. To demonstrate their feasibility, the ELK Stack and Eclat were implemented. The produced results show that data mining and the use of a platform for log analysis can facilitate and reduce the time it takes to debug.
Dagens system genererar stora mängder av loggmeddelanden. Dessa meddelanden kan effektivt lagras, sökas och visualiseras genom att använda sig av logghanteringsverktyg. Analys av loggmeddelanden ger insikt i systemets beteende såsom prestanda, serverstatus och exekveringsfel som kan uppkomma i webbapplikationer. iStone AB vill undersöka möjligheten att automatisera felsökning. Eftersom iStone till mestadels utför deras felsökning manuellt så tar det tid att hitta fel inom systemet. Syftet var att därför att finna olika lösningar som reducerar tiden det tar att felsöka. En analys av loggmeddelanden inom access – och konsolloggar utfördes för att välja de mest lämpade data mining tekniker för iStone’s system. Data mining algoritmer och logghanteringsverktyg jämfördes. Resultatet av jämförelserna visade att ELK Stacken samt en blandning av Eclat och en hybrid algoritm (Eclat och Apriori) var de lämpligaste valen. För att visa att så är fallet så implementerades ELK Stacken och Eclat. De framställda resultaten visar att data mining och användning av en plattform för logganalys kan underlätta och minska den tid det tar för att felsöka.

In 2016 employers hiring four-year college graduates indicate that 27.8% have deficiencies in written communication. Postsecondary learning objectives should focus on improving specific writing skills like grammar, sentence structure, and vocabulary usage for individual students and monitoring text readability as an overall score to measure learning outcomes. Web-based applications and the tools integrated into them have the potential to serve as a diagnostic solution for analyzing the text readability and writing skills of students. Organization and structuring of Canvas data was required before adding text readability and other writing skills analytics as part of the process to develop diagnostic learning analytics that interprets student writing skills in the learning management system. Decision modeling was used to capture and describe the specifics of literacy improvement decisions for instructors and administrators in a graphical notation and structured format.

碩士
國立臺北科技大學
資訊工程系研究所
96
Running automated test case to ensure that every modification will not cause new defects is a well-known software best practice. This approach can also be applied to debugging activities so that reduces the verification time. But with the growth of software system, the complexity of programs and the number of test cases are also increased. It may lead to: (1) developers may loss focus by unrelated test cases because of too many test cases; (2) developers need to endure longer test time, and therefore decrease performance; (3) During the debugging activity, developers often need to repeatedly modify programs, and many of the modifications may be finally proved that they have nothing to do with the bug, so we need to spend time to rollback; (4) because the debugging process and experience are usually not retained, the other members of the development team are difficult to learn the experience. In view of this, this paper presents debugging history and focus group concepts, storing modification history and using a test case selection technique to selects test cases related to the bug, in order to resolve the above issues. We have developed an Eclipse plug-ins, Reg4J2, to implement the concepts. By integrating with the Eclipse platform, Reg4J2 will be easier to be integrated with development activities and help developers to debug.

碩士
大同大學
通訊工程研究所
96
UMTS UE need be verified before launch into market. UMTS UE is tested protocol conformance testing by system simulator in addition to UE field trial in real UMTS network is an important task during the verification and development. In this thesis we focus on test tool implementation on PDA phone for UMTS UE mobility management field trial. UMTS network architecture, protocol stack and functions are introduced. Before the field trial test tool is implemented, we need to understand PDA phone architecture and know about that mobility management relative parameters of UMTS. We implement PDA side application to retrieve mobility management parameters from modem. Modem side also need be implemented the application which make response to PDA side. Finally we use modem trace tool and USIM to verify that the UMTS UE Mobility Management field trial tool is correct. This tool can display network parameters real time, this test tool makes the field trial test more convenient and useful.

