Checklist for Test Preparation

Listed below are questions/suggestions for systematically planning and preparing software testing.

• Have you planned for an overall testing schedule and the personnel required, and associated training requirements?


• Have the test team members been given assignments?


• Have you established test plans and test procedures for


• module testing,


• integration testing,


• system testing, and


• acceptance testing?


• Have you designed at least one black-box test case for each system function?


• Have you designed test cases for verifying quality objectives/factors (e.g. reliability, maintainability, etc.)?


• Have you designed test cases for verifying resource objectives?


• Have you defined test cases for performance tests, boundary tests, and usability tests?


• Have you designed test cases for stress tests (intentional attempts to break system)?


• Have you designed test cases with special input values (e.g. empty files)?


• Have you designed test cases with default input values?


• Have you described how traceability of testing to requirements is to be demonstrated (e.g. references to the specified functions and requirements)?


• Do all test cases agree with the specification of the function or requirement to be tested?


• Have you sufficiently considered error cases? Have you designed test cases for invalid and unexpected input conditions as well as valid conditions?


• Have you defined test cases for white-box-testing (structural tests)?


• Have you stated the level of coverage to be achieved by structural tests?


• Have you unambiguously provided test input data and expected test results or expected messages for each test case?


• Have you documented the purpose of and the capability demonstrated by each test case?


• Is it possible to meet and to measure all test objectives defined (e.g. test coverage)?


• Have you defined the test environment and tools needed for executing the software test?


• Have you described the hardware configuration an resources needed to implement the designed test cases?


• Have you described the software configuration needed to implement the designed test cases?


• Have you described the way in which tests are to be recorded?


• Have you defined criteria for evaluating the test results?


• Have you determined the criteria on which the completion of the test will be judged?


• Have you considered requirements for regression testing?