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why is a test plan important

by Kenyatta Brekke Published 2 years ago Updated 2 years ago
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Why is a test plan important?

  • Acts as a guide for quality assurance teams. The quality assurance team can use the test plan to establish goals and create a timeline for the project.
  • Explains the testing process. ...
  • Organises resources and objectives. ...
  • Makes schedule estimations. ...

What's the importance of a test plan? A test plan is the foundation of every testing effort. It helps set out how the software will be checked, what specifically will be tested, and who will be performing the test. By creating a clear test plan all team members can follow, everyone can work together effectively.Sep 22, 2021

Full Answer

What is a test plan and why do you need one?

Think of a test plan as a project plan for your testing process. This means that the test plan conveys how testing will be performed at a particular level (such as system testing or user acceptance testing ), or for a particular type of testing (such as performance testing or security testing).

What is the importance of resource planning in a test plan?

The resource planning is important factor of the test planning because helps in determining the number of resources (employee, equipment…) to be used for the project. Therefore, the Test Manager can make the correct schedule & estimation for the project. This section represents the recommended resources for your project.

What is test plan in test automation?

Test Plan helps us determine the effort needed to validate the quality of the application under test. The test plan serves as a blueprint to conduct software testing activities as a defined process, which is minutely monitored and controlled by the test manager.

What are the key features of a good test plan?

Details will emerge as the test plan is created. Uniqueness of the project, such as usage and technology involved Critical success factors, such as reliability, correctness, usability, etc. Levels of testing (component, integration, system, acceptance) You have much freedom in writing a test strategy.

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Why do we need a test plan?

We have test plans to ensure testing stages are performed to the best quality.

What is a test plan?

A test plan is a document describing the scope, approach, objectives, resources, and schedule of a software testing effort. It identifies the items to be tested, items not be tested, who will do the testing, the test approach followed, what will be the pass/fail criteria, training needs for team, the testing schedule etc.

What is 13.Schedule in a test?

13.Schedule : Provide the detailed schedule of the test.

Why is a test plan important?

Since a test plan is created for specific modules or builds with the list of features to be tested; so a test plan is useful to keep the testing process on track. Test plan helps us to keep the Test plan contains details of the testing scope, features, and functionalities to be tested for a build.

What is a Test Plan?

A test plan is a document detailing the objectives, target market, internal beta team, and processes for a specific beta test for a software or hardware product. The plan typically contains a detailed understanding of the eventual workflow.

How to create a test plan?

You can create a test plan by analyzing the product, its features, and functionalities to gain a deeper understanding. The next step is to identify the scope of testing, items, features and functionalities to be tested. Then, develop a test strategy which can be composed of several testing techniques.

What is a test plan document?

The test plan document is the guide to testing process throughout the development. It directs your testing approach and describes the testing practices to be followed. It forces us to confront the challenges that await us and focus our thinking on important areas. It has the answers to all our questions that we might ask while executing the testing process.

What happens if anticipated risk materializes during testing?

If any anticipated risk is materialized during the testing process, you can refer to the test plan and see the corresponding risk response. Moreover, it guides you to use risk mitigation techniques so that you might avoid the occurrence of risk altogether.

What is risk management in testing?

Risk Management. Risk management is a challenging task that can be overlooked in a testing process executed without the guidance of test plan. However, ‘Risk Management’ is an essential element of a test plan. It measures the overall testing risks and their probability of occurrence.

What are the attributes of a test plan?

Your test plan document must have the attributes of introduction, features to be tested, features not to be tested, item pass/fail criteria, approach, test deliverables, test environment, roles and responsibilities, schedule, risks, and contingencies.

Why is testing important?

A solid test plan helps you to gain their trust. Seen from the outside, testing is all about trust. As a test manager you must come across as reliable and assure the testing will be reliable too and that it will result in a trustworthy information system. As a test manager you’ll need to clarify with your stakeholders what trustworthy means is in ...

What is the value of a test plan?

Value of A Test Plan. Most important, the value of at test plan is that it makes you think about all the important stuff beforehand. It is the design of what you think should be done, whom is involved, when things will take place and why or why not. Therefore a test plan, should clarify at the least these topics: ...

What do test managers need to clarify?

As a test manager you’ll need to clarify with your stakeholders what trustworthy means is in the context of your assignment. And to get there: get their view on their needs and potential risks. This all is input for the test plan.

What should a test plan clarify?

Therefore a test plan, should clarify at the least these topics: test objects and the objectives: what are you going to test (and what not); test approach: how are you going to test and why; resources: who do you need for which activity; planning: when will you be carrying out which test activities and who do you need.

Do you need to inform testers?

Depending on the testers in your team, you’ll need to inform them in more or less detail. When you work with inexperienced testers or end users it is even more important to be clear on how you work. You don’t want to start off with coincidences and chaos.

Why are test plans important?

It is easy to see how test plans are an important and sensible part of performing an experiment. They save time and money, assist in getting the best results and can facilitate speedy test report writing.

What is a test plan?

Test plans, also called test protocol, are formal documents that typically outline requirements, activities, resources, documentation and schedules to be completed. Some form of test plan should be developed prior to any test.

What is context rich test plan?

Make Them Context Rich: Context-rich test plans contain seemingly unimportant details that often do help reduce confusion, document test details that might be needed, and/or help explain any unexplained results.

What is the purpose of preparation for a test?

Preparation: To assure that all reasonable aspects of running a test have been considered. Communication and Training: To train those who need to assist with the test. Effectiveness: To provide a mechanism for outlining test needs, limitations (listing assumptions), and justification for purposes of setting expectations, acquiring resources, ...

