COMPUTER SOFTWARE TESTING MANAGEMENT

A test management system is provided having high flexibility of test structuring capabilities, and fine-grained control over how tests are executed. The test management system is extensible; i.e., it can integrate with modern testing tools without requiring a modification of the system itself. More specifically, the test management system uses concepts such as encapsulation and inheritance in order to provide powerful test structuring and test execution capabilities and a framework for integrating with multiple "point tools" that create test cases or help analyze the state of a software program. As is the case with object-oriented software, the test management system is very extensible and new point tools can easily be integrated with the system. The test management system also allows reuse of "rules" specified at different levels in the test structure.