"The only thing that makes life possible is permanent, intolerable uncertainty; not knowing what comes next."
-- Ursula K. LeGuin

Management Tips

{Project Name}

System Test Plan

Remove italicized comments within this template from the final document

INDEX

CONTACT & DISTRIBUTION
REVISION HISTORY
SYSTEM TEST PLAN
Test Environment
SPECIAL HARDWARE OR SOFTWARE
SYSTEM SETTINGS
System Validation
DATA REQUIREMENTS
TESTERS & ESTIMATED TIME NEEDED TO TEST
SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS
RE-WORK STRATEGY
TEST SCRIPT
Stress-Testing / Benchmarking
DATA REQUIREMENTS
TESTERS & ESTIMATED TIME NEEDED TO TEST
SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS
RE-WORK STRATEGY
TEST SCRIPT

CONTACT & DISTRIBUTION

Prepared by:

Include the name of the document's author, author's telephone and email address.

Contributors:

List contributors to this document, and the nature of their contributions.

Primary Contact:

The primary contact is usually the Project Leader. Include email link.

Distribution:

List the mailing list, Usenet group, web address, or other method of intended distribution.

REVISION HISTORY

Date of Revision	Revised By	Description of Revision	Affected Modules

SYSTEM TEST PLAN

Test Environment
Add sections as appropriate and necessary. A template is a guideline: you do what makes sense for you.

SPECIAL HARDWARE OR SOFTWARE

SYSTEM SETTINGS

System Validation
System Validation testing ensures that all of the functional requirements of the system have been met.

DATA REQUIREMENTS
Specify how test data is to be created, insuring that the test data is sufficient to test the system requirements as set forth in previous documentation.
TESTERS AND ESTIMATED TIME NEEDED TO TEST
It should take approximately X hours to set up the test conditions and fulfill the data requirements necessary for testing.
Once this is done, Y testers should be able to perform the testing described in Z hours.
SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS
Include any special situations that may affect processing, such as end-of-period processing.
RE-WORK STRATEGY
Describe procedures to be used for correcting problems encountered. Indicate what conditions will force a complete re-test, as opposed to the conditions which may be fixed and tested. You may want to include the following verbiage:
During the course of testing, defects will be ranked as follows:

A Critical defect causes catastrophic failure of the system (lock up, abnormal end, etc.) Detection of a critical failure will cause testing to stop until the cause of failure is located and fixed. After the problem is corrected, testing will start again from the beginning. All Critical failures will be entered into a defect tracking log.
A Serious defects may cause improper operation or calculation of key functions within the system, but which does not prevent continuation of testing. Serious defects will be entered into the detail tracking log, and testing will start again fromt the beginning.
A Minor defect may be cosmetic or may result from improper operation of a non-critical or frivolous feature of the program. Such defects will be entered into the defect tracking log and will be repaired as time permits.
Iterative testing will be performed until no Critical or Serious failures are detected in a complete test cycle; or as long as time permits to fix additional minor defects.
TEST SCRIPT
Feel free to add columns as required. Log what makes sense for this system. Expected results are entered at design time; actual results are entered at test time.

Step Test Condition Expected Results Actual Results

Stress Testing / Benchmarking
This test script ensures that the performance requirements of the system have been met. If no performance requirements were set, this benchmarks the system. Stress testing and benchmarking differ from system validation in that not all functions need be tested. Instead, specific functions are tested under varying degrees of load.

DATA REQUIREMENTS
Specify how test data is to be created, insuring that the test data is sufficient to test the system requirements as set forth in previous documentation.
TESTERS AND ESTIMATED TIME NEEDED TO TEST
It should take approximately X hours to set up the test conditions and fulfill the data requirements necessary for testing.
Once this is done, Y testers should be able to perform the testing described in Z hours.
SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS
Include any special situations that may affect processing, such as end-of-period processing.
RE-WORK STRATEGY
Testing is performed to ensure that the system meets performance requirements. Depending on the measurability of the requirements, various degrees of subjectivity are required to rank the seriousness of performance failures.
During Stress Testing the procedures set in System Validation Re-Work Strategy still apply.
TEST SCRIPT
Feel free to add columns as required. Log what makes sense for this system. Expected results are entered at design time; actual results are entered at test time.

Step Test Condition Expected Results Actual Results