Cause-Effect Graphing

Dr. Durga Prasad Mohapatra

Professor
Department of CSE
NIT Rourkela
Cause-Effect Graphing
 Cause-effect graphing, also known as dependency modeling,
◦ focuses on modelling dependency relationships amongst
 program input conditions, known as causes, and
 output conditions, known as effects.

 The relationship is expressed visually in terms of a cause-

effect graph.

 The graph is a visual representation of a logical

relationship amongst inputs and outputs that can be
expressed as a Boolean expression.

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Cause-Effect Graphing (Contd..)
 The graph allows selection of various
combinations of input values as tests.

 The combinatorial explosion in the

number of tests is avoided by using
certain heuristics during test generation.

3
Cause-Effect Graphing (Contd..)
 A cause is any condition in the requirements that may effect
the program output.

 An effect is the response of the program to some

combination of input conditions.
◦ For example, it may be
 An error message displayed on the screen
 A new window displayed
 A database updated.

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Cause-Effect Graphing (Contd..)
 An effect need not be an “output” visible to the user of
the program.

 Instead, it could also be an internal test point in the

program that can be probed during testing to check if
some intermediate result is as expected.
◦ For example, the intermediate test point could be at the
entrance into a method to indicate that indeed the method has
been invoked.

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Example
 Consider the requirement “Dispense food only
when the DF switch is ON”
◦ Cause is “DF switch is ON”.
◦ Effect is “Dispense food”.

 This requirement implies a relationship between

the “DF switch is ON” and the effect “Dispense
food”.

 Other requirements might require additional

causes for the occurrence of the “Dispense food”
effect.
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Cause and Effect Graphs
 Testing would be a lot easier:
◦ if we could automatically generate test cases
from requirements.
 Work done at IBM:

◦ Can requirements specifications be

systematically used to design functional test
cases?

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Cause and Effect Graphs

 Examine the requirements:

◦ restate them as logical relation between
inputs and outputs.
◦ The result is a Boolean graph
representing the relationships
 called a cause-effect graph.

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Cause and Effect Graphs
 Convert the graph to a decision
table:
◦ each column of the decision table
corresponds to a test case for
functional testing.

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Steps to create cause-effect graph
 Study the functional requirements.
 Mark and number all causes and
effects.
 Numbered causes and effects:
◦ become nodes of the graph.

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Steps to create cause-effect graph
 Draw causes on the LHS
 Draw effects on the RHS
 Draw logical relationship between
causes and effects
◦ as edges in the graph.
 Extra nodes can be added
◦ to simplify the graph

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Drawing Cause-Effect Graphs

A B
If A then B

A
C
B
If (A and B)then C

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Drawing Cause-Effect Graphs

A
C
B
If (A or B)then C
A
C
B
If (not(A and B))then
C
13
Drawing Cause-Effect Graphs

A
C
B
If (not (A or B))then C

A B
If (not A) then B

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Cause effect graph- Example
A water level monitoring system
◦ used by an agency involved in flood control.

◦ Input: level(a,b)
 a is the height of water in dam in meters
 b is the rainfall in the last 24 hours in cms

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Cause effect graph- Example
 Processing
◦ The function calculates whether the level is
safe, too high, or too low.

 Output
◦ message on screen
 level=safe
 level=high
 invalid syntax

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Cause effect graph- Example
 We can separate the requirements
into 5 causes:

◦ first five letters of the command is “level”

◦ command contains exactly two
parameters
 separated by comma and enclosed in
parentheses

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Cause effect graph- Example

 Parameters a and b are real numbers:

◦ such that the water level is calculated to be low

◦ or safe.

 The parameters a and b are real numbers:

◦ such that the water level is calculated to be high.
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Cause effect graph- Example
◦ Command is syntactically valid
◦ Operands are syntactically valid.

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Cause effect graph- Example

 Three effects
◦ level = safe
◦ level = high
◦ invalid syntax

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Cause effect graph- Example

1 10
E3
2 11
3 E1

4
E2
5

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Cause effect graph- Decision table
Test 1 Test 2 Test 3 Test 4 Test 5
Cause 1 I I I S I
Cause 2 I I I X S
Cause 3 I S S X X
Cause 4 S I S X X
Cause 5 S S I X X
Effect 1 P P A A A
Effect 2 A A P A A
Effect 3 A A A P P

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Cause effect graph- Example
 Put a row in the decision table for
each cause or effect:
◦ in the example, there are five rows
for causes and three for effects.

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Cause effect graph- Example
 The columns of the decision table
correspond to test cases.
 Define the columns by examining
each effect:
◦ list each combination of causes that can
lead to that effect.

