Nowadays the size, format and complication of software products are growing; that is why informal software testing without planning and preparation becomes insufficient.
Weighty functions, related software elements and execution aspects could be easily undiagnosed in such a testing.
Consequently, there is an extreme necessity in planned, managed, monitored and optimized testing strategies based on systematic considerations for quality, formal models, and related techniques.
Test cases may be planned and prepared with the help of these testing strategies, and test procedures need to be prepared and followed.
Test planning and preparation comprise such sub-activities:
Purpose Setting
For software that is intended for different operational environments, inter-operability troubles may have a main importance for clients and users; while the equal troubles may not have such a big importance for software products with a standard operational environment. It is necessary to create the specific testing purposes, such as reliability or coverage purposes, to be used as the exit criteria.
Test Process Preparation
This is a significant activity for test preparation. For systematic testing on a large scale for the majority of modern software products a formal process is more of a necessity than a luxury. It may be determined and followed to assure effective test implementation, bug handling and resolution, and the general test process management.
Test Case Preparation
A lot of people generally associate this with test preparation. It comprises creating new test cases or generating them automatically, selecting from existing ones for legacy products, and organizing them in some systematic ways for easy implementation and management. Such test cases need to be constructed, generated or selected based on formal testing techniques.