In order for the testing process to go in the right direction, the Test plan has a very important role. Testing work requires the performer to have technique, experience and follow a predetermined procedure. Any Tester needs to understand the concept of Test plan well and know how to build a detailed and effective plan. Follow the following article to better understand and you can also download test plan template for free!
Table of Contents
What is Test plan?
Test plan is a detailed document that describes the test strategy, objectives, schedule and estimate and the ability to provide resources for testing (human, software, hardware). In other words this is the document that helps the Tester to determine the effort required to verify the quality of the software under test.
It acts as a blueprint for performing software testing activities. Or the defined process is managed and monitored step by step by the Test Manager.
Test plan is a required document for any software testing process. Because it is the compass that helps the Tester orient his way during the testing process.
There are usually many different versions of the test plan template, but they all adhere to certain characteristics
The importance of test plans
Making a test plan brings many benefits:
- Help people outside the testing team: developers, business managers or customers to understand the details of the testing process. Test plan guides your thinking and it is like a book with content about rules and regulations that need to be followed to achieve high performance at work.
- Important factors are saved in the test plan including: Test Estimation, Test Scope, Test Strategy. So it can be reviewed by the management team can be reviewed and reused for other projects.
You can download the test plan template below for an overview. But first let’s get to 8 steps to writing test plan.
How to write test plan in 8 steps
Step 1: Analyze the product
- This is the first but very important step in the testing process. Researching and analyzing products will minimize unnecessary errors. Analyze the product to decide for further testing. To analyze the product, the test plan maker must answer the following questions:
- Who are the users of this product?
- What is the purpose of this product?
- How will this product work?
- What hardware and software are required for the product?
Step 2: Design test strategy
Define scope of testing
A correct Scope will help the team get accurate information about the testing process. At the same time they will know what content is tested (in-scope) and what is not (out of scope).
The process of determining test coverage in test plan building consists of 4 phases:
- Precise customer requirement: Here you need to understand the exact requirements of the customer.
- Project Budget: Set up the project budget.
- Product Specification: Located in the product specification.
- Skills & talent of your test team: Skills & talents of your test team.
Identify Testing Type
Each testing type is built to find a specific type of Bug. However, all types of testing work towards the common goal of early detection of defects before releasing the product to the customer. Depending on the type of product or attribute at the test stage, the plan creator will choose a different testing type.
As a test manager, you need to consider the priority of test types. Which type of testing should be focused for web application testing or which should be ignored to save costs.
Document Risk & Issues
A risk is an event with a very low probability of happening in the future and with the possibility of loss. When a Risk occurs, it becomes an issue. In the QA Test Plan, you will record those risks:
| Risk | Risk reduction solutions |
| Team members lack basic skills for website testing | At this point, you need to plan training to improve skills for members. |
| Project schedule is too tight to complete this project on time | You need to set the priority (Test Priority) for each test activity. |
| Test Manager has poor management skills | Need to plan training for test manager. |
| Lack of cooperation negatively affects the productivity of members | Motivate and encourage each team member to perform their duties and inspire them to work harder. |
| Wrong budget estimates and increased costs | You should establish scope before starting work, pay a lot of attention to project planning and continuously monitor and measure progress. |
Create Test Logistics
In Test Logistics, the test manager needs to answer the following questions:
Who will test ? (Who is performing the test): To choose the right member, you need to consider their ability to meet the conditions for the task and estimate the project budget. Choosing the wrong team member for the task will cause projects to fail or be delayed. Testers need to have the following skills:
- Understand the customer’s point of view, expect good quality.
- Attention to details and cooperation.
- In the project, the person responsible for testing is the Tester and based on the project budget, you can choose an internal member or an outsource Tester.
When will the test occur? (When to do testing): Testing activities need to be combined with related development activities. You start testing when the required items satisfy 3 factors: test documents, human resources and Test environment.
Step 3: Define test objectives
Test Objective is the overall goal of the entire project. It is to find as many bugs of the software as possible to ensure that the software is bug free before release. Determining the right goals will make product testing go faster and more smoothly.
If you want to define Test Objective then you need to list the software features (functionality, performance, GUI…) that may need to be tested. From there determine the goal and purpose of testing based on the above features.
Step 4: Define test criteria
The standard or rule for the product testing process to take place properly is the Test Criteria (Testing Criteria). There are two main types of criteria:
Suspension Criteria
This is the criterion for detecting bugs during testing. If a Suspension Criteria occurs during the test, the active test cycle will be stopped until the criteria are processed.
Exit Criteria
Aims to define the criteria that demonstrate the successful completion of the testing phase. Exit Criteria is the result that is targeted as a test target to move to the next stage of development. The way to help determine the test termination criteria is based on 2 ratios:
- Run rate is the ratio of the number of tested cases to the total number of test cases on the plan. This indicator must be 100%.
- Pass rate is the ratio of the number of pass test cases to the number of test cases executed. This factor depends on the scope of the project and the higher the pass rate the better.
Step 5: Resource Planning
In any project, resource planning is essential because resources are always limited and separate based on each Project. Test managers should list and clearly define human resources and system resources for the project to plan to run and complete the project reasonably.
Step 6: Plan Test Environment
Test Environment is a setup of software and hardware where the test team will conduct test cases. Test environment includes: end user, business environment, UI runtime environment, server, etc. To set up Test Environment, you need close cooperation between Test Team and Development Team.
The ideal test environment will allow the Tester to monitor any changes of the software under actual usage conditions.
Step 7: Schedule and Estimation
In this step you need to set up a solid project schedule in Test Planning. You can divide the whole process into small tasks. Let Test Manager easily allocate time and detailed tasks for each task to monitor project progress and control costs. To create a project schedule, the test manager needs the following inputs:
- Employee and project deadline: Shown in the working day, the project’s deadline and available resources are the factors that affect the schedule.
- Project estimation: Based on the estimation, the Test Manager will know the project completion time to build a suitable project schedule.
- Project Risk: Understanding the risk helps Test Manager add enough time to the project schedule to come up with an effective treatment plan.
Step 8: Determine Test Deliverables
The finished product that has gone through the testing process is releaseable. When conducting software testing, the test distribution is a list of all the documents and tools. The same artifacts are mined for development and used to support the Test process. The types of tests that can be released include:
- Pre-test delivery includes test plan documentation and test suite of test cases.
- Delivery during testing: test scripts, test data, traceability matrix, and execution an
- Post-test delivery: Test results and reports, installation procedure, release notes, defect reports error logs.
After completing these 8 steps, you can create yourself a Test plan template
Epilogue
Hopefully the article has provided useful and practical information to better understand the career you are pursuing.
YOU CAN DOWNLOAD TEST PLAN TEMPLATE HERE . IT’S FREE!!
If you have any questions, please leave a comment below.
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