Topic: Unit Test Plan

  Unit Test Plan {UTP}

   The unit test plan is the overall plan to carry out the unit test activities. The lead tester prepares it and it will be distributed to the individual testers, which contains the following sections.

  What is to be tested?

  The unit test plan must clearly specify the scope of unit testing. In this, normally the basic input/output of the units along with their basic functionality will be tested. In this case mostly the input units will be tested for the format, alignment, accuracy and the totals. The UTP will clearly give the rules of what data types are present in the system, their format and their boundary conditions. This list may not be exhaustive; but it is better to have a complete list of these details.

   Sequence of Testing

  The sequences of test activities that are to be carried out in this phase are to be listed in this section. This includes, whether to execute positive test cases first or negative test cases first, to execute test cases based on the priority, to execute test cases based on test groups etc. Positive test cases prove that the system performs what is supposed to do; negative test cases prove that the system does not perform what is not supposed to do. Testing the screens, files, database etc., are to be given in proper sequence.

    Basic Functionality of Units

  How the independent functionalities of the units are tested which excludes any communication between the unit and other units. The interface part is out of scope of this test level. Apart from the above sections, the following sections are addressed, very specific to unit testing.

• Unit Testing Tools
• Priority of Program units
• Naming convention for test cases
• Status reporting mechanism
• Regression test approach
• ETVX criteria