碩士
國立交通大學
資訊學院資訊科技產業專班
96
This thesis describes a conformance and interoperability test tool for Digital Rights Management (DRM) developed on an Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) service interoperability test platform. DRM is a security (protection) mechanism that allows a content issuer to manage the media objects to be delivered to the users with copyright protection. In DRM, the users then access DRM Content (i.e., the protected media objects) according to the Rights Objects. Before a DRM application is launched for a mobile device, it is essential to conduct testing to ensure that the DRM mechanism is correctly implemented. Based on the Testing and Test Control Notation version 3 (TTCN-3) specifications, we show how DRM test cases can be efficiently implemented.

This diploma thesis deals with use of the Project Implementation Profile (PIP) tool in managing training projects in the non-profit sector. Appropriate methodology for implementation of the PIP tool is described. The Project Implementation Profile tool is implemented in order to enhance quality of management of chosen training project. This training project is realized by non-profit children organization called Chameleon Brno. Furthemore, proper measures evaluating ten critical success factors are set. They are tracked and analyzed for a purpose of determination their impact on performance of training project. Two similar training projects are compared in order to find out improvements provided by use of the PIP tool. Finally, the proposed measures are discussed in relation to their suitability also for other training projects operated by organization Chameleon Brno. It results in desicion that they can be applied also to these training project in order to enhance quality of their management.

Since 1971, a number of flood frequency models have been developed for river basins in Malawi for use in the design of hydraulic structures, but the varied nature of their results have most often given a dilemma to the design engineer due to differences in magnitudes of calculated floods for given return periods. All the known methods for flood frequency analysis developed in country so far have not used a homogeneity test for the river basins from which the hydrological data has been obtained. This study was thus conducted with a view to resolving this problem and hence improve the design of hydraulic structures such as culverts, bridges, water intake points for irrigation schemes, and flood protection dykes. In light of the above, during the course of this study the applicability of existing methods in the design of hydraulic structures was assessed. Also, the study investigated how land use and land cover change influence the frequency and magnitude of floods in the study area, and how their deleterious impacts on the socio-economic and natural environment in the river basins could be mitigated
Environmental Sciences
M. Sc. (Environmental Management)

