Test Artifacts or Test Deliverables In Software Testing

In today’s corporate world maintaining the transparency between the project team and clients is as important as fulfilling their requirements. Many strategies are created so that no communication gap is created between the stakeholders and the company. For maintaining that various techniques are adopted. One such technique is presenting test artifacts to the team members and the stakeholders.

These artifacts are the documents created throughout the process of testing to keep them updated. Read the article to know more about what test artifacts are and why are they useful.

What are test artifacts?

Test artifacts are also known as test deliverables. These are the reports or documents created while the testing is being carried out. These help in ensuring that the stakeholders are kept informed about the progress in the project.

A software project undergoes several phases before its finally delivered to the end-user. These phases are completely documented and presented to the client so that they are updated and can analyze if the requirements are being met or not.

There are various test artifacts created during an SDLC (Software development Life Cycle). Some are delivered before the testing phase starts. Some during the testing. While others after the whole project is developed.

Let us look at these artifacts one by one.

Types of Test Artifacts

Test Strategy

It is usually developed by the project manager. A test strategy is a document that lists the details about how the whole project will proceed. These include requirements and resources for the project, testing strategies involved, test design, incremental phases involved, client communication processes, etc. The document is just an outline that goes about how the whole project will be managed.

Test Plan

A Test plan is often confused with a test strategy. It is a detailed document covering all the aspects of the testing phase. Whereas a test strategy is just an outline for the whole project.

The test plan has a more systematic approach while covering minute details about how the whole testing phase will work. The document is dynamic and acts as a reference to map how the testing phase is progressing by the QA (Quality Assurance) team. A test plan includes details like-

1. Scope of the project.
2. The objective of the project.
3. Resources required.
4. Different effective testing approaches. How all the testing phases will be carried out?
5. Risks involved.
6. Actual and expected test results.
7. Mapping out different phases of testing.
8. The final table of failed and passed test results.

Test Scenario

A test scenario is a condition created to perform successful end-to-end testing. Several test cases come under a test scenario. The test cases are developed on the basis of a high-level test scenario.

It is also sometimes referred to as a test condition or test possibility. A test scenario resolves the dilemma of software’s real-life application.

Test Cases

The test cases are the extended part of the test scenario which helps in execution in testing. The document is quite detailed and includes information like steps to execute the test, test name, pre-and post-conditions of the tests, etc. They help to determine the functioning of the software in different situations.

Points that should be included in the test cases document are-

• Test case ID -Each test case has a unique identification number.
• Test case name.
• Description of the test case – It’s an explanation of how the test case will proceed.
• Expected and actual outcomes of the test.
• Results – Either the test case is passed or failed.

Test Data

To run the test cases the QA engineer needs some data on which the test case is passed or failed is decide. For this, a document is prepared that contains all the test data required to run the created test cases.

Required Traceability Matrix

The RTM document is used to map out the many to many relationships between two documents. This is used to match the requirements of the client with the testing approach. It is maintained in a table format and links the requirements to verify if they are being fulfilled.

There are two types of RTM- forward RTM and backward RTM. Details that are included in the traceability matrix document are-

• Requirement ID
• Requirement type or description.
• Test Case ID linked to that requirement.
• Result or the status. Whether the requirement was met or not.

Defect/Bug Report

A defect report is a document that is created once all the test cases are executed and the results are recorded. It enlists all the defects or bugs identified during the testing process. This makes the task to fix the bugs easier for the developer team.

Test summary report

At the end of each of the complete testing cycles, a final report is created. This report includes the details of the whole testing process. For example – details about test cases, the results obtained, bugs fixed, the current status of the project, etc.

This document is important and has to be presented to the stakeholders to keep them informed about the progress made in the project. This is a formal document and everything is enlisted clearly so that anyone can understand the report.

User guide

Once the whole software is developed and is ready to be deployed into the market, a user guide is created in the end. This guide is helpful to the end-users and gives detailed information about the software and its usage.

With this, we have come to an end of this article on – Test Artifacts. I hope this will help you in further enhancing your knowledge of software testing.

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