What comprises Test Ware Development : Test Strategy Continued...

Test ware development is the key role of the testing team. Test ware comprises of:

Test Strategy

Before starting any testing activities, the team lead will have to think a lot and arrive at a strategy.The following areas are addressed in the test strategy document:
- Test Groups: From the list of requirements, we can identify related areas, whose functionality is similar. These areas are the test groups. We need to identify the test groups based on the functionality aspect.

- Test Priorities: Among test cases, we need to establish priorities. While testing software projects, certain test cases will be treated as the most important ones and if they fail, the product cannot be released. Some other test cases may be treated like cosmetic and if they fail, we can release the product without much compromise on the functionality. This priority levels must be clearly stated.

- Test Status Collections and Reporting:
When test cases are executed, the test leader and the project manager must know where exactly we stand in terms of testing activities. To know where we stand, the inputs from the individual testers must come to the test leader. This will include, what test cases are executed, how long it took, how many test cases passed and how many failed etc. Also, how often we collect the status is to be clearly mentioned.

- Test Records Maintenance: When the test cases are executed, we need to keep track of the execution details like when it is executed, who did it, how long it took, what is the result etc. This data must be available to the test leader and the project manager, along with all the team members, in a central location.This may be stored in a specific directory in a central server and the document must say clearly about the locations and the directories.

- Requirements Traceability Matrix: Ideally, each software developed must satisfy the set of requirements completely. So, right from design, each requirement must be addressed in every single document in the software process. The documents include the HLD, LLD, source codes, unit test cases, integration test cases and the system test cases. In this matrix, the rows will have the requirements. For every document, there will be a separate column. So, in every cell, we need to state what section in HLD addressed in every single document, all the individual cells must have valid section ids or names filled in.

- Test Summary: The senior management may like to have a test summary on a weekly or monthly basis. If the project is very critical, they may need it on a daily basis also. It addresses what kind of test summary reports will be produced for the senior management along with the frequency.