Through test case management, your team can test software development activities. This way, they can ensure that software products are functional, offering value and quality. But test case management is not exactly a piece of cake, mainly because you need to spend time planning it carefully before execution. After that, you must ensure its execution goes smoothly.
So, you might find that this task is quite daunting – especially if you’ve never done this before. Worry not because this article will serve as your guide on the best practices you can use.
The Phases of Test Case Management
The test case management process will involve different phases, respectively:
1. Test Planning – During the test planning stage, you are trying to find out what needs to be tested, where to test it, when to test it, and why you need to test it in the first place. You will organize the application that needs to be tested into different test cases and documents and determine the hardware and software configurations that are required.
2. Test Authoring – Next, you will document the different steps that are part of the test performance. Basically, this stage will describe how a product will be tested.
3. Executing the Test – Text execution will involve putting the text script into a test set. The testing will begin.
4. Test Reporting – During this phase, the project testing status and the system or application quality will be tested to determine its status. Then, the results get communicated and analyzed.
Best Practices for Test Case Management
Here are a few practices that will help you if you want to improve the process:
1. Start Early
Don’t leave the testing for the last stages. This would only lead to issues, such as client mistrust due to time delays. Instead, you should consider performing continuous tests, as this ensures that you can identify issues and fix them along the way. This will help you save money and time.
2. Do a Test Case Review
One thing to note is that you should review test cases before execution. This way, you can make sure that these cases are relevant, accurate, and clear. Check whether the test cases meet your requirements and specifications and if they cover the scenarios and outcomes expected.
3. Document Everything
Another important step is documenting everything. Test evidence and results should be reported and logged properly. Collect logs, videos, reports, screenshots, as well as the ID, name, description, outcome, date, duration, defects, status, and other aspects of the test case.
4. Use Test Management Tools
If you want to save time, then you can use test case management tools that can quickly streamline the testing process. Do your research and find a program that can make the entire testing process more pleasant and effective.
5. Automate Tests
You should also consider automating test cases as this helps save time and money. Human involvement will be reduced, ensuring that certain tests will not be at risk of errors.
6. Collaborate with Different Teams
Collaborating with other teams within your company can improve the testing management process. Members of the teams can come up with their own expertise, leading to more favorable results in terms of identifying and solving solutions and not only.
Final Thoughts
By implementing just a few practices, you can improve your test case management process. It’s important to pay attention to the different phases of the process, document everything, automate the tests as much as possible and make use of reliable test management tools.
