Test Plan and Control

In general, STLC process starts with test plan and control. In this test lead Category people defines on over all approach which if followed all the testers . They prepare Test Plan document.

Test Plan: Test Plan is defined as an overall document providing directions for complete testing activity. This Test plan Document is prepared in IEEE829 standards in terms of four importanat aspects

• What to Test?
• When To Test?
• Who will be Testing?
• When to Test?

The test plan content consists of a structure which covers the above four questions . The  Test plan shall have the following structure. So we would check the Test Plan according to IEEE standards

Test Plan content as per IEEE829 Standards:

• Test Plan Identifier
• Introduction 
• Test Items - What are the ites that have to be tested 
• Features to be Tested
• Features not to be tested

' these all contents come under "what to test " category

• Test Approach
• Item Pass/ fail Criteria
• Suspension Criteria and resumption requirements 
• Test Deliverable s/ Test Artifacts
• Test Tasks
• Environmental Needs

' these all  contents come under " how to test " category

• Roles and Responsibility
• Staffing and Training needs

' these all  contents come under " who will Test " category

• Schedule 
• Risks , contingencies and mitigation plans 
• Approvals

' these all contents come under " when to test " category

  So this is how a Test plan document is prepared based on IEEE829 standards and the testers follow this plan while testing an application or software. 

Test Control: It involves controlling and measuring the progress of the project against the plan i.e Test plan Document . It is an ongoing activity. The actual progress is compared and monitored  against the planned progress and checks if any deviations there and are highlighted .

It has following major tasks:

• It measures and analyze the results o reviews and testing.
• Monitors and Documents the progress , test coverage and exit criteria 
• Provide information on testing 
• Initiate correctiveness actions
• Make decisions

The things which a test lead can control are actions which effect directly like how many no of test iterations can be done, Test included in an iteration , entry and exit criteria applied , release date . These type of actions can be controlled by test lead

The things which cannot be controlled by Test Lead are  number of faults already there.

Test leads can control some actions indirectly like rework effect, which faults are to be fixed first , quality of fixes ( entry criteria to retest).