Of the 22.5 million individuals infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in sub-Saharan Africa, 62% of patients requiring treatment had access to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in 2011. The delivery of HAART and the appropriate laboratory monitoring of HIV positive individuals in sub-Saharan African countries has become a public health priority, an intervention which has and will continue to dramatically reduce HIV-related morbidity and mortality. Routine laboratory monitoring of HIV infected individuals should ideally include CD4+ T cell testing to assess when to start ART, viral load monitoring to assess virological failure on ART and when indicated, HIVDR genotyping.However, this is often not implemented in resource limited settings due to challenges such as inadequate infrastructure and laboratory capacity, amongst others. Thus the Affordable Resistance Testing for Africa (ART-A) initiative was established to develop an affordable HIV drug resistance testing (HIVDR) algorithm applicable to Africa. The objective of this study was to evaluate the role of in vitro HIVDR phenotyping in the context of HIV-1 subtype C (the most prevalent circulating subtype in sub-Saharan Africa), genotyping and genotypic interpretation tools using existing algorithms, as well as novel virological failure detection tools for clinical patient management. Current gold standard HIVDR phenotyping technologies use an HIV-1 subtype B backbone to create recombinant viruses with patient-derived polymerase (protease and partial reverse transcriptase). This backbone could impact on the in vitro phenotyping results of non-B subtypes, and therefore it was deemed necessary to establish the applicability of HIVDR phenotypic testing of subtype C polymerase when a commercially available subtype B backbone is used. One hundred and fourteen HIV-1 subtype C samples were HIVDR phenotyped against 17 antiretroviral drugs using both subtype B and C backbones and showed a high level of concordance between the two backbone phenotypic resistance profiles (95.8%; 1590 of 1660 fold change comparisons). Natural assay variability was largely responsible for discordant results. Results confirmed that HIV-1 phenotypic reverse transcriptase inhibitor drug resistance test interpretation is independent of the virus backbone subtype. No conclusions could be made for protease inhibitor resistance since limited samples from 2nd line failure were available. Subsequently, the HIVDR genotypic and phenotypic results of the 114 patient samples were compared to determine whether genotyping is a viable alternative to phenotyping. Results showed a 92.3% concordance between genotyping and phenotyping of individual drug comparisons for a number of HIVDR profiles. Discrepancies were attributed to phenotypic assay variability in addition to the role of mutation mixtures, which impacted genotypic interpretations. Overall, HIVDR genotyping is a reliable tool to detect and interpret antiretroviral drug resistance in HIV-1 subtype C infected patients, and can thus be used for clinical patient management. Once the accuracy of HIVDR genotyping was established, the development, validation and evaluation of a potential virological failure assay (ARTA-VFA) and a simplified HIVDR (ARTA-HIVDRultralight) assay was undertaken. A simplified and conceptually novel approach using a qualitative viral load assay with a pre-determined cut-off that gives a threshold above which virological failure (VF) could be confirmed and below which treatment success was likely, was tested. A real-time PCR (ARTA-VFA) assay was developed which involved the amplification of a short sequence of the HIV-1 LTR region from RNA extracted either from plasma and/or dried blood spots (DBS). The ARTA-VFA was tested on 409 patient samples,and successfully amplified samples from all major HIV-1 group M subtypes with equal specificity. The VF was qualitatively classified as a viral load >1000 RNA copies/ml in plasma samples, and >5000 RNA copies/ml in DBS samples. Comparative testing yielded accurate VF determination for therapy-switching in approximately 93% of clinical cases tested, compared to current gold standard quantitative viral load assays. A simplified HIVDR genotyping assay (ARTA-HIVDRultralight) targeting the region of RT harboring all major RT inhibitor resistance mutation positions, thus providing all relevant susceptibility data for first-line regimen failures was developed and assessed. The ARTAHIVDRultralight assay was designed to be practical, faster, and more affordable, show flexibility with respect to equipment (open platform), use DBS or plasma as starting material and amplify and sequence a smaller amplicon (RT). The assay performed well when compared to the in-house assay used in the laboratory at the time for both 212 plasma and 25 DBS samples, yielding identical mutations and subsequent resistant profiles. Furthermore, a theoretical in silico exercise to investigate the consequences of using 125,329 shortened RT genotype (ARTA-HIVDRultralight) as compared to full-length RT sequences showed >95% and >90% concordance when using the Stanford HIVdb algorithm and the virco®TYPE tool, respectively. Differences noted were minor and unlikely to have any impact on clinical decision-making. Overall, this study illustrated that the short RT sequences can be reliably used to generate HIVDR genotypes using the Stanford HIVdb and virco®TYPE algorithms and reduce sequencing costs substantially. A field evaluation using the ARTA-VFA and ARTA-HIVDRultralight on 288 clinical samples was conducted, showing that the accuracy and precision of both assays (using 248 plasma or 40 DBS sampling methods) compared well to the reference methodology, thereby extending access of testing to more remote settings.These assays were designed to either be used as a testing strategy of initially assessing VF,and once confirmed performing an HIVDR assay, or alternatively to be used separately as stand-alone, or within different laboratory tiers in resource limited settings. It is envisaged that the ARTA-VFA could be used in the middle laboratory tier, and if confirmatory, patient samples can be referred to a reference laboratory with the available infrastructure for HIVDR testing using the ARTA-HIVDRultralight. Lastly, an automated sequence analysis and editing software for use in correct base calling of nucleotide/mutation mixtures in HIVDR genotyping was validated on 1624 sequences. Compared to reference software, where interpretation is often operator dependent, this software performed extremely well, with minor discrepancies noted. The automated software can be used to reduce subjectivity, time taken for analysis which is often the rate-limiting step and thus improving the turn-around time and clinical relevance of HIVDR genotyping. Overall, the results obtained describe the validation of using HIVDR genotyping as an alternative tool to phenotyping, and the subsequent development and validation of simple, affordable, "open-platform" alternatives to currently used methods for virological failure monitoring, and accommodate a centralized approach to HIVDR with DBS testing in resource limited settings.