Test Design

2
Module Objectives
Introduction to Test Design
Importance of Documentation
Testing Artifacts
Test Environment and Test Data

Test Design
The test objectives established in the test plan should be decomposed into individual
test cases. Begin the process with high-level test objectives. These are decomposed
into lower and lower objectives until functional and structural test objectives are defined
individually

The main steps involved in Test Design phase are listed below.

1. Identify test resources.
2. Identify conditions to be tested.
3. Rank test conditions.
4. Select conditions for testing
5. Determine correct results of processing
6. Create test cases
7. Document test conditions


Testing Documentation
Integral part of formalization of testing
Important for conducting the test and reuse of the test program during maintenance
Test documentation should start in the requirements phase and continue throughout
the life cycle of the project
Document test process that has been outlined in each phase of the life cycle.
Structured documentation is easier to update and reuse

Good Documentation makes Testing tester independent

Every stage of Testing Lifecycle should be documented correctly.
Testing Artifacts

The important artifacts in Software Testing are:

Test Strategy
Test Plan
Test Design Specification
Test Case Specification
Test Log
Test Defect Report
Test Summary Report
Test Strategy and Test Plan
Test Analyst/Manager will prepare the Test Strategy and Test Plan document.

Activities carried out at the Test Strategy level are as given below. These details will be
documented in the Test Strategy document

Define test objectives, scope of testing, testing phases and activities
Review business requirement and system requirements to identify test items
Define testing Approach.
Identify components that carry higher risk and may require enhanced levels of testing.
Test Environment and Test Data set up
Define test dependencies, Test assumptions, test completion and user acceptance
criteria
Define test organization and role and responsibility of individual in the organization
Establish configuration standards and defect management

The above details along with the schedule of the project will be documented in the test
plan.


Test Design Specification

Contains the following sections
Test design specification identifier
Features to be tested
Approach Refinements
Test identification
Feature pass/fail criteria


Objective and Importance of a Test Case

The basic objective of writing test cases is to ensure complete test coverage of the
application.
The most extensive effort in preparing to test a software, is writing test cases.
Gives better reliability in estimating the test effort
Improves productivity during test execution by reducing the understanding time during
execution
Writing effective test cases is a skill and that can be achieved by experience and in-
depth study of the application on which test cases are being written.

What is a Test Case?

It is the smallest unit of Testing

A test case is a detailed procedure that fully tests a feature or an aspect of a feature.
Whereas the test plan describes what to test, a test case describes how to perform a
particular test.

A test case has components that describes an input, action or event and an expected
response, to determine if a feature of an application is working correctly.

Test cases must be written by a team member who thoroughly understands the function
being tested.




Use cases and
Requirements
from Client
Understand the
requirements
Identify high level
scenarios for each
Test case
Define the
approach and
number of test
cases
Send Query log
for clarifications
Send Estimates
and plan for
Testing
Send the scenarios
for review
Develop detail test
procedures for
scenarios
Perform review on
the completed test
cases
Update the review
findings
Deliver to client
for signoff
Prepare
Traceability matrix
Test Case Development:
Test Environment and Test Data
Test Environment
A dedicated Test environment allows failures to be consistently and accurately
recreated and ensures that the software under test will behave the same way in
Production.
To ensure successful software deployment, it is crucial to have a stable
environment dedicated to testing.
Test Data
Test Data means the data that is required for testing an application .
Entry data
Data that are entered into the system as input to execute a test case.
Background data
Data that are setup in the Backend to execute a test case, like say in a test
database

Test Log

Test Log contains the following sections
Test Log identifier
Description
Activity and event entries
Execution description
Procedure results
Environmental information
Unexpected events

Test Defect Report

A Test Defect Report describes any event that occurs during testing that requires
further investigation.
A defect-tracking tool would be used for Test Defect Reporting.
It follow a process of Acceptance, Investigation and Closure through Change Notes,
the entire life cycle of which is controlled through the tool

Test Summary Report

Test Summary Report contains the following sections
Test summary report identifier
Summary of Product tested
Any deviations from the specified test procedures
Summary of results
Summary of activities
Sign Off documents
Thank you