The Layout of a Test Plan
We were looking at rewriting all of our old test plans. Most of our test plans were written by our designers. I decided I would start rewriting some and when taking on the task, I researched it heavily taking into consideration what they had in common, and what they all liked. I took what I liked and created the documentation that you can find in the documentation link.
The big things I found were an outline of Non-test case items, Introduction, Scope, Set-up, Test Cases, and Sub-Test Cases.
The big things I found were an outline of Non-test case items, Introduction, Scope, Set-up, Test Cases, and Sub-Test Cases.
- Non-test case items: This is where the tester can fail things they have found, but does not align with something in the test plan.
- Introduction: This is where you introduce what you are testing and explain to the tester what they need to know. I also like to remind the tester that this is just a guideline and to think outside the box when testing.
- Scope: Here you clearly define a scope for testing. Maybe you only want them to test a certain part as something is tested else where. You want to tell the tester what they can and cannot test.
- Set-up: Here we put steps to help the tester set anything up they might need to continue with the test plan. This makes sure they don’t run into anything that was not set-up.
- Test Cases: This is when you start writing up your test plan. You will define your test case then test that. Then define another. Test plans are made of test cases.
- Sub-Test Cases: Sub-test cases are all the little steps you can take to make up a test case. This makes sure that it is throughly tested.
Also remember to coordinate your test’s expected results for failures and successes. With my company you also want to make sure anyone can pick up the test plan and work with it. This is a good goal in general so other QA can pick it up and use it.
