Certified Tester Advanced Level Syllabus-Test Analyst Qualifications Board .Determine in which test areas low-evel (concrete)or high-level (logical)test cases are most appropriate Determine the test case design technique(s)that provide the necessary test coverage Create test cases that exercise the identified test conditions Prioritization criteria identified during risk analysis and test planning should be applied throughout the process,from analysis and design to implementation and execution. Depending on the types of tests being designed,one of the entry criteria for test design may be the availability of tools that will be used during the design work When designing tests,it is important to re mber the following Some test items are better addressed by defining furthe er into d scrpted tests e fo as a e other testers.not just the author.If the author is not the e test.other testers will need to read and understand ne test objectives and the relative Tests must also be understandable by other stakeholders such as developers.who will review the tests,and auditors,who may have to approve the tests s er a s of e so s tha igh the with th 8eonieeend nter-process communicatio ns.batch execution and other interrupts also interact with the software and can contain defects so the Test Analyst must design tests to mitigate these risks. Tests should be designed to test the intenaces een the various test objects 1.5.1 Concrete and Logical Test Cases One of the jobs of the Test Analyst is to determine the best types of test cases for a given situation. es all the specific information and dures the tester to whe external verification of the tests,such as aud ts,is required Concrete test cases provide nd tew mit tester inge o require a ount of ma orovide bett an concre use they will var t each time they are executed. This also l to a loss in reproducibility. test c s are bes t used when the ithboth nd the duct and al dits will be conducted) Logical test cases may be defined early in the requirements process when the equire ments are no yet w e te m ay o e used to e op concret sequentially.flowing from logical to concrete with only the concrete test cases used for execution. 1.5.2 Creation of Test Cases andor the test n Version 2012 Page 13 of 64 19 October 2012 tional Software Testing Board Certified Tester Advanced Level Syllabus - Test Analyst International Software Testing Qualifications Board Version 2012 Page 13 of 64 19 October 2012 © International Software Testing Qualifications Board Determine in which test areas low-level (concrete) or high-level (logical) test cases are most appropriate Determine the test case design technique(s) that provide the necessary test coverage Create test cases that exercise the identified test conditions Prioritization criteria identified during risk analysis and test planning should be applied throughout the process, from analysis and design to implementation and execution. Depending on the types of tests being designed, one of the entry criteria for test design may be the availability of tools that will be used during the design work. When designing tests, it is important to remember the following: Some test items are better addressed by defining only the test conditions rather than going further into defining scripted tests. In this case, the test conditions should be defined to be used as a guide for the unscripted testing. The pass/fail criteria should be clearly identified. Tests should be designed to be understandable by other testers, not just the author. If the author is not the person who executes the test, other testers will need to read and understand previously specified tests in order to understand the test objectives and the relative importance of the test. Tests must also be understandable by other stakeholders such as developers, who will review the tests, and auditors, who may have to approve the tests. Tests should be designed to cover all the interactions of the software with the actors (e.g., end users, other systems), not just the interactions that occur through the user-visible interface. Inter-process communications, batch execution and other interrupts also interact with the software and can contain defects so the Test Analyst must design tests to mitigate these risks. Tests should be designed to test the interfaces between the various test objects. 1.5.1 Concrete and Logical Test Cases One of the jobs of the Test Analyst is to determine the best types of test cases for a given situation. Concrete test cases provide all the specific information and procedures needed for the tester to execute the test case (including any data requirements) and verify the results. Concrete test cases are useful when the requirements are well-defined, when the testing staff is less experienced and when external verification of the tests, such as audits, is required. Concrete test cases provide excellent reproducibility (i.e., another tester will get the same results), but may also require a significant amount of maintenance effort and tend to limit tester ingenuity during execution. Logical test cases provide guidelines for what should be tested, but allow the Test Analyst to vary the actual data or even the procedure that is followed when executing the test. Logical test cases may provide better coverage than concrete test cases because they will vary somewhat each time they are executed. This also leads to a loss in reproducibility. Logical test cases are best used when the requirements are not well-defined, when the Test Analyst who will be executing the test is experienced with both testing and the product, and when formal documentation is not required (e.g., no audits will be conducted). Logical test cases may be defined early in the requirements process when the requirements are not yet well-defined. These test cases may be used to develop concrete test cases when the requirements become more defined and stable. In this case, the test case creation is done sequentially, flowing from logical to concrete with only the concrete test cases used for execution. 1.5.2 Creation of Test Cases Test cases are designed by the stepwise elaboration and refinement of the identified test conditions using test design techniques (see Chapter 3) identified in the test strategy and/or the test plan. The