Software Test Plan

A test plan is a document describing the approach to be taken for intended testing activities and serves as a service-level agreement between the quality assurance testing function and other interested parties, such as development. A test plan should be developed early in the development cycle, and will help improve the interactions of the analysis, design, and coding activities. A test plan defines the test objectives, scope, strategy and approach, test procedures, test environment, test completion criteria, test cases, items to be tested, the tests to be performed, the test schedules, personnel requirements, reporting procedures, assumptions, risks, and contingency planning.

When developing a test plan, one should be sure that it is simple, complete, current, and accessible by the appropriate individuals for feedback and approval. A good test plan flows logically and minimizes redundant testing, demonstrates full functional coverage, provides workable procedures for monitoring, tracking, and reporting test status, contains a clear definition of the roles and responsibilities of the parties involved, has target delivery dates, and clearly documents the test results.

There are two ways of building a test plan. The first approach is a master test plan that provides an overview of each detailed test plan, that is, a test plan of a test plan. A detailed test plan verifies a particular phase in the waterfall development life cycle. Test plan examples include unit, integration, system, and acceptance. Other detailed test plans include application enhancements, regression testing, and package installation. Unit test plans are code oriented and very detailed, but short because of their limited scope. System or acceptance test plans focus on the functional test or black-box view of the entire system, not just a software unit.

The second approach is one test plan. This approach includes all the test types in one test plan, often called the acceptance/system test plan, but covers unit, integration, system, and acceptance testing, and all the planning considerations to complete the tests.

A major component of a test plan, often in the "Test Procedure" section, is a test case. A test case defines the step-by-step process whereby a test is executed. It includes the objectives and conditions of the test, the steps needed to set up the test, the data inputs, the expected results, and the actual results. Other information such as the software, environment, version, test ID, screen, and test type is also provided.

Date: ______________

Tested by: ______________

System: ____________

Environment: ___________

Objective: __________

Test ID______Reg. ID______

Function: __________

Screen: ______________

Version: ______

Test Type: ______

(Unit, Integ., System, Accept.)

Condition to test:

_____________________________________________

_____________________________________________

Data/steps to perform

_____________________________________________

_____________________________________________

Expected results:

_____________________________________________

_____________________________________________

_____________________________________________

Actual results: Passed____Failed ____

_____________________________________________

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