IEEE Standard 829-1983 Test Plan Template

This is a summary of the ANSI/IEEE Standard 829-1983. It describes a test plan as:
“A document describing the scope, approach, resources, and schedule of intended testing activities. It identifies test items, the features to be tested, the testing tasks, who will do each task, and any risks requiring contingency planning.”

IEEE 829 Test Plan Template:

• Test Plan Identifier
• Introduction
• Test Items
• Features To Be Tested
• Features Not To Be Tested
• Approach
• Item Pass/Fail Criteria
• Suspension Criteria And Resumption Requirements
• Test Deliverables
• Testing Tasks
• Environmental Needs
• Responsibilities
• Staffing And Training Needs
• Schedule
• Risks And Contingencies
• Approvals

IEEE 829 Test Plan Template with Description:

• Test Plan Identifier:

A unique identifier

• Introduction

Summary of the items and features to be tested
Need for and history of each item (optional)
References to related documents such as project authorization, project plan, QA plan, configuration management plan, relevant policies, relevant standards
References to lower-level test plans

• Test Items

Test items and their version
Characteristics of their transmittal media
References to related documents such as requirements specification, design specification, users guide, operations guide, installation guide
References to bug reports related to test items
Items that are specifically not going to be tested (optional)

• Features to be Tested

All software features and combinations of features to be tested
References to test-design specifications associated with each feature and combination of features

• Features Not to Be Tested

All features and significant combinations of features that will not be tested
The reasons these features won’t be tested

• Approach

The overall approach to testing
For each major group of features of combinations of features, specify the approach
Specify major activities, techniques, and tools which are to be used to test the groups
Specify a minimum degree of comprehensiveness required
Identify which techniques will be used to judge comprehensiveness
Specify any additional completion criteria
Specify techniques that are to be used to trace requirements
Identify significant constraints on testing, such as test-item availability, testing-resource availability, and deadline

• Item Pass/Fail Criteria

Specify the criteria to be used to determine whether each test item has passed or failed testing

• Suspension Criteria and Resumption Requirements

Specify criteria to be used to suspend the testing activity
Specify testing activities that must be redone when testing is resumed

• Test Deliverables

Identify the deliverable documents: test plan, test design specifications, test case specifications, test procedure specifications, test item transmittal reports, test logs, test incident reports, test summary reports
Identify test input and output data
Identify test tools (optional)

• Testing Tasks

Identify tasks necessary to prepare for and perform testing
Identify all task interdependencies
Identify any special skills required

• Environmental Needs

Specify necessary and desired properties of the test environment: physical characteristics of the facilities including hardware, communications, and system software, the mode of usage (i.e., stand-alone), and any other software or supplies needed
Specify the level of security required
Identify special test tools needed
Identify any other testing needs
Identify the source for all needs which are not currently available

• Responsibilities

Identify groups responsible for managing, designing, preparing, executing, witnessing, checking and resolving
Identify groups responsible for providing the test items identified in the Test Items section
Identify groups responsible for providing the environmental needs identified in the Environmental Needs section

• Staffing and Training Needs

Specify staffing needs by skill level
Identify training options for providing necessary skills

• Schedule

Specify test milestones
Specify all item transmittal events
Estimate the time required to do each testing task
Schedule all testing tasks and test milestones
For each testing resource, specify its periods of use