This tutorial covers area 3 & 4 of the Certified Software Test Professional requirements. This tutorial also counts as an elective towards the requirements of the Certified Test Manager (CTM) certification.

For cost and cities where this course might be offered, check our Public Training Schedule.To bring this course to your test team at your location, contact our Education and Professionals Services Group.

This two day seminar covers the entire testing process including test planning, test design and test execution as well as the related management topics of scheduling, risk management, tracking, reporting, and test process improvement.
The course also addresses the adaptations that the test process will need to make to mesh with the development process being used by your organization. For example if the development team is using an agile process, it will not work for the testers to try to follow a waterfall test process.
We will also look at the traditional issues and inefficiencies that arise during traditional approaches to defect tracking and suggest improvements to the process. The course includes a number of group exercises to reinforce the lecture material.
The approach to planning, sizing, managing and executing the test effort is based on risk. Numerous standard industry models, such as the S curve and Earned Value Management, will be presented as was to help manage the test process.

  • The elements and principles of an effective test process
  • How, Why, and What is needed in an effective test plan
  • Pitfalls and best practices of test planning
  • How to adopt your test planning to an iterative development environment
  • How test execution fits into the overall test process
  • Risk-Based selection techniques for test design
  • How to apply a number of standard test set reduction techniques
  • Trade-offs among the various approaches to test automation
  • Techniques for efficiently tracking bugs and successfully interacting with developers
  • Industry standard models and how to apply them to testing
  • Fundamentals of test process improvement

  • System Test Planning
    • Why plan
    • Who uses the test plan?
    • Useable test plans
    • Basic questions
      • Who
      • What
      • How
      • When
      • Where
      • Why
    • Project timeline
    • Dependencies
    • Structure
    • Test objectives
    • Test schedule
      • Assumptions
      • Granularity
    • Test resources
    • Test Project Risk
    • Test Process and strategy
    • Scope
    • Test tools
    • Policies and procedures
    • IEEE
  • Test Planning for Iterative and incremental projects
    • Incremental model
    • Test first
    • Nano Bugs
    • Process Spectrum
    • Iteration length
    • Iteration planning
    • Agile test scheduling
    • Planning poker
    • Frequent small releases
    • Regression testing
    • Test Automation
    • Common mistakes in test planning
    • Final planning thoughts
  • Models
    • Earned Value Management
    • S Curve
    • V Model
  • Risk based test design
    • Test Process
    • Test Design Techniques
    • Risk Analysis
    • Test Execution Strategies
  • Identifying the most important tests
    • Applying Risk Analysis
    • Test Set Reduction Techniques
  • Regression Testing of Legacy Systems
    • Impact Analysis
    • Incremental Automation
  • Test Execution
    • Monitoring and controlling Test Progress
    • When are we done?
  • Automation Techniques and Tools
    • Capture and Playback
    • Under the Interface
  • Reporting and Tracking Bugs
  • Test Management
  • Reporting and Tracking Bugs
  • Measuring the performance of the test effort
  • Test process improvement and demonstrating the value of testing