Software testing has no meaning without a test strategy. The testing approach that a tester will follow while the software is being developed is called a test strategy. Test strategy is not developed only for testers. It is required in order to notify the development team how the testing would proceed while they are working on the software. The test strategy would define the objective, testing methodologies that would be incorporated in the project, the time frame in which testing would be completed etc. all testing companies and IT companies across the world encourage the practice of defining the test strategy before proceeding with actual testing. Test strategy makes testing easy.

The course of test strategy depends on the design documents that provide the detail regarding the functionality of the software. Based o the design documents the test strategy must define how unit, integration and system testing must be carried out. Some IT companies ask the developers to conduct unit testing and the testers are asked to focus on integration and system testing. The test strategy would then describe the roles and responsibilities of the testing team. Right from the project manager to the individual tester the role of every testing team member would be clearly defined. Developers and test leaders must review the test strategy ensure that the strategy would work fine.  The QA or quality assurance department may inspect the project and see if the testing jobs are proceeding as per the defined test strategy.

The test strategy must define the environment required for carrying out testing related work. This includes the details of the OS and other prerequisites for carrying out testing. The document must describe the what kind of testing approach would be followed i.e,  whether any automated software testing tools will be used or only manual testing will be implied.

 The document must state the possible risk factors that can slow down the testing process. In this way the entire team can take some measure to ensure that the risk mentioned can be eliminated and testing can be carried out as per the schedule. Coming to the testing schedule, this section must define how long it would take for the testing activities to get over. The software testing schedule depends on many factors. The developer and testers will have to work in coordination with each other in order to get the task completed. When a tester finds a bug, s/he would report it immediately to the developer who will have to quickly fix it and send it back to the tester. In this process the delay from the developer in fixing the bug or tester’s inability to report the bug clearly can affect the testing schedule. A tester has to perform in depth testing without missing any part. The test schedule is created keeping in mind the size of the project and the number of testers available for the job.

The test strategy must define what kind of regression test approach will be followed and it must define the testing priorities. The testing team will have to report the testing status on daily or weekly basis and give an idea about how much work has been completed. The data related to how the testing was performed and what results were achieved should be well recorded and all team members must have access to it. Generally a testing related folder is created at a centralized location and all the team members can view the documents from there.

For all IT companies and testing companies defining a test strategy before proceeding with software testing is a good QA practice. Those who want to make a career in the field of software testing in Ireland or want to provide software testing services in Ireland must understand the importance of test strategy in order to excel in their field. There is a great demand for software testing geniuses in various IT companies and most software recruitment agencies are on lookout for such professionals.