The importance of software testing cannot be stressed enough. A 2017 study found that software failures cost the U.S. economy more than 268 years in downtime (equivalent to $1.7 trillion financial losses). And without proper testing planning and documentation those repercussions will only become more and more serious.
A solid MS Dynamics 365 testing plan is a core element of the testing cycle. The outcome of the testing phase is determined mainly by the quality and scope of the planning. What does a testing plan involve, how to plan testing activities and where to look for testing plan resources? We are here to answer all your burning questions.
Our testing plan for software such as Dynamics 365 comprises 4 stages of testing activities:
What does a testing plan mean?
A testing plan is an indispensable document that test managers and test leaders should encourage their testing teams to create. Broadly speaking, it is a project plan for any testing work that is required. It is not – as it is sometimes incorrectly defined – a collection of test cases. Rather, it is a mandatory part of a software testing business plan and as such is it also one of the test derivables that is prepared during the wider process of software testing. A testing plan should also be considered as a so-called “subproject” of a build, an upgrade project or system maintenance (e.g. of an ERP environment). It is also a crucial part of ALM (Application Lifecycle Management systems) and RM (Requirements Management systems ). A testing plan describes and includes all the details and circumstances for conducting and documenting your software tests. What should you include in the test plan? The scope of testing is definitely one thing. The other is what the test environment will consist in, what the test items are and what the pass criteria will be.
Dynamics 365 testing strategy vs test plan – how to test complex ERP systems
For larger projects, it is common to prepare a master test plan, also called as software test plan or a testing strategy. Its purpose is to provide an overall testing plan as well as testing plan documents for multi-layered testing for one project or several projects. With ERP systems such as Microsoft Dynamics 365 FCSM that have matured and are utilised to deliver large and complicated projects, a thorough testing plan guide is extremely helpful when it comes to reducing the complexity and increasing the quality of testing. It includes specific testing plan standards and testing plan methods. XPLUS has developed a unique approach to testing such software due to our extensive experience in implementation projects and maintenance of our Clients’ systems. During each project, we prepare and execute a detailed functional testing plan for the integrated system as well as we develop a (non-functional) performance testing plan and approach. Our testing scope also includes tests that validate and verify the quality of migrated data.Testing plan objective – make it about quality
Proper planning and testing plan design is a crucial element of quality control when it comes to successful ERP deployment methodology. Our testing strategy aims at mitigating product risks both in terms of functional and non-functional system requirements. We:-
- Verify the correctness of system operations end -to-end
- Focus on automation, thus increasing the effectiveness of the testing itself
Our testing plan for software such as Dynamics 365 comprises 4 stages of testing activities:
- Test definition: based on your business requirements and the specificity of your operations, together we establish the scope of testing and testing plan goal
- Test planning: based on our customer diagnosis, we determine our approach to testing, we schedule tests and select specific test techniques
- Test analysis and design: we prepare the data for the test execution and create and develop automated test scenarios
- Test execution and reporting: we run tests based on the prepared scenarios and record their results/ pass them onto stakeholders
What you gain from a testing automation plan
Our testing strategy will secure not only your system functionality and performance but also your business continuity in the long run. Changing MS Dynamics 365 application versions demand constant test maintenance and with an automated testing tool allowing repeatability and reusability, you save resources wasted otherwise on creating new scripts anew. Thanks to our testing strategy, you make sure that necessary quality controls are in place and whether custom business rules stay the same or require changing. Our robust end-to-end testing strategy prevents any testing issues that might come up and ensures a smooth and continuous validation of updates, maintenance upgrades and new version releases for your Dynamics 365. A test plan in automation testing enhances its effectiveness and gives business users confidence into the reliability and stability of their deployed software while minimizing the risk of potential risk of system failures and disruptions. More details on our testing methodology are covered in our e-book:ebook.xplusglobal.com/d365-testing where you will find:- A discussion on why testing is crucial for any complex ERP systems
- An insight into our test design and analysis
- A detailed description of testing plan activities.
