Test Automation Project Plan Template Work Breakdown Structure Project Start-Up Phase
Past Project Evaluation
A thorough evaluation of the lessons learned from the previous automation project should be reviewed. From this, a draft for the new Automation Test Strategy may be documented. Scope
Outline the preliminary Scope of the Testing goals and objectives for the next Test Automation project. Sizing
Outline a preliminary Test effort sizing based on the planned scope of automation. Team Composition
Develop an Automation Test Team composition analysis and automation test engineer job descriptions. Recruiting
Conduct Interviews for the planned Automation Test Team composition, and develop team. Early Project Support Phase
Conduct meetings with other teams and stakeholders to determine their automation needs, as well as communicating a realistic expectation of the deliverables. Goals & Objectives
Further define the goals and objectives and review with all stakeholders. Constraint Examination
Review constraints such as short time to delivery and limited resources. Testability Review
Review the problems with the development of the application and tools used to automate the testing, which may impact the testability for automation. Requirements Review
Ensure that the software development requirements for automation testing are documented and published. Test Process Analysis
Analyze the current Test process and determine how the automation testing life cycle will be included. Organization Involvement
Discuss the automation plans with all Test and Development groups, and accept input for targeted Test Cases to automate. Test Automation Planning Phase
Test Requirements
Document all of this in an Automation Test Plan. Automation Test Strategy
Define the Automation Test Process, methodologies, and strategies to be used. Include considerations for the defect management process and script version control. Deliverables
Define the project deliverables after the Test Automation life cycle has completed. Test Program Parameters
Define the test program parameters such as the assumptions, prerequisite activities, system acceptance criteria, and test program risks. This can be included in Automation Test Plan. Training Plans
Document what training will be needed and a proposed schedule for it. Technical Environment
Document the technical environment in which the application under test will be tested by the automation. Automation Tool Compatibility Checks
Document the incompatibilities of the Automation tool with the AUT, as well as the work-around solutions needed. Risk Assessments
Perform risk assessments in support of project management reviews. Test Plan Document
Assemble and package the test planning documentation into a complete Automation Test Plan. Automation Test Data
Document the Test Data required for automation, and plans for developing and maintaining its repository. Automation Test Environment
Identify and document the requirements for an automation test lab for the AUT, and the personnel needed for setting up and maintaining it. Roles and Responsibilities
Define and document the team member’s roles and responsibilities for the automation testing effort. Automation Test System Administration
Define all tools used for automation, and outline the requirements for setting up and maintaining them. Test Automation Design Phase
Prototype automated test environment
Prepare and establish an automation test lab to support the design and development of the automation. Verify its functionality. Automation Techniques and Tools
Identify the testing techniques and strategies of the automation system to be applied to the project. Automation Design Standards
Prepare the Standards and Guidelines to be used for the automation project. Automation Script Planning
Develop a prioritized list and hierarchy of scripts to be developed. Identify what Test Cases cannot be executed with automation. Test Automation Library
Define what scripts can and should be included in a common library for reuse. Automation Development Phase
Automation Script Assignments
Assign the planned scripts to the team. Use MS Project to track the development progress. Script Peer Reviews
Review the design and development of the automation scripts, and ensure they are developed consistent with the established standards and guidelines. Test Tool Improvements
Create a Database for Bugs and enhancements for the automated test scripts. Test Script Configuration Management
Ensure that configuration control is performed for test scripts and test data, as well as a repository backup plan. Automation Integration Phase
Environment Setup
Define a process for setting up an environment for executing the automation test scripts for each new build of the AUT. Test Phase Execution
Execute the automation scripts targeted for each phase of Testing. Automation Test Reporting
Prepare Test reports based on results of script execution. Issue Resolution
Debug Tool/Script issues found during the execution of the automated test scripts. Automation Process Improvement Phase
Tool/Script Evaluation
Evaluate the efficiency, accuracy, and performance of the test automation processes. Lessons Learned Reviews
Conduct a session after each test cycle and gather information to improve the automation process. Maintain a Test Process Repository
Continue to maintain a repository of test process assets, such as standards, procedures, test tool evaluation reports, historical test effort records, lessons learned, test effort metrics and analysis reports. Automation Intranet Site
Develop an Intranet Web site for communication of automation efforts to rest of organization. Continued Training
Participate in test tool user groups, test conferences, and seminars and promote information sharing in the Automation Group. Timeline This work breakdown structure will be dynamically maintained as in MS Project Gantt chart showing the allocation of time to the project phases or iterations. The Project file can be found at \\ansalon\test\automation\test documents.
Major Milestones
The major milestones are illustrated in the MS Project document described in Section 3.7.1.8 above. Implementation Iteration Objectives The automation framework will be implemented in incremental steps. Critical system components will be identified, Prioritized, and scheduled for automation. These application features will be automated in the first stepwise increment. Other features will be implemented in subsequent iterations based on priority. Project Schedule The project schedule is illustrated in the MS Project document described in Section 3.7.1.8 above. Project Resources Staffing Plan
The automation group will require the following staff: 2 3
Senior Test Automation Engineers Test Automation Engineers
Resource Acquisition Plan
The Automation Project will require dedicated hardware resources. They include both test engineer workstations and test automation servers. These resources should be acquired as soon as possible as some scheduled automation tasks are well under way. Training Plan
All test automation engineers will be trained in the Rational Unified Process, in Rational Suite TestStudio and all of its components, in the functional decomposition test automation framework, and the data driven test automation approach. The training vehicles will include in-house seminars, Rational public seminars and conferences such as the Rational User’s Group conference, the International Software Testing Conference, and the STAR conference.
Budget Test automation is not an inexpensive proposition. A substantial investment in Tools, Schedule, and expert tool users is required. Project Monitoring and Control Automation Effort Estimation The estimation process for predicting the time to automate AUT's environmental setup, smoke, and regression testing is broken down on a feature-by-feature basis. The estimates are being developed and placed in an Excel workbook with for each type of automation in separate sheets. Schedule Control Plan The progress of the project will be monitored with the MS Project tool. A weekly Status meeting will be held and the Project Plan Schedule will be updated. If the project begins to slip behind schedule, the Team Lead will take steps to correct the schedule, which may include additional hours, additional personnel, or personnel changes. Budget Control Plan TBD Reporting Plan The Progress of the Automation Project will be reported to the Test Manager at the weekly Test Status Meeting with a Printed copy of the Current Project Schedule. Measurement Plan TBD
Supporting Processes Configuration Management Plan All test automation framework artifacts will be placed under change control using Rational ClearCase LT, which is a component of the TestStudio Suite. In addition, all test baseline information will be under change control. Defect Tracking and Problem Resolution
Once the Automation framework is implemented defects will be entered manually by the test engineers and /or generated automatically from the TestManager Test Logs that are created for each automated test run. Framework Evaluation An annual process improvement review will guide the evolution of the automation framework Framework Documentation Plan The test automation engineers will document the test automation framework as each component is completed and implemented. They will identify each component as to its purpose, its scope, any special features it may contain, any pretest conditions that must be met before test execution, and any post-test clean up that must be completed. Process Improvement The test automation framework will be review at least once per year and recommendation for improvement will be documented and implemented.
