Test strategy

A test strategy is an outline that describes the testing approach of the software development cycle. It is created to inform project managers, testers, and developers about some key issues of the testing process. This includes the testing objective, methods of testing new functions, total time and resources required for the project, and the testing environment.

Test strategies describe how the product risks of the stakeholders are mitigated at the test-level, which types of testing are to be performed, and which entry and exit criteria apply. They are created based on development design documents. System design documents are primarily used and occasionally, conceptual design documents may be referred to. Design documents describe the functionality of the software to be enabled in the upcoming release. For every stage of development design, a corresponding test strategy should be created to test the new feature sets.

The test strategy describes the test level to be performed. There are primarily three levels of testing: unit testing, integration testing, and system testing. In most software development organizations, the developers are responsible for unit testing. Individual testers or test teams are responsible for integration and system testing.

The roles and responsibilities of test leader, individual testers, project manager are to be clearly defined at a project level in this section. This may not have names associated: but the role has to be very clearly defined.

Testing strategies should be reviewed by the developers. They should also be reviewed by test leads for all levels of testing to make sure the coverage is complete yet not overlapping. Both the testing manager and the development managers should approve the test strategy before testing can begin.

Environment requirements are an important part of the test strategy. It describes what operating systems are used for testing. It also clearly informs the necessary OS patch levels and security updates required. For example, a certain test plan may require Windows XP Service Pack 3 to be installed as a prerequisite for testing.

There are two methods used in executing test cases: manual and automated. Depending on the nature of the testing, it is usually the case that a combination of manual and automated testing is the best testing method.

Any risks that will affect the testing process must be listed along with the mitigation. By documenting a risk, its occurrence can be anticipated well ahead of time. Proactive action may be taken to prevent it from occurring, or to mitigate its damage. Sample risks are dependency of completion of coding done by sub-contractors, or capability of testing tools.

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