Writing Test Plans    

Code:

 IS130-008

Series:

 Information Management

Duration:

 1 day
Testing Concepts & Definitions
Relationship between Errors, Defects & Failures
Verification & Validation de-mystified
Objectives of Testing
Test to Pass vs. Test to Fail test casesl
Test Levels
A Testing Framework
Understanding Test Activities
Product vs. Project Life Cycle

IEEE Standard 829-1998 for Software Test Documentation
Overview of the Standard
Test Specification Documents
Test Design Specification
Test Case Specification
Test Procedure Specification
Test Reporting Documents
Test Item Transmittal Report
Test Log
Test incident Report
Test Summary Report
Relationship between Test Documents
Mapping IEEE 829 Documents to Test Activities
Related Standards
- ISTQB/ISEB Certified Tester Foundation Level Syllabus
- ISO 9126 Software Quality Characteristics
- IEEE 1012-1998 Standard for Software Verification & Validation
- ISO 14598 Software Product Evaluation
- IEEE 730-1998 Standard for Software Quality Assurance Plans

Test Plans
Purpose
Outline
Dealing with Risks
Product Risks
Project Risks
Test Items
Features to be Tested
Approach
Test Strategy
Constraints
Activities
Techniques
Tools
Test Completion Criteria
Item Pass/Fail Criteria
Suspension Criteria
Resumption Requirements
Test Deliverables
Testing Tasks
Environmental Needs
Schedule

Test Design Specification
Purpose
Outline
Features to be Tested
Test Items
Test Conditions
Types of Feature
Approach Refinements
Test Design Techniques
Black-box Techniques
Glass-box Techniques
Test Basis
Test Completion Criteria
Test oracle
Relationship to Test Case Specifications
Test Design Specification
Features Pass/Fail Criteria

Test Case Specification
Purpose
Outline
Relationship to Test Design Specifications
Test Items
Input & Output Specifications
Equivalence Partitioning & Input/Output data
Using Spreadsheets as a Test oracle
Environmental Needs
Special Procedural Requirements
Test Case Dependencies

Test Procedure Specification
Purpose
Outline
Relationship to Test Case Specifications
Special Requirements
Test Procedure Template
Set up Scenarios
Test Scenarios
Exception Scenarios
Error Scenarios
Test Management Scenarios

Writing Test Plans


Writing a test plan can be a difficult task. Many organisations define test plans differently and in some cases, each project adopts its own unique definition. Inevitably, this lack of clarity leads to inconsistent documentation, misunderstanding, and wasted time. The IEEE Standard 829-1998 describes four separate documents related to test planning and specification. This course describes IEEE 829 and shows how to apply it to improve test planning consistency.

After completing this course, students will be able to:

  • understand the contents of IEEE 829
  • use standard test planning templates
  • identify suitable content for each template
  • tailor the templates to suit the needs of a particular organisation or project
  • understand how the different sections of the test planning templates inter-relate
  • employ a standardised terminology & approach to test planning.

Prerequisites:


Familiarity with business environments and business information systems.

This course is suitable for Test Managers, Test Engineers, Testers, Quality Assurance Staff, Business Analysts, Systems Analysts, Process Engineers, Software Developers, Software Engineers, Software Management and many other related roles.