Software testing’s fundamental components are data management and storage. It’s crucial to record bugs, keep track of test cases and potential stakeholders, and keep in mind best practices. The quantity of repeated work will be reduced if the team maintains thorough documentation of each testing activity.
All-document projects have a high level of maturity. Careful documentation can help the company save time, money, and resources. Before commencing the test execution procedure, each test engineer creates the essential reference document.
The entire test execution procedure depends on the test document once it is prepared. Writing a test document’s primary goal is to lessen or get rid of any lingering questions about testing procedures.
Documentation for Software Testing: What Is It?
Software testing is an essential component of the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) model. Products that must be developed during the testing process require a proper plan and subsequent documentation for improved testing and redevelopment.
All files including details about the testing team’s strategy, development, metrics, and outcomes are considered test documentation. The synthesis of all accessible data is used to monitor upcoming project requirements, manage test coverage, and quantify testing efforts.
Why is Testing Documentation Necessary?
It’s simple for a novice to imagine that testing involves randomly running different sections of code and evaluating the outcomes. However, in the actual world, testing is a highly formal and meticulously documented activity. Planning, reviewing, and carrying out testing is made simple and verifiable by test documentation.
The sole essential component that can enable it and improve testing accuracy inside an organization is proper documentation. The documentation for a project facilitates and organizes the testing process while also saving the company time and money. It is simple for the client to review the software process with proper documentation.
But how many of them are utilized by businesses or people? Thorough documentation can indeed help a company save time, effort, and money. Documentation is stressed while pursuing any certification since it demonstrates the value of clients and processes to people and organizations.
The success and effectiveness of a software product heavily depend on its documentation. The quality of software or applications is impacted by poor documentation. Estimating the testing energy needed, condition tracking, test coverage, etc., is made easier with the use of software testing documentation.
Types of Testing Documentation
There are several different test document types used in software testing, including the following:
1. Test Planning
It is a paper that the managers or test lead prepare. It includes all data related to testing activities. The test plan is made up of several different parts, including the following:
- Objectives
- Scope
- Approach
- Test methodology
- Templates
- Test environments
- Entry and exit criteria
- Test deliverable
- Risk Analysis
- Roles & responsibilities
- Effort estimation
- Defect tracking
- Assumptions
2. Test Scenario
Test scenario is a process that lets you explore the multiple ways to go on with testing documentation. The goal of scenario testing is to evaluate complete scenarios for a particular challenging software problem. Scenarios make it simpler to test and assess complex end-to-end challenges.
3. Test Case
A test scenario specifies a technique if it describes the thing being tested (what) (how). These documents include step-by-step instructions, thorough conditions, and the most recent inputs for a testing task. Depending on the testing methodology, test cases might be functional, UI, physical, logical, etc.
Test cases assess whether or not the technology can be delivered by comparing the resources that are now available and the situation with the expected results.
4. Requirement Traceability Matrix(RTM)
The requirements of the test cases are mapped in this software testing documentation. Each entry has a unique ID, which team members and stakeholders may use to search for any entry and see its progress.
5. Bug Report
We keep a list of all the bugs that appeared during the testing process in a document called a bug report. This is a key document for both developers and test engineers since they can easily track defects, report the bug, alter the status of faults that are repaired successfully, and also prevent their repeat in subsequent processes with the aid of bug reports.
6. Test Summary Report
It is the document that test leads create following the successful completion of the testing execution process. The test summary report, which includes data on the modules, the number of performed written test cases, pass rates, and fail rates, defines the product’s consistency. Additionally, a separate spreadsheet is available for each module.
Software Testing Document
| Level | Goals | Key Values |
| Test Planning | ||
| Sprint/Release | To define objective, scope, and approach to testing for a module |
|
| Test Scenario | ||
| Feature | To specify a sequence of actions for the execution of a test |
|
| Test Case | ||
| Feature | To illustrate conditions to verify the expected result of tested feature |
|
| Requirement Traceability Matrix (RTM) | ||
| Sprint/Release | To define mapping of requirement of features to the test cases |
|
| Bug Report | ||
| Sprint/Release | To define any flaw that can cause the component or system to fail |
|
| Test Summary Report | ||
| Sprint/Release | To evaluate testing activities and results |
|
Advantages of Documentation
As we have learned about software testing documentation, it is also a must to know the benefits of it, completing and covering the significant aspects that are helpful in software testing.
1. Interchangeability among team members
The software testing team would have to re-learn the functionality and become familiar with the environment if there were no records. The team can quickly review the important details of the project by referring to old files, though, assuming they retained documentation after their initial testing phase.
2. Collaboration among team members internally
The team’s ability to complete tasks by deadline and workload should be transparent to business owners, who should also be able to assess the solidity of the product at any moment.
3. Increases the project’s acceptance/quality
As soon as these needs are satisfied, the team and stakeholders are aware that the final product version has “passed” evaluation. Team members set the requirements for the final product edition at the commencement of the process.
4. Increases employee onboarding speed
All information is available in a single database, therefore there is no need to appoint a particular mentor who would discuss project facts with a new tester.
5. Delivers remarks on the planning cycle
To avoid miscommunication during the latter testing phases, the team authorizes defined plans early on. Furthermore, software testing removes any doubt from the task distribution process.
6. Time-saving process
Software testing helps to save time to handle further glitches. It depicts the hurdles of software and its other components on a prior basis to avoid major challenges.
7. Project scope understanding
As test documentation incorporates project risks and contingencies, it aids in a better understanding of the project scope.
What Are Some Of The Drawbacks Of Software Testing Documentation?
- The maintenance of the customer-provided modification and the concurrent update in the document makes it a little laborious.
- There are situations when someone who lacks product knowledge writes it.
- If the test documentation is inadequate, the application’s quality will be replicated.
- At times, testing documentation costs heavier to the testers as it includes multiple refinery levels that consume higher amounts of time and money.
Even though, considering the above negative holds of software testing documentation, we can see that the testing process stresses a great part of the virtues that are necessary for software performance.
Software Testing Documentation In A Nutshell
All in all, software testing documentation is a non-avoidable process while working on any software project. We have gone through all major aspects that cover the fragile yet important parts of software testing. It is often seen from many of the testers’ points of view that if software testing documentation is not done properly, it may cause unwelcomed flaws for further execution of a software project.
Well, if it is something that relates to any of your projects or you think it saved you before being put into thin ice then you must put your thoughts below to wave at us.
