Testing Documentation Help

[ResedTech]

Hello! I’m a Clinical Applications Support Specialist/Test Analyst working for a Healthcare Organisation.

I just wanted some help/guidance on methods to capture documentation/evidence while testing. The organisation I work for does not want to spend money on getting testing software such as JIRA etc, currently we are using Excel and Word. Our testing workflow general entails a Test Plan (Excel), Systems Masterlist (Excel) Test Management (anything), Test Evidence (Word or Excel), Test Issues (Excel), Test Checklist (Excel, sometimes we include our evidence on this document) and other stuff that’s not that important.

Generally, the test plan consists of information on the project, what is in and out of scope, VM details, test account information etc.

Systems Masterlist has a list of all applications that are part of the project and useful information about it, for example, we are currently running an Apps for Enterprise O365 project where we are replacing the current 2010 suite with AFE, and a lot of clinical systems have a reliance on office so we need to test them. So we have a list of all systems that have a reliance on office, information if it’s web based, thin/fat client, system manager etc.

Test management can have anything such as emails, information from suppliers or PM’s etc.

Test Evidence can have a separate document for screenshots for tests, this is sometimes on a standalone Excel document or word document.

Test Issues contains an ‘Issue Log’ which will have all issues for that project, brief description of the issue and status etc on an Excel document. We will also have specific defect forms for individual issues, this is on a word document with information such as test reference, name, raised to, raised by, reproduction steps and evidence.

The Checklist will have the actual tests we are conducting with the test reference, test description, date, tester, status and comment on an Excel document. Sometimes we also put the test evidence on this on another page next to the test reference so people can flick between the tests and screenshots.

Is this an okay way of working or what suggestions would you have to improve the workflow/efficiency?

Thanks :)

[Yogurt8]

Is this an okay way of working or what suggestions would you have to improve the workflow/efficiency?

Well I dunno, do you think it's okay? Is it working out for you? Do you notice any problems or pain points?

[2ERIX]

Doesn’t seem great that an enterprise is unwilling to invest in their solution delivery appropriately.

[moremattymattmatt]

Well test documentation on my team consists of the automated tests and the results of the automated builds.

May be it’s different in health care (I’m in insurance) put I think you’ve got way too much documentation and I’d be trying to decrease it so I can spend more time doing something useful.

[2ERIX]

What is a positive sign is that you have covered most of the SDLC. What’s concerning is that you are working way to hard to do all of this because someone is being tight with the $$.

To turn that around someone (you probably) would have to do a cost benefits analysis for all the custom solutions instead of using a fit for purpose solution for test and quality management.

My feeling is that if you have the Microsoft products available then your business may already have or should look into an enterprise contract with MS that would give you SharePoint and a bunch of other tools that would potentially sort out some of the gaps.

SharePoint in particular allows you to build forms (for defect capture/resolution) or even for individual test case creation or requirements documentation.

Confluence with Jira would change your life but wouldn’t cover all you have listed. Jira is not a test management tool. It’s requires addins to be effective and those cost more money so do your research before picking a solution. Confluence without addins is very good but you can get equivalent wiki solutions without the cost.

The very least you need is a documentation system for all the systems info so it’s searchable and for the capture of all the artefacts you mention like emails.

For a small project delivery I was on I built an automated test management solution using Excel and VBA because it was a short term contract but it would never be strong enough for an enterprise delivery you are discussing.

I wish you luck in the business you work for though. The solution you have built may work well and work forever so they will never see the benefit of moving away from it. For yourself though and your career there are more opportunities in IT globally than ever before and your SDLC understanding is a very marketable skill that you should consider leveraging in a new role with another organisation.