Topic: Test Plan Overview

Creating test plans is no different from creating plans for any other part of a computing project. A plan enables you to decide in advance:

• How a project's objectives will be met,
• With the resources available,
• To the time scales required,
• To the quality desired,
• While controlling the risk.

A test plan is a specific version of a project plan with clauses that meet these requirements. The main characteristics of a project plan are described in the article Basics of Project Management. The international standard IEEE Std 829-1998 gives advice on the various types of test documentation required for testing including test plans, and details of these are in the IEEE 829 article. The test plan section of the standard defines 16 clauses. This article gives guidance on how the IEEE 829 standard maps against the requirements of a project test plan.