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Cause effect graph- Example
 We can determine the number of
columns of the decision table
◦ by examining the lines flowing into the
effect nodes of the graph.

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Cause effect graph- Example
 Theoretically
we could have
generated 25=32 test cases.
◦ Using cause effect graphing technique
reduces that number to 5.

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Cause effect graph
 Not practical for systems which:
◦ include timing aspects
◦ feedback from processes is used for
some other processes.

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Procedure used for the generation of tests
 Identify causes and effects by reading the
requirements. Each cause and effect is assigned a
unique identifier. Note that an effect can also be a
cause for some other effect.

 Express the relationship between causes and effects

using a cause-effect graph.

 Transform the cause-effect graph into a limited

entry decision table, hereafter referred to as
decision table.

 Generate tests from the decision table.

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Basic elements of a cause-effect graph
 implication
 not (~)
 and (^)
 or (v)

not C implies Ef
C implies Ef
C Ef C Ef

Ef when C1 and C2 and C3 Ef when C1 or C2

C1 C1

C2 ^ Ef v Ef

C3 C2

 C, C1, C2, C3 denote causes.

 Ef denotes an effect.
Semantics of basic elements
 C implies Ef : if(C) then Ef;
 not C implies Ef : if(⌐C) then Ef;
 Ef when C1 and C2 and C3 : if(C1&&C2&&C3) then Ef;
 Ef when C1 or C2 : if(C1||C2) then Ef;

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Constraints amongst causes (E,I,O,R)
 Constraints show the relationship between the causes.
 Exclusive (E)
 Inclusive (I)
 Requires (R)
 One and only one (O)

Exclusive: either C1 or C2 or C3 Inclusive: at least C1 or C2

C1 C1

E I
C2
C2
C3
One and only one, of C1 and C2
C1 requires C2
C1
C1 O
R
C2 C2
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Constraints amongst causes (E,I,O,R)
 Exclusive (E) constraint between three causes C1, C2
and C3 implies that exactly one of C1, C2, C3 can be
true.
 Inclusive (I) constraint between two causes C1 and
C2 implies that at least one of the two must be
present.
 Requires (R) constraint between C1 and C2 implies
that C1 requires C2.
 One and only one (O) constraint models the
condition that one, and only one, of C1 and C2 must
hold.
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Possible values of causes constrained by
E, I, R,O
 A 0 or 1 under a cause implies that the
corresponding condition is, respectively, false and
true.
 The arity of all constraints, except R, is greater than
or equal to 2, i.e., all except the R constraint can be
applied to two or more causes; the R constraint is
applied to two causes.
 A condition that is false (true) is said to be in the
“0-state” (1 state).
 Similarly, an effect can be “present” (1 state) or
“absent” (0 state).
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Possible values of causes constrained by E, I, R,O

Constraint Arity Possible values

C1 C2 C3
E(C1,C2,C3) n≥2 0 0 0
1 0 0
0 1 0
0 0 1
I(C1,C2) n≥2 1 0 -
0 1 -
1 1 -
R(C1,C2) n=2 1 1 -
0 0 -
0 1 -
O(C1,C2,C3) n≥2 1 0 0
0 1 0
0 0 1 34
Constraint amongst effects

 Masking (M)

Ef1 masks Ef2

Ef1
M
Ef2

 Masking (M) constraint between two effects Ef1 and Ef2

implies that if Ef1 is present, then Ef2 is forced to be absent.

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Steps for generating test cases using Cause-Effect Graph

Identification of all

causes and effects

Design the cause-

effect graph

Apply constraints, if
any

Design limited entry

decision table from
graph

Write test cases using

every column of the
decision table
Creating Cause-Effect Graph
 The process of creating a cause-effect graph consists of two
major steps.

 The causes and effects are identified by a careful

examination of the requirements.
◦ This process also exposes the relationships amongst various causes
and effects as well as constraints amongst the causes and effects.
◦ Each cause and effect is assigned a unique identifier for ease of
reference in the cause-effect graph.

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Creating Cause-Effect Graph
 The cause-effect graph is constructed to
◦ express the relationships extracted from the
requirements.

 When the number of causes and effects is large, say

over 100 causes and 45 effects,
◦ it is appropriate to use an incremental approach.

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Another example
 Consider the example of keeping the record of marital
status and number of children of a citizen.

 The value of marital status must be `U' or `M'.

 The value of the number of children must be digit or null in

case a citizen is unmarried.

 If the information entered by the user is correct then an

update is made.

 If the value of marital status of the citizen is incorrect, then

the error message 1 is issued.

