A common question when it comes to writing a test plan is, “How long should the test plan be?”. In fact, there is no definitive answer to that question since the length of the test plan is driven by the specific context of the project .
Test plans should list the risks foreseen in the project and their respective levels so that testing can be prioritized by risk.
This is where the test strategy becomes very important in defining major test objectives and making sure the test approach is in alignment with organizational needs and goals. The organizational perspective of testing is often found in a test policy.
The Test Plan (sometimes also referred to as a QA Test Plan) can be seen as the instruction manual or guide for your testing effort. It describes the objectives of testing (what are you planning to verify and/or validate), the scope of testing (what will and will not be tested), together with the general and sometimes detailed schedule of the activities you want to perform (how and when are you testing).
Even in test techniques such as exploratory testing, test charters are used as a way to outline the focus of a period of testing, along with defining who will perform the tests, and how much time will be allocated to the testing effort.
A very good early project activity is to get the stakeholders together and brainstorm the test strategy. It may seem odd to have a test-oriented activity so early in a project, but it gets people thinking about how one of the most critical project activities, testing, will be conducted.
The organizational perspective of testing is often found in a test policy. A test strategy describes the uniqueness of the test and is a “big picture” view of the test. You might think of a test strategy as the description of the “what” and the “why” of the test.
Remember, your company should come up with its own set of guidelines and procedures while conducting test procedures. Now sit back and that a breath of relief. Get started on your testing work!
The test plan is a blueprint which specifies the software testing activities as a defined process which is monitored from time to time and controlled by the test managers. A test plan is written by a test member who understands the functionality and working of the system well, and each test case is submitted for review by seniors.
The test environment is a real-time instance that includes the user and the physical environment which includes servers and front-end interface.
The test criteria are a rule or a standard on which the test procedure is based. 2 types of test criteria need to be resolved: 1. Suspension Criteria: Here you specify the critical suspension criteria for a test. When the suspension criteria are met, the active test cycle is suspended. 2.
The main goal of testing is to find as many software bugs as possible, to ensure that the software is free from all the bugs. To interpret and document test objective, you will need to follow 2 steps; 1.
Designing test strategy. This is the most important task while creating the test plan. The test strategy document is a high-level document which is usually developed by the test manager. The document covers the systems testing objectives and the roadmap to achieve them by determining testing cost and efforts.
Software development is more than just developing a system with desired functions. In the software industry, requirements are volatile and keep on changing from time to time. With fewer resources, shorter iterations are demanded while maintaining the high quality of the product. Hence developing a test plan that outlines the objective, resources, ...
The test plan describes the scope of the overall test effort and provides a record of the test planning process. You can configure the test plan to meet the needs of your team.
This tutorial takes approximately 40 minutes to finish. If you explore other concepts that are related to this tutorial, it might take longer to complete.
As a rule, the test plan is prepared by the QA-lead of the testing team. However, it can be repeatedly edited by the testers themselves.
Test plan – is a document, which describes the entire scope of testing, starting from the description of the test object, strategy, schedule, criteria for starting and ending testing, to the equipment required in the process of operation, special knowledge, as well as the risk assessment with options for their resolution.
If you answer all these questions while writing a test plan, you will get a good draft of the test planning document. After that, it needs to be finalized, based on the points indicated below, and the test plan will be almost ready:
Master Test Plan – consist of high level information, which does not change often and the requirements for which are not often revised during the testing.
At this stage, the sequence of work is described: test preparation, testing, test result analysis in the context of the planned development phases. The dates or criteria for the transition from one phase to the next must be indicated.