In this article, we learn what is test strategy in software testing
What is Test Strategy in Software Testing?
Test strategy in the software testing life cycle (STLC) is a high-level document (static document) and is usually developed by the project manager.
It is a document that captures the approach to how we go about testing for the product/project.
It is normally derived from the Business Requirement Specification (BRS).
Documents like Test Plans are prepared by keeping this document as the base.
Even though testing differs between organizations. Maximum software development organizations follow the Test Strategy document, and test plan document.
In the Agile world, some of the companies are not spending time on test plan preparation due to the minimal time for each release but they maintain test strategy documents. (Depends on the project to project)
Once you become a Project Lead or Project manager you have to develop a test strategy document.
Test strategy documents should be circulated to all the team members so that every team member will be consistent with the testing approach.
Remember there is no rule to maintain all these sections in your Test Strategy document.
It varies from company to company and project to project.
Test strategy document mostly includes:
- Scope and Overview
- Test Approach
- Testing tools
- Industry standards to follow
- Test deliverables
- Requirement Traceability Matrix
- Risk and mitigation
- Test summary
1. Scope and Overview
In this section, we will mention the scope of testing activities (what to test and why to test) and mention an overview of the AUT (Application under Test).
2. Test Approach
In this section, we can include following
- Test levels
- Test types
- Roles and responsibilities
- Environment requirements
1. Test Levels
This section lists out the levels of testing that will be performed during Testing.
Levels of testing such as unit testing, integration testing, system testing, and user acceptance testing.
Testers are responsible for integration testing, system testing, and user acceptance testing
2. Test Types
This section lists the various testing types that will be performed during Testing.
3. Roles and responsibilities:
This section describes the roles and responsibilities of the Project Manager, Project Lead, and individual testers.
4. Environment requirements:
This section lists the hardware and software for the test environment.
3. Testing tools
This section will describe the testing tools necessary to conduct the tests
Example: Name of Test Management Tool, Name of Bug Tracking Tool, Name of Automation Tool like JIRA
4. Industry standards to follow
This section describes the industry standard to produce a high-quality system that meets or exceeds customer expectations.
Usually, the project manager decides the testing models and procedures which need to follow to achieve the goals of the project.
Example: CMMI
5. Test Deliverables
This section lists the deliverables that need to produce before, during, and at the end of testing.
6. Requirement Traceability Matrix
The requirement traceability matrix is used to trace the requirements to the tests that are needed to verify whether the requirements are fulfilled.
7. Risk and mitigation
Identify all the testing risks that will affect the testing process and specify a plan to mitigate the risk.
8. Test Summar
This section lists out what kind of test summary reports will be produced along with the frequency.
Test summary reports will be generated on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis depending on how critical the project is.