Study the test plan proposed in the IEEE standard $829$ standard described in

the literature review section of this chapter. What are the essential items not

addressed in this test plan?

A generic test plan template has been described in the IEEE standard $829-1983$

$($IEEE Standard for Software Test Documentation: IEEE$/$ANSI Standard$).$ Other topics described in the standard are test design specifications, test case specifications,

test procedure specifications, test item transmittal report, and test result reports.

The following are the sections of a test plan as defined in the standard:

$$ Test Plan Identifier: A unique identifier, useful if all the documents are

stored in a database.

$$ Introduction: Overall description of the test project. This includes references to all the relevant documents.

$$ Items to be Tested: List of entities $($function$,$ module, systems, and subsystems$)$ to be tested. The list includes references to specifications and

manuals.

$$ Features to be Tested: Identification of the features to be tested.

Cross$-$reference them to the test design specifications.

$$ Features Not to be Tested: Which ones and why not.

$$ Approach: Description of the overall approach to testing. The standard

also says that this section$$and not the schedule section$$is the place

to identify constraints, including deadlines and availability of resources

$($human and equipment$).$

$$ Pass$/$Fail Criteria: A set of criteria to decide the test case has been passed

or failed upon execution.

$$ Suspension and Resumption Criteria: List of anything that would cause

testing to stop until it is fixed. What would have to be done to resume

testing? What tests should be reexecuted at this point?

$404$ CHAPTER $12$ SYSTEM TEST PLANNING AND AUTOMATION

$$ Test Deliverables: List of all testing documents that will be written for

this project.

$$ Testing Tasks: List of all tasks necessary to prepare and conduct testing.

Show dependency between tasks, special skills needed to do them, who

does each task, how much effort is involved, and when each will be done.

$$ Test Environment: Description of the hardware, software, testing tool,

and lab facilities required to conduct the testing.

$$ Responsibilities: Name of the engineers $($or groups$)$ responsible for managing, designing, preparing, and executing the tests.

$$ Staffing and Training Needs: How many people are required? What training they need?

$$ Scheduling: List of all the milestones with dates and when all the

resources will be needed.

$$ Risks and Contingencies: What are the highest risk assumptions in the

test plan? What can go sufficiently wrong to delay the schedule, and what

can be done about it$?$

$$ Approvals: Who has to approve this plan? Provide space for their

signatures.