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 Senior Test Automation Engineers

3 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.