Project Phase 5 – Testing
Posted by Brad EgelandTo recap, so far I’ve covered the first four phases of the PM methodology/process that I normally use for IT projects. These are:
- Phase 1 – Project Kickoff
- Phase 2 – Exploration
- Phase 3 – Design
- Phase 4 – Development
So far, we’ve delivered to the customer the following:
- Kickoff meeting
- Revised schedule (on-going)
- Business Requirements Document (signed off)
- Functional Design Document (signed off)
- Weekly status meetings (on-going)
- Weekly status reports (on-going)
- Revised risks/issues list (on-going)
- Technical Design Document (optional to the customer with no formal signoff)
Now we have a developed system which hopefully matches the customer’s requirements to the letter and we’re ready for system testing before moving on to the customer-side User Acceptance Testing.
Preparation for testing test consists of three activities:
- The Testing Approach – sets the scope of system testing, the overall strategy to be adopted, the activities to be completed, the general resources required and the methods and processes to be used to test the release. It also details the activities, dependencies and effort required to conduct the System Test.
- Test or QA Plan (deliverable) – details the activities, dependencies and effort required to conduct the System Test and UAT.
- Test Conditions/Cases documents – the tests to be applied, the data to be processed, the automated testing coverage and the expected results for the System Test and UAT.
System Testing
Led by the Application Developer or Developers and other architects, data integrators, etc. who may have worked on the project, the developed system must undergo rigorous testing in preparation for UAT by the customer. All modules – separately and together – must be tested against the BRD, FDD, and test scripts that have been developed. All data integrations must also be tested to ensure that the system interacts with other systems (ERP, SAP, CRM, etc.) as expected.
Ideally testing is done on a separate platform or server from development as this tested and finalized testing environment would then pass form System Testing into User Acceptance Testing.
User Acceptance Testing
In the case of a software/IT project, that the customer come up with their own test scripts and scenarios to rigorously test the system prior to deployment. It is a serious conflict of interest to have the delivery team create test scripts for the customer to utilize during UAT.
The customer should assemble a team of SMEs for the UAT activity and ensure they are free of other obstacles during this critical phase of the project. Depending on the size of the project, UAT is likely to be a 1-2 week activity.
Signoff
Once the customer is satisfied with the delivered and tested system and all necessary test scripts have been run through satisfactorily by the customer, the PM must obtain an official signoff of the system. This is critical to ensure success and scope maintenence going forward. Following official UAT signoff, we’re ready for our next phase – Training.
To recap…
Testing Phase Deliverables:
- Developed system (no signoff required)
- QA Plan (deliverable – signoff optional)
- User Acceptance Testing signoff
- Revised Project Schedule (revised weekly as needed)
- Revised Risk/Issues List
- Weekly Project Status Reports
- Weekly Project Status Meetings
Next up: Project Phase 6 – Training
Related posts:
11 Comments to “Project Phase 5 – Testing”
Post comment
Project Phase 6 - Training | Project Management Tips says:
[...] Phase 5 – Testing [...]
Project Phase 7 - Deployment | Project Management Tips says:
[...] Phase 5 – Testing [...]
When the Client Just Can’t Do UAT | Project Management Tips || Project Management, Collaboration and Knowledge Management Blog says:
[...] discussed User Acceptance Testing (UAT) earlier as part of Project Phase 5 – Testing. I mentioned that it is critical that the customer come up with their own test scripts and [...]
Never Say No to the Customer | Project Management Tips || Project Management, Collaboration and Knowledge Management Blog says:
[...] hours of additional Design work, 10 hours of additional Development work, and 3 hours of additional Testing work. This is 18 hours of additional work and if your organization is billing at, say, $150/hour [...]
A Quick Guide Project Management Methodology | Project Management Tips || Project Management, Collaboration and Knowledge Management Blog says:
[...] Phase 5 – Testing [...]
Carol Francum says:
Great article, excellent job summing up what can be a huge subject. Thanks
I wish you had clarified that successful testing:
a) begins with accurate requirements
b) may start along with the development process, in terms of understanding the design, and includes the unit testing of developed modules.
c) is best when testers take an approach that is independent from the actual designers.. That is, integration and system testing is not under the control of the software organization.
Brad Egeland says:
Carol – Thanks for responding and those three points are excellent concepts for successful testing – I agree that those could easily be included….
Equipping Your Mobile Project Staff - Part 1 | Project Management Tips || Project Management, Collaboration and Knowledge Management Blog says:
[...] – especially to kickoff the project or to kickoff particular phases like design, development, testing, [...]
Testing Practices and Processes Defined | Project Management Tips || Project Management, Collaboration and Knowledge Management Blog says:
[...] of any project is the testing that is performed during Development by the delivery team and during Testing by the delivery team and the customer User Acceptance Testing (UAT) team. Testing, of course, is [...]
Managing Multiple Projects - Stagger the Lifecycles | Project Management Tips || Project Management, Collaboration and Knowledge Management Blog says:
[...] vary by phase – and are weighted more heavily at the front end and usually then again around Testing and Deployment. The lull usually occurs with Design and Development – phases that require much [...]
Closing Out the Project - Part 1 | Project Management Tips || Project Management, Collaboration and Knowledge Management Blog says:
[...] did we provide weekly status reports, was training completed successfully and signed off, was user acceptance testing (UAT) fully completed including re-review of all issues and did we get official signoff, [...]