A test plan template is a document that describes how testing will be done, what will be tested, for how long, how much it will cost, what results can be expected, and what resources will be needed. The test plan determines how much work needs to be done to ensure the software being tested is good. It serves as a manual for conducting specific types of software testing. The test manager keeps a close eye on everything and makes sure it all goes smoothly.
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A practical test plan is a document that changes as the project progresses. It is the basis for how a quality assurance team plans and approaches testing.
The QA team (and sometimes people from other teams) helps the QA managers or team leads make the plan. The project should be finished in no more than one-third of the allotted time.
However, the test plan is also given to project managers, business analysts, development teams, and other team members involved. The main goal of this is to make QA activities transparent so that everyone involved is aware of how the software will be tested.
The three different kinds of test plans are listed below.
It’s a specific kind of test plan that includes incremental tests at different levels. It includes the full test strategy.
It is a specific type of test plan that addresses every phase of the testing strategy. Examples of these plans include lists of test cases and the tools needed to run tests.
It’s designed for the most common kinds of testing, such as performance testing, security testing, load testing, and so on. In other words, it is a particular test plan used to test non-functional features.
The test plan comprises various parts that help us understand the whole testing process. Some of the most important testing attributes are given below in detail:
The following are the stages involved in developing a test plan:
It’s the first step toward learning more about the client, the product, and the people who will use it. At this stage, it’s essential to address the following concerns:
When testing software, a test strategy is an essential part of creating an actual test plan. Usually, the test manager creates this high-level document. The following are components of it.
The document must specifically include the following information:
During this phase, we will decide how the tests will be conducted and what we expect the results to be. All testing should aim to find as many problems as possible, so the items should:
The guidelines or standards that direct everyone on a testing project on how to carry out their duties are known as test criteria.
There are usually two primary evaluation criteria involved in this phase.
Suspension Criteria: It establishes the standard for terminating all tests. For example, if the QA team found that 50% of all test cases failed, testing would stop until all problems were fixed.
Exit criteria: The exit criteria show that a project or phase of testing has been finished successfully. These are the intended testing results that must be achieved to proceed to the next stage of development. For instance, an application or software can’t be made available for public use until eighty percent of the test cases pass.
This section includes a complete list of everything required to finish the project, such as the workforce, tools, and all the necessary infrastructure for accurate and comprehensive testing.
This phase also determines the number of testers and the necessary tools. This helps project managers create a precise project estimate and schedule.
The term “test environment” refers to the combined hardware and software quality assurance professionals use during testing. Real devices should ideally be used as testing environments for testers to see how the software performs in user scenarios.
Nothing beats using real devices with natural operating systems and browsers as test environments, even if you perform automation or manual testing. Avoid using emulators or simulators if you value accuracy in your tests.
For this mission to be successful, the test and development teams must be able to talk to each other and work well together.
Create a list of subtasks, estimate how much time and effort each will take, and then reassemble the project for test estimation, as given below. The next step is to make a plan to finish all of these jobs by the deadline using the required effort and time.
However, the schedule needs input from many different people to be created:
Test deliverables for a project are a full list of all the paperwork, equipment, and other things that must be made, given, and kept up-to-date to support testing activities. There are specific test deliverables for each phase of the software development lifecycle.
The following deliverables are required before testing:
The following deliverables are required during testing:
The necessary deliverables after successful testing are the following:
QA Touch is a thorough case management application designed specifically for modern QA teams. Without spending much effort, organizations may streamline their test management procedures.
QA Touch provides a complete, integrated testing workspace that works well with third-party apps like GitHub, Slack, and Jira. It also has on-demand test management services.
Apidog is a program that makes design and debugging of APIs a more efficient and qualified manner. In this app, documentation like mock data and test cases are generated automatically.
It is an online application for managing test cases. It follows simple rules that make you happy, so you can start testing right away.
The term “Test Plan” describes a document that outlines the specifics of how a test will be conducted and its goals, timeline, cost estimates, and other time constraints.
A quality assurance (QA) test plan is a written list of the necessary QA testing steps.
A test plan’s five most important parts are the test strategy, objectives, schedule, estimates, and deadlines.
EasyQA is a test management tool that makes it easy to make test plans, write test cases, and work with them in a way that makes sense to the user.
Shane Drumm, holding certifications in PMP®, PMI-ACP®, CSM, and LPM, is the author behind numerous articles featured here. Hailing from County Cork, Ireland, his expertise lies in implementing Agile methodologies with geographically dispersed teams for software development projects. In his leisure, he dedicates time to web development and Ironman triathlon training. Find out more about Shane on shanedrumm.com and please reach out and connect with Shane on LinkedIn.
