Introduction:

Test documentation’s role in the testing process can be enhanced with the use of testing checklists. These are simple to create and very effective.

Requirements:

Documentation tools, such as a text or spreadsheet editor

Procedure:

Early in the testing process, tests can be planned, systems can be understood, and tasks can be simplified with testing checklists. These are quick to create, customizable, reusable, and valuable when sharing test information with other team members.

One useful feature of testing checklists, is in how they can capture quality or test criteria, and system components. Their format is open-ended and can be tailored, but a scope should be considered for the checklist. This could be a single feature of the system, for instance.

When the part of the system under test is determined, the tester can begin with decomposition. This is the process of breaking a system down into its subcomponents. The system as a whole could be the root “node” and each of its inner components would be the sub components that branch off of it. In a spreadsheet, this could be easily captured. Depending on the level of detail the tester wishes to include in the checklist, the tester could also relate quality criteria to each component, or test item. These are the testing requirements for each component to be tested.

Along with the test items and test requirements, the checklist must also include some way to make sure the items are “checked off.”

Two sections at a minimum are necessary, but can be named or formatted as desired:

Item                                                   Result
COMPONENT_NAME
SUBCOMPONENT_NAME
QUALITY_CRITERIA
QUALITY_CRITERIA
QUALITY_CRITERIA
SUBCOMPONENT2_NAME
QUALITY_CRITERIA
QUALITY_CRITERIA
QUALITY_CRITERIA

and so on…

After test executions, the Result should be marked, such as with PASS or FAIL.