Ideal Test Case Format

          Designing a Test Case Format was among the first tasks given to me when I joined my first job as a Quality Analyst. I searched the internet and found many ready-made formats. But as I have said in my previous post that test case format varies from company to company depending on the type of solution they offer and also on their development process models, etc. Because of these reasons, I was not able to get a format which suits my company. So I decided to make a new format. It was a heck of a job but at last I was able to make a format which suits my company and its development process.

          Anyways, that’s a different story, but all these stuff inspired me to create an Ideal Test Case Format & upload it on my blog. The sole reason to do so is that it will/may help the new comers in the Quality Assurance/Control field if in case they face the same situation as me.

IDEAL TEST CASE FORMAT

TC ID :	Date :
Project Name :	Module Name:
Author :	Tester :
Objective :
Pre-Requisite :
Steps :
Input Data :
Expected Results :
Actual Results :
Status :
Bug ID :
Remarks :

This format can also be converted & managed in Excel format. Lets discuss the fields in brief:

TC ID :- The unique test case id

Date   :- Date of creating test case      

Project Name  :- Name of the project

Module Name  :- Name of the module to be tested

Author  :- Name of the person who created the test case

Tester   :- Name of the person who tested

Objective  :- The objective of the test case (for eg. Verifying & validating the login page)

Pre-Requisite  :- The pre-satisfied condition for the test case to be executed

Steps  :- Steps to be taken to execute the test case

Input Data  :- The data input valued for the test case

Expected Results  :- The expected results

Actual Results  :- The actual results achieved

Status  :- Pass/Fail

Bug ID  :- Bug Id (Is the test case failed)

Remarks  :- Remarks (if any)

I hope it will help the one who are new to the Quality Assurance/Control Field.

Importance of Test Cases

Test Cases are considered as one of the most important part of software testing. It is used by the quality team, development team as well as middle management executives. So why are they so much important? Or the question should be what makes Test cases so much important in the whole Testing/Quality Control/Quality Assurance process.

Test Cases: What are they anyways..??

If we look at the Quality point of view, then Test Cases are the conditions through which one assures that the product tested is up to the mark & ready to go live or not.

If we look at the tester’s point of view, Test Cases provide the condition through which he/she Validates & Verifies a particular functionality or feature of the system.

In general we can say that a test case tells us what need to be done to test a system. It gives us the steps which we executes in a system, the input data values which we enter in the system, it also gives us the expected results which should come when we execute a particular test case.  

Ideal Test Case Format

            One should be very careful while designing a test case format. Different companies design test case format in their own way which suits them. But what is an ideal format for a test case. Let’s have a look

·         Test Case ID

·         Project Name

·         Module Name

·         Pre Requisite

·         Steps

·         Input Data Values

·         Expected Results

·         Actual Results (according to OS & Browser’s)

·         Status

·         Bug ID (If Bug found)

·         Remarks

The above listed points are essential for any good test case format. One can add or delete the points as per the requirements.

Importance of Test Cases

            Test cases organize the whole testing process. If the test cases are prepared keeping in mind the requirements of a particular system then they really helps a lot in checking whether the requirements are fulfilled or not. While doing ad hoc testing, one may neglect or skip a functionality or a bug which will definitely be caught when the system or site will be live or when it will be tested from the client’s end and it is going to affect the company’s credibility.

            We have heard from Big Brains that no software is bug free. But care should be taken so that all the possible bugs should be eliminated from the system before it goes live. Test cases helps a lot in this. With the help of proper test cases, a Quality Assurance/Control Executive should make sure that the system’s features & functionalities should be working fine and are bug free.