Test Management Process is a set of activities from the start of the testing to the end of the testing. It gives a discipline to testing. When follow a test process it gives us the plan at the initial. Test process provides the facility to plan and control the testing throughout the project cycle. It helps to track and monitor the testing throughout the project. Provides transparent of testing among stakeholders and maintains the conducted test for future reference. Affords deep level of detail of the testing that’s being carrying out. Gives clear understanding of testing activities of prior project and post project to all the stakeholders.There are many tools (Tools such as qTest, JIRA, Team Service, TestLink.) available to manage the test process. Test process can be defined and practiced differently according to the necessity in test. Explained below are the typical activities in test process.
1) Test Plan:
Test plan served as an initial sketch to carry out the testing. Testing is being tracked and monitored as per the test plan. It gives a prior picture of test challenge and aspect that will be carried out for the software. By maintaining a test plan we can manage the changes in the plan.When starting new projects, based on the lesson learned in the previous tests, test plan needs to be improved to get betterment. Test plan explains the over view of particular requirement which needs to be tested, scope, functional and non-functional requirement, risk and mitigation, testing approaches, test schedule and deliverables and schedule, out of scope and assumption, test team and allocation, test environment, test activities mechanism and any other special note for testing.
| Test plan elements | Description |
| Over view | Over view of the test plan and purpose of this test plan. What’s the project that needs to be tested? Brief of the software that needs to be tested. Purpose of providing this software to user. |
| Scope and out of scope | What’s the purpose of the testing? What type of testing is going to be carried out?If there is any out of scope of testing. Brief explanation on the software project and what are covered in the test plan.Defining a frame to the testing based on resources, effort, budget and time line. What features or section that will be covered and what features or section will not be covered during the testing. |
| Functional and non-functional requirement | Explain each functional and non-fictional (performance testing, usability testing) testing that needs to be carried out. Explain each features that will be tested. Each functional and non-functional items should be placed without ambiguity. |
| Risk and mitigation | Explain the identified project, software and resources related risk. Explain the mitigation plan and possibility.Identify risk that we could face during the testing. Resource unavailability, delay in developer release, slip in schedule, less understanding in functions and gap between business and system requirement. |
| Testing approaches | What kind of testing approaches will be used? What type of testing will be carried out? Test types like installation testing, functional testing, UAT testing.Specify what tools we are going to use in testing. Specify the tools and license information that need for the testing. |
| Test schedule and deliverables | Describe entire star and complete date of testing. Need to find out the date of developer releases and number of releases. Mention each of the developer release date, test start date and completion date. Analyse the requirement and testing we are going to carry out and then come up with the effort. Based on the resource, plan the schedule with mile stone. We also need to consider the time frame like any specific deadline. |
| Assumption | There can be any assumption related to software, project, resource or any concepts. And these have to be written in this. |
| Test team and allocations | Who are the testers that will be involved and what their responsibilities in the project are.To whom the training is required, if any. When responsibilities are set it’s easy to conduct the testing in project. |
| Test environment | Provide all the information related to test environment. What is the test environment? In which browsers the testing is carried out? Mentioning the UAT environment.External system that will be accessed during the testing. State the capacity of RAM and processor. |
2) Test Design:
Test design affords how to implement the testing. Typically creating test cases is with inputs and expected output of the system and choosing which test cases are necessary for the execution of the test. Tester should have the clear understanding and appropriate knowledge to set the expected result. By this, coverage of the testing is defined and tester will not miss any scenario. There are two types of test design techniques one is static testing and the other one is dynamic testing. Static testing is used to test without execution mostly to artifacts like document and dynamic testing is testing by executing the system.
Test case (Element in test case document):
- Project / Test title, Test executed by, Test executed date, Version of the software and Test environment
- Test case number
- Test summary
- Steps
- Pre-condition
- Post condition
- Test data
- Actual result
- Expected result
- Test result
- Note
3) Test Execution:
Manner of executing and test the actual system result against the expected result is test execution. Test execution can be done manually and by using automation suit. During the execution tester needs to make sure, that the user’s need of the software is occupied in the software. Test execution is conducted by referring the document created during test design as step by step process. Tester needs to keep the track while executing the test cases.
Example for static testing:
- Test the requirement specification document.
- Test the design document
- Test the user guide
Example for dynamic testing:
- Unit testing
- Functional testing
- Integration testing
4) Exit Criteria:
Exit criteria determines when to stop the test execution. Exit criteria is defined during the test plan phase and used in the test execution phase as a mile stone. Tester needs to set the exit criteria at the beginning, exit criteria may change during the project run as well. There are factors like client need, system stability and filled function that decide the exit criteria. Once the tester reached the exit criteria testing will be stopped. Below are some common exit criteria.
- All critical defects are closed.
- All the reported defects and closed and verified.
- Executed and covered the areas which used by user mostly.
- System catered all the requirements.
- All the important functions are tested and working as expected.
5) Test Reporting:
Test reporting gives the picture of test process and result for the particular testing cycle. To define the element in the test reporting the first thing that needs to be considered is whom the audiences of the test report are. For an example a project manager will like to see the high level picture of the testing, intermediate people will wish to view more detail and the client will expect the test reporting in the criteria such as requirement basis, feature basis. Test report is prepared and communicated periodically like daily, weekly, month etc. This needs to be sent in different stages and time.In the future project result of test reports needs to be analysed and apply the lesson learns. Test report contain elements such as test execution status, completed percentage, plan vs. executed test cases, test environment, test execution by resources, risk and mitigation if any, defect summary, test scenario and conditions, any assumption, any note etc.
Test coverage report: (Elements of test coverage report)
- Percentage completed
- Test scenario
- Software area
- Tested resource
- Tested date
- Test result
Defect summary report: (Elements of defect summary report)
- Defect by severity
- Defects by priority
- Defects by assigned developer
- Defects by function
- Defects by software area
- Open and closed defects
Risk and mitigation report: (Elements of risk and mitigation report)
- Identified risk
- Likelihood
- Risk level
- Risk type
- Mitigation plan
Conclusion:
In this article we learned about Test Management process, it is not only just a single activity but also it consists of a series of activities like Test Planning, Test Design, Test Execution, Exit Criteria and Test Reporting.
Are you using similar process or different process, could you please share in the comments below.
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1 thought on “Test Management Process”
Nice information. In my company on same line I am we are following test management process. One part we are not defining is Exit Criteria. I will try to introduce in my company.