What should be included in a large plan?

Cover pages and a table of contents should be considered for large plans. Most plans contain an explanation of what the test is about (i.e. summary, introduction, abstract, background, purpose, history, etc.). Some plans also include test type and strategy information, definitions, important terms or key words, approval signatures, ...

What are some examples of tests that should have plans or protocols written for them?

Examples of tests which should have plans or protocol written for them include medical, non-medical, field, lab or production studies, design of experiments (DOE), problem solving, reliability or software regression tests, and design assurance, evaluation or validation tests.

Can a test plan be converted into a test report?

Convert Test Plan into a Test Report as Possible: Test plans can often be converted into test reports. Some sections only change in tense. Other sections can be reused exactly as they were written.

Why is testing strategy important?

This is where the test strategy becomes very important in defining major test objectives and making sure the test approach is in alignment with organizational needs and goals. The organizational perspective of testing is often found in a test policy.

Why don't we do test plans?

It is not uncommon to hear testers and test managers say things like “We don’t do test plans because we are Agile” or, perhaps the statement is “We don’t have time for test plans.” The reality is that no matter the lifecycle approach, a test plan is a valuable tool to ensure the right resources are in place to meet the test objectives.

What is QA test plan?

The Test Plan (sometimes also referred to as a QA Test Plan) can be seen as the instruction manual or guide for your testing effort. It describes the objectives of testing (what are you planning to verify and/or validate), the scope of testing (what will and will not be tested), together with the general and sometimes detailed schedule of the activities you want to perform (how and when are you testing).

Why should a test plan list the risks foreseen in the project and their respective levels?

Test plans should list the risks foreseen in the project and their respective levels so that testing can be prioritized by risk.

What is a test charter?

Even in test techniques such as exploratory testing, test charters are used as a way to outline the focus of a period of testing, along with defining who will perform the tests, and how much time will be allocated to the testing effort.

What is a good early project activity?

A very good early project activity is to get the stakeholders together and brainstorm the test strategy. It may seem odd to have a test-oriented activity so early in a project, but it gets people thinking about how one of the most critical project activities, testing, will be conducted.

What is the organizational perspective of testing?

The organizational perspective of testing is often found in a test policy. A test strategy describes the uniqueness of the test and is a “big picture” view of the test. You might think of a test strategy as the description of the “what” and the “why” of the test.

What is a test plan?

A Test Plan is a detailed document that describes the test strategy, objectives, schedule, estimation, deliverables, and resources required to perform testing for a software product. Test Plan helps us determine the effort needed to validate the quality of the application under test. The test plan serves as a blueprint to conduct software testing ...

What is the objective of testing?

Test Objective is the overall goal and achievement of the test execution. The objective of the testing is finding as many software defects as possible; ensure that the software under test is bug free before release.

What is the Best Test Management Tool?

Good Test Management requires real-time visibility into task completion status, resource utilization, issues, progress reports. Traditionally, Project Managers use Excel to track their Projects which are buggy and error-prone. To succeed in your project, you need: – the right people – to do things right – with the help of the right tools. The following tools will help you manage your Test Projects with great success:

What is testing type?

A Testing Type is a standard test procedure that gives an expected test outcome. Each testing type is formulated to identify a specific type of product bugs. But, all Testing Types are aimed at achieving one common goal “ Early detection of all the defects before releasing the product to the customer”.

What is a test strategy?

Test Strategy is a critical step in making a Test Plan in Software Testing. A Test Strategy document, is a high-level document, which is usually developed by Test Manager. This document defines: The project’s testing objectives and the means to achieve them. Determines testing effort and costs.

What is the most important task of test management process?

You already know that making a Test Plan is the most important task of Test Management Process. Follow the seven steps below to create a test plan as per IEEE 829

What do you need to explain to a test manager?

As a Test Manager, you must explain them the importance of Test Plan rather than force the team to do what you want . Correct. As a Test Manager, you must explain them the importance of Test Plan rather than force the team to do what you want .

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The Need For Test Planning

  • Testing should be a key part of any project plan, whatever development model you are using. The traditional model for software development as encapsulated in the Kanban board views testing as a distinct phase that happens after development and before some form of monolithic release. B…
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Types of Tests

  • As we have seen in previous blogs, there are many types of test to consider when planning. These include: 1. Unit Testswhich are used by developers to test the functionality of specific software units. 2. Integration Testsare used to test that different software modules are working correctly together. 3. Functional Testinglooks at the functionality of the whole system. These test…
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UI Test Planning

  • As we have already seen, planning UI tests needs particular care. When creating a functional test, the desired outcome of the test, positive or negative, is clear. With UI tests you need to think more carefully. Firstly, you need to know what to expect in the UI. For this, you can use the designer’s wireframes. Next, you need to decide which functionality is most critical, and which elements of t…
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Other Aspects of Test Planning

  • There are a couple of other important aspects that go into successful test planning, be it for UI testing, smoke testing or user acceptance testing. Firstly, it is essential to ensure the test environment is as close as possible to the production environment. All too often I have heard of cases where all tests pass in the test environment, only to fail in production due to some missin…
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Conclusions

  • In this blog, we’ve touched on why test planning is so important and have looked in a bit more detail at what makes UI testing particularly challenging to plan. The addition of Artificial Intelligence to UI test creationcan help you create more loosely defined tests. But even then, you have to be extremely aware of what you are actually training the system to look for. In conclusio…
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