Testing Test Cases And Test Plan

• Test Case is a commonly used term for a specific test. This is usually the smallest unit of testing.
• A Test Case will consist of information such as requirements testing, test steps, verification steps, prerequisites, outputs, test environment, etc.
• A set of inputs, execution preconditions, and expected outcomes developed for a particular objective, such as to exercise a particular program path or to verify compliance with a specific requirement.
• A test case is a detailed procedure that fully tests a feature or an aspect of a feature. Whereas the test plan describes what to test, a test case describes how to perform a particular test. You need to develop a test case for each test listed in the test plan.
• A set of inputs, execution preconditions, and expected outcomes developed for a particular objective, such as to exercise a particular program path or to verify compliance with a specific requirement.
• Test cases should be written by a team member who understands the function or technology being tested, and each test case should be submitted for peer review.

Organizations take a variety of approaches to documenting test cases; these range from developing detailed, recipe-like steps to writing general descriptions. In detailed test cases, the steps describe exactly how to perform the test. In descriptive test cases, the tester decides at the time of the test how to perform the test and what data to use.

Most organizations prefer detailed test cases because determining pass or fail criteria is usually easier with this type of case. In addition, detailed test cases are reproducible and are easier to automate than descriptive test cases. This is particularly important if you plan to compare the results of tests over time, such as when you are optimizing configurations. Detailed test cases are more time-consuming to develop and maintain. On the other hand, test cases that are open to interpretation are not repeatable and can require debugging, consuming time that would be better spent on testing.

When planning your tests, remember that it is not feasible to test everything. Instead of trying to test every combination, prioritize your testing so that you perform the most important tests � those that focus on areas that present the greatest risk or have the greatest probability of occurring � first.

Once the Test Lead prepared the Test Plan, the role of individual testers will start from the preparation of Test Cases for each level in the Software Testing like Unit Testing, Integration Testing, System Testing and User Acceptance Testing and for each Module.

To prepare these Test Cases each organization uses their own standard template, an ideal template is providing below to prepare Test Cases
The Name of this Test Case Document itself follows some name convention like below so that by seeing the name we can identify the Project Name and Version Number and Date of Release.

Test Plan

Test Plan is the scheduler for entire Testing process. The Test Plan describes the approach to all development, unit, integration, system, qualification and acceptance testing needed to complete a project properly.
You should be aware that many people use the term 'test plan' to describe a document detailing individual tests for a component of a system. We are introducing the concept of high level test plans to show that there are a lot more activities involved in effective testing than just writing test cases.

Why is this important?
Establishing a test plan based on business requirements and design specification is essential for the successful acceptance of a project's deliverables. It is important to note that the higher risk a project has, the greater the need for a commensurate amount of testing. The project Schedule & Task Plan and the project Staffing Plan need to account for testing requirements during the planning and execution phases of the project.

Testing validates the requirements defined for the projects objectives and deliverables. Though IT project practices require testing throughout the execution phase of a project, undoubtedly the most important testing occurs at the end of development and prior to deployment. Orderly test plans that specify the criteria for test passage or failure are critical to a project's success.