subject: Test Planning and Requirement Stage of Software Testing Life Cycle [print this page] Test Planning and Requirement Stage of Software Testing Life Cycle
Test Planning:
Test planning is a key phase in software testing life cycle. This phase determines the overall flow of testing process. This is a phase where the project manger has to decide what are the initial things which are needed to be tested. Good and proper planning at this stage would greatly reduce the risk of low quality software.
Test planning is predetermining a plan well in advance to reduce further risk. Once the testers are finished with the requirement stage a test plan is documented.
The proper test plan structure is as follows
The testers have to describe the objective of the test plan.
Complete list of features that are to be tested which are based on the customer requirements and in this step we can also list the features that can be skipped from the testing like incomplete modules etc.
Testing approach to be followed.
The testing methodologies which are used have to explain test item as passed or failed.
Number of man hours required and give the proper training on the testing tools to be used to be given to the staff members who are responsible for the application.
List of all resources required for the whole testing process which also includes the environment in which the application has to be design are tested.
List of testing tools that are to be used.
What are probable risks that can occur and what can be done in such situation.
Plan to manage all test cases in a database, either manual or automated.
Requirement Stage:
The initial stage of software testing life cycle is requirement stage. To avoid releasing erroneous software the testing team should be involved from the requirement stage itself. This is a stage in which the developers take part in analyzing the main requirement for designing a product. As the testers think from users side and the developer can't, so the tester must involve themselves in this stage. Thus, a panel of users, testers and developers can be formed and help in determining what expect of a design are testable and with what parameters those test work. The entire requirement should be documented properly so that they can be further used as software requirement specification or SRS.
