What is Test plan? What is it for? What does the test plan consist of?

Test plan – is a document, which describes the entire scope of testing, starting from the description of the test object, strategy, schedule, criteria for starting and ending testing, to the equipment required in the process of operation, special knowledge, as well as the risk assessment with options for their resolution.

Test plan is intended for:

• settling testing processes;
• prioritizing tasks;
• resource planning;
• software and human resources accounting.

As a rule, the test plan is prepared by the QA-lead of the testing team. However, it can be repeatedly edited by the testers themselves.

A good test plan should at least consist of the following points:

1. What should be tested?

At this point, it’s necessary to describe in detail the object of the testing. This can be a description of the system, application, hardware. If the test object is an application, then all of its functional blocks should be listed. It is also necessary to indicate on what equipment, in what browsers the testing will be performed.

2. How will it be tested?

At this point, it is necessary to describe in detail the testing strategy. It is necessary to list the types of testing and their application in relation to the test object.

3. When will it be tested?

At this stage, the sequence of work is described: test preparation, testing, test result analysis in the context of the planned development phases. The dates or criteria for the transition from one phase to the next must be indicated.

4. Test starting criteria:

Depending on the specific project, the criteria for starting testing may vary. Examples of some possible options for starting testing are listed below:

• readiness of the test platform;
• completeness of the required functionality development;
• availability of all necessary documentation.

5. Test completion criteria:

• the requirements for the number of open bugs are met;
• holding a certain period without changing the application source code - Code Freeze (CF);
• holding a certain period without reporting new bugs - Zero Bug Bounce (ZBB);
• all tests passed successfully;
• all bugs with high and medium severity are closed.

If you answer all these questions while writing a test plan, you will get a good draft of the test planning document. After that, it needs to be finalized, based on the points indicated below, and the test plan will be almost ready:

• the environment of the system under the test (software and hardware description);
• equipment and software necessary for testing (test stand and its configuration, programs for automated testing, etc.);
• risks and ways to resolve them.

Depending on the specification of the described tasks, test plans are divided into certain types:

1. Master Test Plan – consist of high level information, which does not change often and the requirements for which are not often revised during the testing.
2. Test Plan – is a flexible document. It is constantly changing and those changes reflect the real state of affairs on the project. It also contains more specific information on strategy, types of testing, work schedule, etc.
3. Product Acceptance Plan – is a document that describes a set of activities which relate to acceptance testing  (strategy, date of implementation, responsible persons, etc.).

The main difference between the Master Test Plan depends on the more static. Typically, one Master Test Plan and several detailed plans are used, which describe the individual modules of test applications.

For even higher productivity of a test plan, project team members should be able to review and then approve it from time to time. The test plan is done either by agreement within the team or by the «approval procedure». Here is a list of the project team members who are able to approve the test plan:

• QA Lead
• Test Manager (quality Manager);
• Development Manager;
• Project Manager.

All of the above project participants conduct a review, as well as make their comments and suggestions, which will make the test plan more complete and high quality.

A classic detailed test plan includes a few pages to dozens of them. However, its general structure is always preserved. Typically, a test plan has the following structure:

1st page:

• header (logo and company address);
• test plan name/title;
• test plan version;
• year.

2nd page:

• document history that is a table of changes. Normally, this table contains columns: date, version, description, author.

3rd page: 

• content of the test plan.

4th page onwards:

• introduction;
• types of testing;
• operating systems, browsers;
• application functionality;
• test starting criteria;
• test exit criteria;
•  characteristics of the equipment.

Penultimate page:

• how many man-hours are planned at the each stage (start and end date), for example:
  • for the  test design;
  • to the  run tests;
  • for the testing analysis;
  • for the reports.

Last page:

• conclusions and recommendations.

Also, the test plan may include the following data: a team of executors, contact details, a bug life cycle, the risks of testing, documents links or standards, explanatory dictionary, schedule, responsibilities. Pay attention to the risks. The risks can be associated with staff defects. For example, bad personal qualification, or an insufficient number of testers.

The test plan is an important part of the quality organization of the testing process, as it includes all the necessary and important parts of the testing process.The test plan creation improves the quality of the product by listing the details and a list of checks also allows to analyze how successfully all stages of testing are performed.