Among the most important documents of any web site testing, desktop testing and mobile application testing are the test plan and test strategy. Different institutions use different approaches to them and represent them differently.
Often a test strategy is presented as a part of the test plan; sometimes a test strategy is a separate document. One should keep in mind that these documents concentrate on different issues and have different scopes.
A Test Plan Specifies:
- coverage of functional testing, usability testing, security testing and other testing types;
- functions and elements of the software product that are to be checked;
- functions and elements of the software product that are not included in the testing process;
- evaluation of the testing process and its parts;
- the project budget and time constraints;
- resources allocated for the software testing.
One Describes in a Test Strategy:
- the test environment;
- the project risks analysis;
- tools for automated testing and other purposes that will used;
- contingency plan.
In general, a test plan sets goals of the testing process, it defines what is to be verified, and a test strategy describes how to achieve goals set in the test plan. Both these documents should be thoroughly prepared.