QA Tool: QA Test Plan WBS

Applying Project Management fundamentals to Quality Assurance

Hey all,

I was responding to a comment posted on LinkedIn when I found myself writing up a neat little work breakdown structure for writing up a test plan .. thought I'd share:

1.0 - Objective

   1.1 - Define testing agenda and purpose of document
           1.1.1 - Get Project Charter
           1.1.2 - Get S.O.W

2.0 - Testing Scope

   2.1 - Establish what is to be tested
          2.1.1 - Get Testing Requirements from PM / Devs
          2.1.2 - Get Testing Bounds (what won't be tested / out of scope)

   2.2 - Determine level of effort for test tasks
           2.2.1 - Test Types and Duration
           2.2.2 - Test Task Dependencies & Schedule (when to start a new cycle)

3.0 - Personnel

   3.1 - Who are the Client and Stakeholders involved
           3.1.1 - Get names from PM

   3.2 - Who are the other members on the team (PM / Devs / BA / QA / etc.)
           3.2.1 - Have Kick-off Meeting
           3.2.2 - Get Names, Roles & Responsibilities

4.0 - Hardware / Software

    4.1 - What Hardware will be used
            4.1.1 - Meet w. PM / Devs
            4.1.2 - Get hardware assessment from PM / Devs

    4.2 - What Software will be used from BRD
            4.2.1 - Meet with PM / BA / Devs
            4.2.2 - Get software requirements in use from BRD

    4.3 - What additional resources will be employed
            4.3.1 - What is normally in use

5.0 - Risk

    5.1 - Establish risk matrix from features-in-test
            5.1.1 - Meet with PM / BA / Devs
            5.1.2 - Get Risk Analysis from BRD

6.0 - Entrance / Exit Criteria

     6.1 - Determine when testing is to begin
            6.1.1 - Meet with PM / Devs / QA Team
            6.1.2 - Get Release schedules / Test Cycle schedules

     6.2 - Establish when testing is finished
            6.2.1 - Establish sweep-completion ETA

7.0 - Glossary

      7.1 - Write up all terms, acronyms, and defined language in use
             7.1.1 - Meet w. QA Team
             7.1.2 - Draft list of terms and definitions (including CTAs, navigation end-points)

8.0 - Appendix

       8.1 - Copy of BRD
       8.2 - Copy of Functional Specs
       8.3 - Copy of Wireframes (if any)
       8.4 - Test Cases**

9.0 - Approval

      9.1 - Sign-off by all parties involved

** I usually bake my Test Cases into the test plan as punchlist