Test Plan

The test plan should manifest the test strategy. The main purpose of having a test plan is to organize the subsequent testing process. It includes test areas covered, test technique implementation, test case and data selection, test results validation, test cycles, and entry and exit criteria based on coverage metrics. In general, the test plan should incorporate both a high-level outline of which areas are to be tested and what methodologies are to be used and a general description of test cases, including prerequisites, setup, execution, and a description of what to look for in the test results. The high-level outline is useful for administration, planning, and reporting, while the more detailed descriptions are meant to make the test process go smoothly.

While not all testers like using test plans, they provide a number of benefits:

1. Test plans provide a written record of what is to be done.
2. Test plans allow project stakeholders to sign off on the intended testing effort. This helps ensure that the stakeholders agree with and will continue to support the test effort.
3. Test plans provide a way to measure progress. This allows testers to determine whether they are on schedule, and also provides a concise way to report progress to the stakeholders.
4. Due to time and budget constraints, it is often impossible to test all components of a software system. A test plan allows the analyst to succinctly record what the testing priorities are.
5. Test plans provide excellent documentation for testing subsequent releases—they can be used to develop regression test suites and/or provide guidance to develop new tests.

A test manager (or similar role) is responsible for developing and managing a test plan. The development managers are also part of test plan development, since the schedules in the test plan are closely tied to that of the development schedules.