The test planning stage involves identifying standards and protocols for test procedure creation, hardware and software requirements for the test environment, test data needs, a preliminary test schedule, and defect tracking procedures. The test plan will outline roles and responsibilities, the test project schedule, planning and design activities, test environment setup, risks and issues, and the required level of thoroughness. Test design addresses defining the number and types of tests, test paths and functions, and required test conditions. Test requirements must be clearly defined and documented before test design so that the basis for test efforts is understood. During test planning, the test team estimates the number and types of test techniques and procedures needed.

1. Software Test Planning and Design
Test Planning
The test planning stage signifies the necessity to evaluate long-lead-time test planning
activities. During this stage, the test group identifies test procedure creation standards and
protocols; hardware, software, and network required to aid test environment; test data
requirements; a preliminary test schedule; performance quantify requirements; a method to
control test configuration and setting; as well as defect-tracking procedure(s) and associated
tracking tool(s).
The test plan comprises the results of each preliminary phase of the prearranged test
methodology. The test plan will portray roles and responsibilities, project test agenda, test
planning and design activities, test environment research, test risks and incidents, and
acceptable level of thoroughness .Test plan addendum may include test procedures, naming
principles, test procedure format standards, and a test procedure traceability environment.
The test environment setup is division of test planning. It represents the requirement to plan,
track, and manage test environment setup activities, where material acquisition may have long
lead times. The test team needs to list and trail environment setup activities; install test setting
hardware, software, and network resources; integrate and install test environment resources;
obtain/refine test databases; and build up environment setup scripts and test bed scripts.
Test Design
The test design component addresses the need to describe the number of tests to be executed,
the ways that testing will be approached (paths, functions), and the test conditions that need to
be implemented. Test design standards need to be distinct and pursued.

2. An effective test program, incorporating the automation of software testing, engages a mini-
development lifecycle of its own, absolute with strategy and goal scheduling, test requirement
definition, analysis, design, and development. Analogous to software development, test
requirements must be specified before test design is constructed. Test requirements need to be
evidently defined and documented, so that all project team will understand the basis of the test
efforts. Test requirements are defined within requirement statements as a result of test
requirement analysis.
After test requirements have been resulting using the described techniques, test procedure
design can start. Test procedure design comprises of the definition of logical groups of test
procedures and a naming convention for the suite of test procedure. With a test procedure
definition ready, each test procedure is then identified as either an automated or a manual test.
During the test planning stage, the test team gets a perception of the number of test
techniques being engaged and an approximation for the number of test procedures that will be
required. The test team also will have a ballpark figure of the number of test procedures that
will need to be achieved manually, as well as with an automated test tool.