Test Plan

Having a well designed test plan is the key of achieving best quality for an application. The components of a good test plan are:-
1. Introduction and PurposeThis describes the purpose of the document, including a brief summary of the application to be tested and the types of testing that would be performed on the Depending on the complexity of the application separate test plans may be needed for functionality, performance, security and\or localization testing

2. Goals of Testing
This describes what the testing hopes to achieve including any certification criteria that needs to be performed prior to testing sign off.

3. Test Environment.
The different configurations (Operating Systems, Browsers, Languages, Databases) on which the product\application needs to be tested.

4. Staffing Requirements
The number of Quality Testing professionals needed to complete the testing task.

5. Dependencies , Assumptions and Limitations
Any dependencies like integration tool, use of third party software should be clearly states. Any limitations of the testing results should also be documented in this section

6. Risks
This section describes any risks to testing along with their impact and any responses in place to mitigate the risk.

7. Test Deliverables
This includes the test deliverables more important in external testing. These usually include test cases, results of test execution, test logs, screenshots etc

8. Testing\Defect Tracking Tools
A description of tools that would be used. These include test management tools, version control tools, test automation tools as well as tools used for defect tracking.