Question { 6486 }

what is the difference between test strategy and test plan?

Answer

"Test strategy is an important yet little-described aspect
of test methodology. Let me introduce three definitions:

Test Plan: the set of ideas that guide a test project

Test Strategy: the set of ideas that guide test design

Test Logistics: the set of ideas that guide the application
of resources to fulfill a test strategy

I find these ideas to be a useful jumping-off point. Here
are some implications: •The test plan is the sum of test
strategy and test logistics.

•The test plan document does not necessarily contain a test
plan. This is because many test plan documents are created
by people who are following templates without understanding
them, or writing things to please their bosses, without
knowing how to fulfill their promises, or simply because it
once was a genuine test plan but now is obsolete.

•Conversely, a genuine test plan is not necessarily
documented. This is because new ideas may occur to you each
day that change how you test.

Question { 6486 }

what is the difference between test strategy and test plan?

Answer

Test Strategy
A Test Strategy document is a high level document and
normally developed by project manager. This document defines
“Testing Approach” to achieve testing objectives. The Test
Strategy is normally derived from the Business Requirement
Specification document.

The Test Stategy document is a static document meaning that
it is not updated too often. It sets the standards for
testing processes and activities and other documents such as
the Test Plan draws its contents from those standards set in
the Test Strategy Document.

Some companies include the “Test Approach” or “Strategy”
inside the Test Plan, which is fine and it is usually the
case for small projects. However, for larger projects, there
is one Test Strategy document and different number of Test
Plans for each phase or level of testing.

Components of the Test Strategy document
1) Scope and Objectives: The purpose of testing in an
organization
2) Business issues: Budget control for testing
3) Roles and responsibilities: Names of jobs in the testing
team and their responsibilities
4) Communication and status reporting: Required negotiation
between two jobs in a team
5) Test deliverability: Names of the testing documents to be prepared by the Testing Team.
6) Industry standards to follow
7) Test automation and tools: Availability of testing tools
and purpose of automation
8) Testing measurements and metrices or Testing Approach: That is the TRM ( Test responsibility Matrix)
9) Risks and mitigation: Expected failures during testing and solutions to overcome
10) Defect reporting and tracking: required negotiation
between testing and development teams
11) Change and configuration management: How to handle sudden changes in customer requirements.
12) Training plan

Test Plan

The Test Plan document on the other hand, is derived from
the Product Description, Software Requirement Specification
SRS, or Use Case Documents.
The Test Plan document is usually prepared by the Test Lead
or Test Manager and the focus of the document is to describe
what to test, how to test, when to test and who will do what
test.

It is not uncommon to have one Master Test Plan which is a
common document for the test phases and each test phase have
their own Test Plan documents.

There is much debate, as to whether the Test Plan document
should also be a static document like the Test Strategy
document mentioned above or should it be updated every often
to reflect changes according to the direction of the project
and activities.
My own personal view is that when a testing phase starts
and the Test Manager is “controlling” the activities, the
test plan should be updated to reflect any deviation from
the original plan. After all, Planning and Control are
continuous activities in the formal test process.

on the other hand TEST PLAN is a document which defines
basically..
1) what to test?
2) how to test ?
3) when to test ?
4) who to test?


1)Test Plan id: Unique number or name
2)Introduction: About project
3)Test items: Names of all modules in the project.
4)Features to be tested:
5)Features not to be tested
6)Test techniques/Approach: finalized TRM, selected testing
techniques
7)Testing tasks
8)Suspension criteria
9)Entry Criteria : When testing can be started
10)Exit Criteria : when testing can be stopped
11)Features pass or fail criteria
12)Test environment: The environment where the test is to be carried out.
13)Test delivarables
14)Staff and training needs
15)Responsibilities
16)Schedule (project staring and end dates etc.)

This is a standard approach to prepare test plan and test
strategy documents, but things can vary company-to-company