What is Test Planning and How to Create Test Plan?

Test Planning:

• Initially when we get the project it is responsibility for a test lead or senior tester to prepare the test plan for the project.
• A test plan is the foundation of every testing effort.
• A Test Plan refers to a detailed document that catalogs the test strategy, objectives, schedule, estimations, deadlines, and the resources required for completing that particular project. 
• A good test plan clearly defines the testing scope and its boundaries. You can use requirements specifications document to identify what is included in the scope and what is excluded.
• By creating a clear test plan all team members can follow, everyone can work together effectively.

The steps to prepare the test plan :-

•      Criteria
•      Prepare test plan 
•      Get approval

1.  Criteria:-

• To prepare test plan the test lead /senior tester should have the below details:
• Development schedule 
• Project release date
• Services to be provided to customer 
• Understand the project requirement
• Understanding of the complexity of the project
• Scop of testing
• No. of resources required
• Type of testing to be conducted 

2. Prepare Test Plan :

• A Test Plan is a detailed document that describes the test strategy, objectives, schedule, estimation, deliverables, and resources required to perform testing for a software product.
• The test plan serves as a blueprint to conduct software testing activities as a defined process, which is minutely monitored and controlled by the test manager.

Test Plan document has the below details :

• Introduction
• Features to be tested ( In scope)
• Features not to be tested (Out of scope)
• Pass/ Fail criteria
• Entry and Exit criteria
• Approach
• Schedule 
• Test factor
• Recourses
• Training plans
• Configuration management
• Test Deliverable
• Test Environment
• Risk and Mitigation Plan
• Approval 

3. Prepare Test Plan : Once test plan is ready it should be approved from test manager

Lets talk about different sections on a test plan in detail:

Introduction :-  Specify the purpose / Requirement of the project.

Feature to be tested :- Specify the requirement which is need to be tested.

Feature not to be Tested :- Specify the requirement which is out of the scope of testing. We dose not need to test.

PASS / FAIL Criteria (Suspension Criteria):-  If the below criteria is satisfied we can suspend the build from testing:

• The build is not deployed 
• The sanity test is fail
• The build is unstable 
• Wrong build is given 

(Note: If the build is suspended the developer have to immediately resolve the issue and give the modified build)

Entry and Exit Criteria:-  Specify the condition to start and stop the testing . for every level of testing there is entry and exit criteria 

    For example :-

System testing Entry Criteria :-

• Integration testing should be completed 
• All the major defect found in the integration test should be fixed 
• The test environment should be ready , Required access should be provided
• The Development should be completed (All Coding part)

System testing Exit Criteria :-

• All the functionalities are tested 
• No new defect are found
• No risk in the project 
• All the defects are fixed 
• The testing scheduled are completed 

Approach :-  Specify the process followed in the project like

 Planning   Design   Execution  Reporting

Schedules:-  Specify the testing . The testing scheduled are prepared based on development schedules. 

Resources :-  Specify the list of team, resources and there responsibilities like testing team, development team, project managers etc. 

Training plans :- Specify any training plan is required for the resources.

Configuration Management :-  Specify hoe to manage all the project related documents , codes, testing documents etc.so these documents are accessible to all the team members.

There are tools are available like : 

VSS  Visual source safe

CVS   Concurrent version system for configuration management.

The tool provide security, version control (Each time the documents are updated a new version is created )

Test Deliverables :-  Specify the list of documents to be submitted to the customer during testing or after testing Documents are like :

• Test Plan
• Test Case documents 
• Test execution result
• Defect report 
• Review report
• Test summary report etc.

Test Environment :-  Specify the Hard ware configuration details, the additional software required in the test environment to access the application and conduct the testing.

Risk And Mitigation Plan:- Specify the challenges in the project and the solution to resolve the challenges.

The different risks are : 

• Required documents are not available 
• Estimations are not correct
• Delay in project deliverables
• Lack of skilled resources 
• Lack of team coordination's ETC.

Approval :- After preparation of the plan the project manager and customer have to review and approve the plan.

Note :- During the planning phase it is the responsibility of test lead to recruit the tester based on the skills required for the project .

Please refer the below video for more details on test plan: