ZenSOFT’s expertise in Functional Manual Testing is predominantly due to its matured Test Processes and experienced resource pool.
We propose the approach shown below for Functional Manual Testing

• Feasibility
• Scope & Sizing
• Planning & Scheduling
• Test Stratedy & Design
• Build & Execute
• Analyze & Report

Feasibility

Objective

• To understand the Business domain and application under test.
• To identify tools required in Functional Testing and check the feasibility and interoperability of these tools with client’s test processes.

Activities

• Build a Knowledge transition plan along with the client to help ZenSOFT understand the domain and application under test.
• A separate team of ZenSOFT Test Engineers to plan and execute a proof of concept for the identified Manual Testing, Test Management and Defect Reporting tools.

Artifacts

• Feasibility Study Report (FSR) is generated that
  1. Clearly outlines the feasibility of the identified tools in the Client’s given environment
  2. Knowledge Transition Plan
  3. Document of Understanding reviewed by Business and signed off.

Scope & Sizing

Objective

• To scope and phase the business needs identified depending on the FSR.
• To arrive at a High Level Effort Estimate using the defined scope to empower the business with critical information like deliverables, costs and timelines.

Activities

• The FSR is reviewed with the stakeholders to define the clear scope of involvement.
• List of identified activities in the FSR will be prioritized and phased as agreed by the stakeholders and ZenSOFT.
• More importantly this would also clearly define what will not be part of the scope of work. This helps in deciding clear boundaries of work.
• Using ZenSOFT’s High Level Effort Estimation technique that helps standardize the process of Effort Estimation and quickly arrive at a high level effort estimate taking into account all standard effort heads like change management, project communication, system / infrastructure dependencies etc.

Artifacts

• Scope Definition document that outlines the scope of work with the defined accountabilities.
• High Level Effort (HLE) Estimate clearly defining the phase wise estimate in man hours.

Planning & Scheduling

Objective

• To clearly outline deliverables, milestones, resource plan and timelines

Activities

• QA/Test Lead will arrive at a detailed plan using the HLE Estimate to arrive at detailed activities with timelines and resource accountabilities.
• The plan will be published to the stakeholders and the team and will be the basis for monitoring progress and reporting status to business.

Artifacts

• Project Plan would capture the following details
  1. Service Objective
  2. Project Overview
  3. Project Scope
  4. Deliverables and Sign Off
  5. Project Specific / Client Templates if any
  6. Technical Standards and Compliance
  7. Effort Estimate
  8. Project Schedule
  9. Project Organization Structure
  10. Team Structure
  11. Resource Plan
  12. Roles and Responsibilities
  13. Quality Measurement Metrics

Test Stratedy & Design

Objective

• The primary objective of this phase is to define the approach taken to test the system under test for its correctness and effectiveness in functionality, usability, compatibility and any other objectives defined in the scope of work.

Activities

• Identify and define the Testing techniques to be used.
• Identify and describe the various cycles of testing needed like Unit, Integration, system, acceptance, Sanity testing etc…
• Define techniques to measure Test Coverage
• Define techniques to gather Test Data
• Define process to establish Test Environment
• Defect Management process would also be clearly defined

Artifacts

• Test Strategy document updated with the above details.

Build & Execute

Objective

• There are two objectives in this phase:

  1. Creating / Writing Test Scenarios and Test Cases
  2. Executing Test Cases and capturing result

Activities

• Referring the Requirements document and Use Cases document the team will define the Test Scenarios and Test Cases
• During this process depending on the strategy for test segmented or round trip test cases will be documented using identified tools.
• These test cases will be captured with pre-requisites, test data and expected results.
• The Test cases will be mapped to Requirement which helps in measuring the test coverage
• The Test cases will be executed and results will be captured against the test cases.

Artifacts

• Test Cases with their results using identified tool
• Test Case to requirement or Use Case mapping

Analyze & Report

Objective

• Main objective of this phase is to analyze the Test Results and reports issues to various entities.

Activities

• Test Engineers would identify failed test cases, analyze the cause of failure and report the defects to the Test Lead.
• Test Lead would verify and validate the defects and their severity to the system under test and report it to the Development Team.

Artifacts

• Detailed Defect Report raising defects to developers
• Dashboard would also contain
  1. Defects per cycle of Execution
  2. Regression Defects Report
  3. Functionality wise Defect Distribution Report
  4. Severity wise Defect Distribution Report
  5. Defect Density Report