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Checklist + Template For Test Planning, Management, Execution and Reporting

Software Testing Part 13

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Garvit Singh
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Checklist + Template For Test Planning, Management, Execution and Reporting

Table of contents

A Checklist For Testing

  • Have you identified the features to be tested?
  • Have you identified the features not to be tested?
  • Have you justified the reasons for the choice of features not to be tested and ascertained the impact from product management/senior management?
  • Have you identified the new features in the release ?
  • Have you included in the scope of testing areas which failures can be catastrophed?
  • Have you included for testing those area that are defect prove or complex to test ?
  • Do you have a software configuration management tool in place?
  • Do you have a defect repository in place?
  • Do you have a test case data base in place?
  • Have you set up institutionalized procedures to update any of these?
  • Have you identified the necessary hardware and software to design and run the tests?
  • Have you identified the costs and other resource requirements of any test automation tools that may be needed?
  • Have you published naming conventions and other internal standards for designing, writing, and executing test cases?
  • Are the test specifications documented adequately according to the above standards?
  • Are the test specifications reviewed and approved by appropriate people?
  • Are the test specifications baselined into the SCM repository?
  • Are the test cases written according to specifications?
  • Are the test cases reviewed and approved by appropriate people?
  • Are the test cases baselined into the SCM repository?
  • Is the traceability matrix updated once the test specifications/test cases are baselined?
  • Have you translated the scope to a size estimate (for example, number of test cases)
  • Have you arrived at an estimate of the effort required to design and construct the tests?
  • Have you arrived at an effort required for repeated execution of the tests?
  • Have the effort estimates been reviewed and approved by appropriate people?
  • Have you put together a schedule that utilizes all the resources available?
  • Have you accounted for any parallelism constraints?
  • Have you factored in the availability of releases from the development team?
  • Have you accounted for any show stopper defects?
  • Have you prioritized the tests in the event of any schedule crunch?
  • Has the schedule been reviewed and approved by appropriate people?
  • Have you identified the possible risks in the testing project?
  • Have you quantified the likelihood and impact of these risks?
  • Have you identified possible symptoms to catch the risks before they happen?
  • Have you identified possible mitigation strategies for the risks?
  • Have you taken care not to squeeze in all the testing activities towards then end of the development cycle?
  • What mechanisms have you tried to distribute the testing activities throughout the life cycle (for example, doing an early test design like in the V model)?
  • Have you prepared for the risk of idle time because of tests being suspended?
  • Are you executing the tests as per plan? If there is any deviation, have you updated the plan?
  • Did the test execution necessitate changing any test cases design? If so, is the TCDB kept current?
  • Have you logged any defects that come up during testing in the defect repository?
  • Have you updated the defect repository for any defects that are fixed in the current test cycle?
  • Have you kept the traceability matrix current with the changes?
  • Have you prepared a test summary report?
  • Have you clearly documented the outstanding defects, along with their severity and impact?
  • Have you put forth your recommendations for product release?
  • Have you identified the number and skill levels of people required?
  • Have you identified the gaps and prepared for training and skill upgradation?
  • Have you defined the entry and exit criteria for the various test phases?
  • Have you defined the suspension and resumption criteria for the various tests?

A Template For Test Plan

1. Introduction

  • Scope - What features are to be tested and what features will not be tested; what combinations of environment are to be tested and what not.

2. References

  • Gives references and links to documents such as requirement specifications, design specifications, program specifications, project plan, project estimates, test estimates, process documents, internal standards, external standards, and so on.

3. Test Methodology and Strategy/Approach

4. Test Criteria

  • Entry Criteria
  • Exit Criteria
  • Suspension Criteria
  • Resumption Criteria

5. Assumptions, Dependencies, and Risks

  • Assumptions
  • Dependencies
  • Risks and Risk Management Plans

6. Estimations

  • Size Estimate
  • Effort Estimate
  • Schedule Estimate

7. Test Deliverables and Milestones

8. Responsibilities

9. Resource Requirements

  • Hardware Resources
  • Software Resources
  • People Resources (Number of people, skills, duration, etc)
  • Other Resources

10. Training Requirements

  • Details of Training Required
  • Possible Attendees
  • Any Constraints

11. Defect Logging and Tracking Process

12. Metrics Plan

13. Product Release Criteria

Conclusion

You can read other articles written by me through these links.

Software Testing Series
1. Fundamental Principles of Software Testing
2. Software Development Life Cycle Models
3. Quality Assurance vs Quality Control
4. Testing Verification vs Testing Validation
5. Process & Life Cycle Models For Testing Phases
6. White Box Testing
7. Black Box Testing
8. Integration Testing
9. System Testing
10. Regression Testing
11. Performance Testing
12. Ad Hoc Testing
13. Checklist & Template For Test Plan & Management
14. Software Test Automation

Operating System Series
1. Introduction & Types of OS
2. Process States & Lifecycle
3. System Calls
4. User Mode vs Kernel Mode
5. CPU Process Scheduling
6. Process Synchronization
7. Deadlocks
8. Memory Management
9. Disk Management & Scheduling
10. File System in OS
11. Protection & Security

System Design Series
Introduction To Parallel Computing
Deep Dive Into Virtualization
Insights Into Distributed Computing

Cloud Computing Series
1. Cloud Service Models
2. Cloud Deployment Models
3. Cloud Security
4. Cloud Architecture
5. Cloud Storage
6. Networking In The Cloud
7. Cloud Cost Management
8. DevOps In Cloud & CI/CD
9. Serverless Computing
10. Container Orchestration
11. Cloud Migration
12. Cloud Monitoring & Management
13. Edge Computing In Cloud
14. Machine Learning In Cloud

Computer Networking Series
1. Computer Networking Fundamentals
2. OSI Model
3. TCP/IP Model : Application Layer
4. TCP/IP Model : Transport Layer
5. TCP/IP Model : Network Layer
6. TCP/IP Model : Data Link Layer

Version Control Series
1. Complete Guide to Git Commands
2. Create & Merge Pull Requests
3. Making Open Source Contributions

Linux
Complete Guide to Linux Commands

Thanks For Reading! 💙
Garvit Singh

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