One day Mickey was playing at the beach when Minnie came running to him
Minnie – Hi Mickey!
Mickey – Hey Minnie, what happened
Minnie – I need to talk to you. Do you know how to create an Automation Test Plan
Mickey – Yes I know
Minnie – Can you teach me. I need to create one for my project
Mickey – Sure Minnie. Before that do you want to play in the sea
Minnie – Do not have time for that. Tell me now
Mickey – Okay then let’s take a walk along the sea
Minnie – Sure
Mickey – Okay, first thing do you know what is an Automation Test Plan
Minnie – Yes, it’s a document that has the plan of Automation Testing for a project
Mickey – Yes, do you know why we need it and what are the contents
Minnie – No
Mickey – Okay then let’s start with basics
Minnie – Yeah
Mickey – So Minnie we do planning for any activity or project. Do you remember last time when you went for a vacation
Minnie – Yeah I went to Paris. It was awesome
Mickey – Okay so tell me what all preparations did you do
Minnie – Well! I selected a date and duration as per my availability, then I looked for flights and booked the best option available. I checked for hotels and accommodation. I also checked the weather conditions and did packing accordingly. I made sure I have everything that I needed for a happy vacation. I, in fact, found the eating places where I would get my favorite food. So you see it was all planned
Mickey – Exactly, so you did planning so that you have a happy and successful vacation, without any problems or unwanted situations coming up
Minnie – Yes! Exactly
Mickey – For any activity we need to create a plan, i.e. a document that outlines and gives information about the details, requirements, resources, schedule, identification of risks, ways of risk mitigation, etc.
Minnie – Oh great, we do planning for everything
Mickey – Yes! So for a Test Automation Project as well we have to do the planning and list out all possible things for the success of a project
Minnie – So this explains What and Why
Mickey – Yes, Now let’s move to When and How
Minnie – Before we do, what is the difference between a manual test plan and automation test plan
Mickey – Great question! So we need test planning for both manual testing and automation testing
Minnie – Yes
Mickey – However, the needs, scope, requirements can differ in both of these projects
Now most of the contents in both the plans are common, but there are few differences like in Automation Test Plan there are sections on Automation Tools, frameworks, tool-specific training, integrations, etc that you may not find in Manual Test Plan
Minnie – Got it
Mickey – Let me first explain the contents of an Automation Test Plan
Minnie – Great
Mickey – So here are the general contents of an Automation Test Plan
- Scope
- Strategy
- Schedule
- Resources
- Roles and responsibilities
- Tools/Frameworks
- Environment
- Test Data
- Deliverables
- Risks and mitigation plan
- Result and Reporting
Minnie – Great, so is this the fixed contents of an Automation Test Plan
Mickey – Most of these are standard contents of a Test Plan, but you can add or modify as per your project needs
Minnie – Great. So shall we understand all of these in a bit more detail
Mickey – Sure Minnie, do you like to have a lemonade before that
Minnie – Yes that would be refreshing
Mickey – Okay so here we go
Scope
Defines the coverage
Defines the test cases or scenarios to be included
Can also include the reasons for test identification
.
Strategy
Define how do you plan to achieve the final goal
(There can be a separate strategy document if required)
Type of testing approach and framework strategies
Description of locations, repositories for tests
.
Schedule
Describe the time and duration of all the activities involved
Planning, preparation, development of the framework, execution, etc
Be practical and realistic
.
Resources
Include the need for people and team’s capability
This is to select the best team that can deliver the project as per the needs and schedule
.
Roles and responsibilities
Who will do what
Here we define the roles and duties for the team, it may be by the person’s name or by the designation and title
This helps to create clear roles and responsibilities
.
Tools/Frameworks
An important section of the Automation Test Plan
Define the tools and frameworks to be used
This can be a result of prior analysis and studies
In case there needs to be an analysis done to include that as well
This is what we do – How to select the right tools for automation
.
Environment
Automation is usually performed on a separate env
Or sometimes the QA env is leveraged at night time for Automation
Needs and details of the environment with configuration to be laid out
It will also list if any specific tools or apps need to be set up for Automation
.
Test Data
This is important for Automation Testing
Source of data
Can data be generated by automation
Is a Database Refresh required for automation
.
Deliverables
Deliverables can be complete and working test scripts
The final report with pass/fail and defects
Based on requirements this can have more or fewer items
.
Risks and mitigation plan
List out what can be the risks in achieving this plan
E.g. Environment not ready at a specific time
Team member going on leave etc
Also, provide the solutions or actions to minimize this (risk mitigation)
.
Result and Reporting
List out the format or reporting
How often will the reports be generated and shared with stakeholders
What all sections to be included in reports
.
.
Minnie -Wow! That is too much information
Mickey – So you see this is basically a complete plan on how the Automation Testing will be planned and executed. Now do you see the importance of this
Minnie – Yes, but tell me more
Mickey – This makes a lot of things clear and everyone in the team will be on the same page.
Minnie – I see
Mickey – Also before finalizing, this plan can be discussed multiple times within the team so that everyone is clear and they can provide their inputs and make this plan more accurate and efficient
Minnie – Exactly
Mickey – This plan can also be shared with stakeholders within the project, so they also know what to expect and can discuss their queries and inputs
Minnie – And this will make a lot of things so smooth and avoid any confusions inter-team and intra-team and also save a lot of time
Mickey – Exactly, this is what plans are for. Remember your vacation plan
Minnie – Yeah, I can now relate this
Mickey – So now the last thing When this plan is to be created
Minnie – yeah
Mickey – Usually all the planning is done at the start of the project. In fact, all the teams do their planning and create their plan documentation. Now, this also depends on the organization and requirements.
Sometimes planning for automation starts along with dev planning. In other scenarios, it can be done when the development phase is in progress.
But in any case, before the start of the QA phase Automation Test plan should be created, discussed, updated, and finalized
Minnie – Do we have some standard template
Mickey – here is a template from IEEE
Minnie – This has many sections
Mickey – This is a standard template for a general test plan, you can customize as per your needs. In general, the sections we discussed are important for an Automation Test Plan
Minnie – That makes a lot of sense Mickey and now I feel so good
Mickey – Great to know. Do you want to play in the sea now
Minnie – No, I just want to sit with you and watch the sunset
Mickey – Sure, I am always here for you 🙂
