Creating Test Plans and Linking Features

After QA identifies the features for a release, QA can begin revising existing test plans or developing new plans to exercise new product functionality. QA tracks test plan development in Release Manager. The test plan available as an attachment to the test plan record. Parties such as product marketers who are associated with the development of the test plan are linked to the record, they can record their approvals.

For each test plan, QA logs the portion completed and the target completion dates so that potential issues are addressed before they are critical. The QA manager determines whether they must run a test plan to validate 1 or more test strategies, and if so, then specifies those strategies.

To create a test plan and link features

1. Navigate to the Release screen, then the Test Plan Administration view.

2. Create a new test plan record, and complete the fields as appropriate.

   Some fields are described in the following table.

   Field	Comments
   Target Date	Select the expected date of the test plan completion.
   QA Owner	Select the employee who performs the testing.
   Release	Select the name or number of the product release associated with the test plan.
   Suggested Strategies	Select the test strategies to apply to the test plan. Available selections come from test strategy records that the administrator enters in the Strategy Administration view. For more information, see Creating Test Strategies.
   Test Set	Select the grouping of tests for the test. Groupings might reflect, for example, the parts of the product that apply to multiple tests.
   Special Tag	Select the tags that your company defines for convenience in grouping or querying tests. You can specify multiple tags. For more information about defining special tags, see Setting Up Lists of Values.
   Tag Summary	Displays all of the tags that you select in the Special Tag field. This field is for convenience in querying for the tags in the Special Tag field.
   Related Feature	Select the features to associate with the test plan.
   Product Line	Displays the product line. The values in the Area and Subarea fields determine this field value.
   Complete %	Type the percentage of the test plan that is completed to date.
   Test Plan Owner	Select the individuals associated with the test plan. Set the author of the test plan as Primary.
   Automated	Select this check box to indicate the test is automated.
   % Auto	Type the percentage of the test that is automated.
   % Auto Platforms	Type the percentage of platforms that is automated for the test.
   % Auto Horizontal	Type the percentage of the cross-industry version of the product that is automated for the test.
   % Auto-International	Type the percentage of the international version of the product that is automated for the test.
   Tools	Select the software used to automate the test.
   Auto Complete Date	Select the date the automated test is completed.

   An activity plan originates from a predefined activity template. An activity template contains multiple predefined activities to associate with a release item. Users can use activity templates instead of manually entering each activity, and activity templates help to standardize activities for QA teams.

To add an activity plan to a test plan

1. Navigate to the Release screen, then the QA Test Plans view.

2. Drill down on the Test Plan number (#) field for a selected a test plan, and click the Activity Plans view tab.

3. Create a new activity plan record, and complete the fields as appropriate.

   When you associate the activity plan with the test plan, all the activities in the activity plan are associated with the test plan and appear in the Activities view.