 Similarly, if the value of the number of children is incorrect,

then the error message 2 is issued. 39
Answer
 Causes are
◦ c1: marital status is U
◦ c2: marital status is M
◦ c3: number of children is a digit
 Effects are
◦ e1: updation made
◦ e2: error message 1 is issued
◦ e3: error message 2 is issued

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Answer
c1 e1

E v ^

c2 e2

R
c3 e3

 There are two constraints

◦ Exclusive (between c1 and c2) and
◦ Requires (between c3 and c2)
 Causes c1 and c2 cannot occur simultaneously.
 For cause c3 to be true, cause c2 has to be true.

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Decision Table from cause-effect graph
 Each column of the decision table represents a combination
of input values, and hence a test.
 There is one row for each condition and effect.
 Thus the table decision table can be viewed as an N X M
matrix with
◦ N being the sum of the number of conditions and effects and
◦ M the number of tests.
 Each entry in the decision table is a 0 or 1
◦ depending on whether or not the corresponding condition is false or
true, respectively.
 For a row corresponding to an effect, an entry is 0 or 1
◦ if the effect is not present or present, respectively.

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Test generation from a decision table
 Test generation from a decision table is relatively forward.
 Each column in the decision table generates at least one test
input.
 Note that each combination might be able to generate more
than one test when a condition in the cause-effect graph can
be satisfied in more than one way.
 For example, consider the following cause:
 C: x<99
 The condition above can be satisfied by many values such as
x=1 and x=49.
 Also, C can be made false by many values of x such as x=100
and x=999.
 Thus, one might have a choice of values of input variables while
generating tests using columns from a decision table
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Example
 A tourist of age greater than 21 years and having a
clean driving record is supplied a rental car.
 A premium amount is also charged if the tourist is
on business,
 Otherwise, it is not charged.
 If the tourist is less than 21 year old, or does not
have a clean driving record,
◦ The system will display the following message: “Car cannot
be supplied”.

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Answer
 Causes are
◦ c1: Age is over 21
◦ c2: Driving record is clean
◦ c3: Tourist is on business
 Effects are
◦ e1: Supply a rental car without premium charge
◦ e2: Supply a rental car with premium charge
◦ e3: Car cannot be supplied

c1 e1
^ ^

c2 ^ e2

c3 e3
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Decision Table and Test Cases
1 2 3 4
c1: Over 21? F T T T
c2: Driving record clean? - F T T
c3: On business? - - F T
e1: Supply a rental car without premium charge X
e2: Supply a rental car with premium charge X
e3: Car cannot be supplied X X

Test Age Driving_record_clean On_business Expected Output

Case
1 20 Yes Yes Car cannot be supplied

2 26 No Yes Car cannot be supplied

3 62 Yes No Supply a rental car without

premium charge
4 62 Yes Yes Supply a rental car with
premium charge
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Example 2: Triangle Classification Problem
 Consider a program for classification of a triangle.
 Its input is a triple of positive integers (say a, b and c) and the
input values are greater than zero and less than or equal to
100.
 The triangle is classified according to the following rules:
◦ Right angled triangle: c2=a2+b2 or a2=b2+c2 or b2=c2+ a2
◦ Obtuse angled triangle: c2>a2+b2 or a2>b2+c2 or b2>c2+ a2
◦ Acute angled triangle: c2<a2+b2 or a2<b2+c2 or b2<c2+a2
◦ The program output may have one of the following words: [Acute
angled triangle, Obtuse angled triangle, Right angled triangle, Invalid
triangle, Input values are out of range]

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Answer
 Causes are:
◦ c1: side “a” is less than the sum of sides “b” and “c”.
◦ c2: side “b” is less than the sum of sides “a” and “c”.
◦ c3: side “c” is less than the sum of sides “a” and “b”.
◦ c4: square of side “a” is equal to the sum of squares of sides “b” and “c”.
◦ c5: square of side “a” is greater than the sum of squares of sides “b” and “c”.
◦ c6: square of side “a” is less than the the sum of squares of sides “b” and “c”.
 Effects are:
◦ e1: Invalid triangle
◦ e2: Right angle triangle
◦ e3: Obtuse angled triangle
◦ e4: Acute angled triangle
◦ e5: Impossible stage

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Cause-Effect Graph
c1

c2 v e1

c3

^
c4 e2

^
E c5 e3

^
c6 e4
^

e5
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Decision Table
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

c1: a<b+c F T T T T T T T T T T

c2: b<a+c - F T T T T T T T T T

c3: c<a+b - - F T T T T T T T T

c4: a2=b2+c2 - - - T T T T F F F F

c5: a2>b2+c2 - - - T T F F T T F F

c6: a2<b2+c2 - - - T F T F T F T F

e1: Invalid triangle X X X

e2: Right angle triangle X

e3: Obtuse angled triangle X

e4: Acute angled triangle X

e5: Impossible X X X X X
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Thank You

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