Effective test management is a critical part of developing high quality software and hardware products. Through well-planned and well-managed testing processes, teams can ensure that they are producing the best products possible, while making the most of their limited resources. The need to manage increasingly complex software products has resulted in the need for smart test management practices across every project. As complexity increases, and as teams become more widely distributed across different geographical locations, an effective test management process is key to project success.
Why do we need management test ?
An effective test management process should lead to one common goal: to ship high quality products that meet customer needs. To achieve this goal, it.s essential that teams work within a proven process framework. Competition among software suppliers to develop the best products in the shortest amount of time is leading to an increasing need for highly developed test management processes. As test teams work with development teams to ship finished products within tighter deadlines, the test management process has become the focus of attention. Ultimately, with the right focus, effective test management processes will not only increase customer satisfaction, but will lead to smoother and more consistent projects.
To this end you will find below an introduction to the aspects and concepts associated with implementing an effective test management process.
Test management activities
Effective test management is broken down into several phases, including planning, creation, execution and tracking.
Test Planning: The planning stage involves developing the overall direction and purpose of the test phase, including the specifics of why, when and where to test. Tests are created when there is a test motivator present, such as a specific requirement that must be validated. What needs to be tested is broken down into multiple test cases, while the question of where to test is usually determined by documenting the required software and hardware configurations. Once these details have been finalized, the determination of when to test is made by tracking the test iterations, cycles or time period.