Plan Testing Activities

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A test plan is a document that answers the basic questions about your testing effort. It needs to be initiated during the requirements gathering phase of your project and should evolve into a roadmap for the testing phase. This is a non-trivial activity since without a solid test plan, testing activities tend to become ad-hoc, unscheduled single events and the only way to recognize when you are done testing is when you run out of time.

Test planning
		enables a more reliable estimate of the testing effort up front

		allows the project team time to consider ways to reduce the testing effort without being under time pressure

		helps remove misunderstandings between developers and end-users before the solution is developed

		creates a verifiable system component that will become part of the project documentation

		helps to identify problem areas and focuses the testing team's attention on the critical paths

		reduces the probability of implementing non-tested components

		is an integral part of a coherent requirements management process

When should you plan testing activities?

Testing accounts for 45 - 75% of the typical project effort. It is also one of the most commonly underestimated activities on a project. We recommend that you plan your testing activities as early in the project as feasible and be ready to recognize when you have to change your plan.

Who should plan testing activities?

The responsibility for planning testing activities is different for unit, integration, and acceptance testing. You will need developers, managers, project leaders and end-users. If a quality assurance/testing group exists in your organization, involve them as early as they will allow you to.

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Test Plans

Test plans can exist on many different levels. You may have only one overall test plan for the whole project or divide the overall test plan further into test plans for unit testing, test plans for acceptance testing, test plans for integration testing, etc.

But no matter how many test plans your organization uses on a given project, each test plan should contain a set of activities which define strategic and scheduling components.

Test Plan Activities

Activity	Description
Determine objectives of test	This is the what and why of this test. What are you trying to achieve and why is it important to achieve it?
Determine testing techniques to be used	What kind(s) of testing will be done (reviews, walk-throughs, walking data through code, computer execution)? This answers the 'how' of step 1.
Select appropriate test cases	Decide which test cases should be included in this plan.
Maximize scheduling of test runs	Arrange the test runs for greatest efficiency. This step will vary greatly according to the type of testing being done - in a system test. It may be predetermined.
Identify needed resources	What kinds of resources do you need, how many and for how long? Customers, developers, operations?
Establish start and end dates	Based on the current project schedule, the estimated testing effort and the availability of required resources, when should these tests start? When are they scheduled to be done?
Secure test environment	Make sure everything (people, machines, time) you need is available when you plan to run the test.
Write up formal test plan	Pull all information into a document that can be put into the project documentation and can be handed to someone else to finish the testing process if necessary.
Review test plan & obtain necessary approvals	Review the plan with the appropriate people. You may need to repeat some of the above steps to obtain the approvals.

Test Plan Components

1. Strategic Components

Component	Description
Test Plan Objective	Short description of the test plan.
Business Risk	Description of the risk to which the company will be exposed if the test objective cannot be achieved.
Test Strategy	Definition of the planned approach to achieving the objective of the test.
Scope	List of application components to be or not to be tested.
Testing Techniques	Baseline testing, Parallel testing, etc.
Resource Requirements	List of all resources (hardware, software, people, training, testing tools) including when and why (role) they are needed.
Required Completion Date	The date by which testing has to be complete to avoid endangering the planned delivery date.
List of Related Documents with Location	List of file names containing information pertinent to the test plan.
Problem Reporting Instructions	How discrepancies will be recorded, reported and tracked.
Owner	Name of current owner with effective date.

2. Scheduling Components

Component	Description
Assumptions	Critical assumptions which, if not met, will influence the effort, duration or dates.
Planned Begin of Testing	Date that the test execution is expected to begin.
Planned End of Testing	Estimated date of test completion.
Estimated Effort	Amount of work required to execute the tests.
Expected Duration	Amount of time required to execute the tests.
Actual Begin Date	The date test execution is actually initiated.
Actual Completion Date	The date the objectives for this test plan are achieved.

Risk Management: Prioritization by Severity of Error

This technique can be used to sequence test scenarios based on the potential impact on the business environment.
Plan your tests to start with possible category 4 errors, then category 3 errors, etc.

Cat	Error	Examples
1.	System works, user dissatisfied	Aesthetically offending, no functional impact Misleading or redundant, small impact on performance Dehumanizing, unnatural sequences, system must be tricked
2.	System does not work correctly	Refuses legitimate transactions Loses track of transactions, accountability is lost Transactions incorrectly processed
3.	System is inherently unreliable	Frequent and arbitrary occurrences of above mentioned errors Irrecoverable corruption of data base occurs, serious thought to shutting system down System fails, shuts down itself
4.	System is out of control	Corrupts other systems without failing itself; influence exceeds system scope