Purpose and Content of a Test Plan

First question to ask when joining a team:

• What is the test planning process here?
• What templates are used?
• Can you share examples of a great test plan?

A good test plan is:

1. As brief as possible
2. As detailed as necessary

Outlines the purpose, scope, objectives, and approach of software testing.

Intro
Provides an overview of the project, it’s objectives, and the role of the test plan in achieving those objectives.

Objectives
Clearly defines the goals and objectives of the testing effort, outlining what is to be achieved through the testing activities.

Test Scope
Defines the boundaries of the testing effort by specifying what will be included and excluded from testing. Stakeholders just want to know what will and won’t be tested. Map the user stories to the test cases.

Test Approach
Describes the overall strategy and approach for conducting the testing, including the types of tests to be performed (e.g. black and/white box, functional, performance, security), the testing techniques required, and methodologies employed and any specific tools or resources to be utilized.

Specifically, it should cover:

• What kinds of tests are we performing?
• Requirements traceability matrix.
• Are we looking at exploratory, error guessing.
• What levels (e.g. component, integration, system) and for each level, specify who is doing it. Grid (TDD: Developers).
• Performance: How you will you be performing it, e.g. scenario, volume, duration, algorithm.
• Security: Line up the security team early to surface the security risks to know what should be checked and tested and who will be performing that testing
• Techniques: The testing techniques you’ll be using, tools, resources, data required, team members are involved, domain or industry knowledge required.
• Approach is contextual. Only include from the above what’s needed, e.g. you don’t need all of this for testing a simple website.

Test Deliverables

• Specific documents and artifacts, test plans, cases, scripts, reports

Test Schedule
Outlines the timeline and sequencing of the testing activities, including key milestones and dependencies on other project activities.

Test Environment Describes the hardware, software, and network configurations required to support the testing efforts, including any necessary test data and test environments setup.

Testing adds value to the business by:

• Increasing revenue through a high-quality user experience
• Save money by identifying issues early in the SDLC and automating previously manual regression tests
• Ensure site stability
• Ensure site security and data protection
• Allows the business to release confidently and quickly

Typical test plan:

• Product analysis
• Designing test strategy
• Defining objectives
• Establish test criteria
• Planning resource allocation
• Planning setup of test environment
• Determine test schedule and estimation
• Establish test deliverables