A Systematic Literature Review on MBT Test Cases Maintenance

Model-Based Testing (MBT) can be a valuable tool for software testing, automating test generation from the System Under Test (SUT) models and making the testing process systematic. However, it is common for models to undergo changes during the software lifecycle, which requires adaptive and robust testing strategies. As models evolve, the generated MBT suites require maintenance. While some tests may remain usable, others may become obsolete or require revision. In such scenarios, it is common for parts of an MBT suite to be discarded due to model changes, resulting in additional costs and hindering bug traceability. Therefore, maintaining MBT suites poses a significant challenge to their practical use. This paper presents a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) identifying predominant practices related to MBT suite maintenance, with a focus on strategies for reducing test case discard. The findings reveal that while reuse can prevent the loss of valuable test information, it is fundamentally driven by changes in requirement models, hinging on syntactic differences and the specific constructs of each model's formalism, highlighting the critical role of semantic deepening to minimize test case discard in Test Case Maintenance (TCM) with MBT approaches.