Common Testing Terms

Testing is not a new process; we needn't reinvent the wheel of testing methodology, and we can leverage some of the standards work promulgated by the IEEE and other industry groups. So, for purposes of common understanding, we'll summarize some of these definitions here.

• A test plan contains information about the purpose and goals of testing within the project. Additionally, the test plan identifies the strategies to be used to implement and execute testing and the resources needed.

• A test case is a set of test inputs, execution conditions, and expected results developed for a particular objective, such as to exercise a particular program path or to verify compliance with a specific requirement.

• A test procedure is a set of detailed instructions for the setup, execution, and evaluation of results for a given test case.

• A test script is a software script that automates the execution of a test procedure (or a portion of a test procedure).

• Test coverage defines the degree to which a given test or set of tests addresses all specified test cases for a given system or component.

• A test item is a build that is an object of testing.

• Test results are a repository of data captured during the execution of a test used in calculating the different key measures of testing.