Microservice Test Prioritization via Dependency Risk Analysis

The patent segments the testing process by dividing microservices into different priority levels based on their criticality to the system. High-priority microservices are tested first and in greater detail, while lower-priority services receive reduced testing coverage. This segmentation allows the testing system to focus resources on the most important services, maintaining reliability for critical functions while reducing overall testing time.

The patent applies local quality by assigning different testing depths and methodologies to different microservices based on their specific characteristics and importance. Critical microservices receive comprehensive testing with multiple test cases, while less critical services receive streamlined testing. This approach ensures that testing quality is optimized locally for each service based on its actual needs rather than applying uniform testing across all services.

The patent segments the microservice portfolio into priority tiers, allocating testing resources proportionally to each tier. High-priority microservices receive substantial resource allocation including multiple test environments and comprehensive test suites, while lower-priority services receive minimal resource allocation. This segmentation enables the system to maintain adequate testing coverage for critical services while dramatically reducing overall resource consumption.

The patent applies partial action by performing only the necessary amount of testing for each microservice based on its priority level. Instead of exhaustive testing for all services, the system performs sufficient testing for high-priority services to ensure reliability, while performing minimal testing for low-priority services. This approach achieves adequate testing coverage for critical functions without the excessive resource consumption of comprehensive testing across all services.

The patent implements self-service by enabling automated test prioritization through configuration files and policy-based rules. The testing system automatically determines test execution order based on pre-defined criteria such as microservice dependencies, criticality levels, and business impact. This eliminates the need for manual intervention in complex prioritization decisions while maintaining flexibility through configurable parameters. Users can adjust priorities through simple configuration rather than complex manual processes.

The patent applies preliminary action by pre-establishing prioritization rules, dependency relationships, and criticality classifications before testing begins. The system performs advance analysis of microservice relationships and impact assessments, storing this information for rapid retrieval during test execution. This preliminary preparation reduces the complexity of real-time test ordering decisions, as the system simply follows pre-determined priorities rather than calculating them during execution.

The patent segments the testing effort to focus intensively on high-priority microservices that are most likely to contain critical bugs. By concentrating testing resources on these services, the system achieves high reliability for the most important functions while reducing the time spent testing lower-priority services. This segmentation enables faster identification and fixing of bugs in critical areas without the time cost of exhaustive testing across all services.

The patent applies preliminary action by performing risk assessment and impact analysis before testing to identify which microservices are most likely to contain bugs based on recent changes, dependency relationships, and historical data. This preliminary identification allows the testing system to focus on the most promising areas for bug discovery, reducing the overall time to find and fix bugs while maintaining system reliability through targeted testing of critical components.