Complex systems such as computers, aerospace systems, etc., are often
tested by using a sequence of tests to exercise the functionality of t
he system, If the system fails a test, an error message is generated,
initiating the Test Selection (TS) phase, The troubleshooter must deci
de whether or not to run more tests, Should the troubleshooter decide
to conduct more tests, a test must be chosen as it may no longer be us
eful to conform to the predefined sequence, While in the TS phase, the
troubleshooter will repeatedly make these decisions until he is done.
We present a domain-independent framework to automate TS that is base
d on two computational models, TI and TP, Both models are needed for w
e show there are applications for which one model performs well, while
the other model performs poorly. The use of the appropriate model for
automating TS is indicated by certain characteristics of the testing
sequence and the system under test.