Software Testing

TEST PLAN• The IEE 829 Test plan template includes the following sections:

• - Test plan identifier : A unique name by which the test plan may be identified and may include version information• - Introduction : Summary of the test plan, including type of testing, level of testing (master test plan, component test plan,

unit test plan...), any references to other documents, scope of testing and so on• - Test items : The artifacts that will be tested• - Features to be tested : The features or items of the specification that will be tested• - Features not to be tested : The features or items part of the specification that will not be tested• - Approach : Addresses how the testing will be performed• - Item pass/fail criteria : This could be viewed as the criteria for completion of testing per this plan.• - Suspension criteria and resumption requirements : List the criterion for pausing or resumption of testing• - Test deliverables : The artifacts created by the testing team that will be delivered as per this plan. Examples include - test

cases, test design specifications, output from tools, test reports, etc.• - Testing tasks : The testing tasks involved, their dependencies if any, time they will take and resource requirements• - Environmental needs : List needs such as hardware, software and other environmental requirements for testing• - Responsibilities : List the people responsible for the various parts of the plan• - Staffing and training needs : The people & skill sets needed to carry out the test activities• - Schedule : List the schedule dates when testing will take place. A safe bet is to tie the schedule to the development

schedule in a relative manner without listing hard dates since slippages upstream in development will mean that testing slips correspondingly. Hard dates would result in any development slippages causing compression of testing time.

• - Risks and contingencies : Identify the risks, likelihood and impact as well as possible mitigation steps• - Approvals : Sign-off by the stakeholders denoting agreement

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