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.