Why is it important to have an Automation test plan?
It is important to have an Automation test plan because this is the first step in building the assurance of success in your automation project. It allows you to know things are working as expected and identify possible weak points or vulnerabilities before it is in full production. This additional step is critical for business operations and gives you the opportunity to be confident in your design and implementation.
When should I plan my Automation testing?
Rather than waiting until the end of your development phase to plan your Automation testing, make it part and parcel of the build phase. Our Professional Services Team at Kelverion has found if it will take 2 days of effort to build the automation, then we assume that it is going to take one day to properly test.
If you write your test plan based on the requirement exactly as you would for the automation itself, then it helps keep you focused on those requirements and if you have any issues or concerns during the build its easy to incorporate them into your test plan.
Where can I find an Automation test plan template?
As we all know, plans can be as simple as a checklist or as complicated as a project plan with multiple people, phases, and levels of implementation. The same can be said for an Automation Test Plan. Our Professional Services team at Kelverion has created an Automation Test Plan Template you can download and use when it comes to testing your IT automation processes.
How should I use the Automation Test Plan Template?
The Automation Test Plan Template is designed for you to customize based on your testing process because it allows for the possibility that all of your testing may not be completed at one time or by one person. We believe the best way to create an Automation Test Plan is to break it down into categories or sections. Our template is based on an example of testing service desk tickets being created based on something such as a SCOM event. The automation process is then broken down into five (5) main categories or sections:
- Confirm Pre-requisites – this is where you make sure all the pre-requisites are working as expected including things like credentials to connect to the service desk, credentials to read and write to the database, confirm there is no firewall or network issue when you attempt to connect to these other sources, etc.
- Check Imported runbooks – this is where you make sure all the runbooks were successfully imported from your test environment or old environment. This is a way to make sure they all came over and nothing appears to be corrupted in the import. There is a possibility that you are starting fresh and do not have anything to import, in which case, this category could be skipped initially but may apply at a later time.
- Check PDS configuration / data baseline – this is where you make sure the PDS has all the tables created for your requirements. It is where data is temporarily stored so you can retrieve it later in your automation process.
- Confirm items are created/updated/assigned – this is where you make sure the service desk ticket is being created/updated/assigned as expected. For example, maybe all server issues are assigned to a virtual support team at your service desk by default to run diagnostics and remediation. Then if the remediation fails, it gets assigned to the Server Support Team, but there are exceptions for SQL Servers which need to be assigned to your Database team. Or perhaps you have another special application that requires a particular team to troubleshoot any issues. This is where you confirm the logic you have in place in your runbooks is properly assigning the service desk tickets to the correct team.
- Updated/Resolved Tickets – this is where you confirm that all tickets are being updated to include the diagnostics and remediation results, as well as if they are resolved that the service desk ticket is closed, and if they were not resolved by the diagnostics and remediation, then they are updated with the steps that were performed and assigned to the proper support team.
- Other – we have included this just because each setup may have some unique part to their process that needs to be tested. It may include things like sending notifications, how service desk tickets get escalated, etc.
It is all up to you and your environment to use these categories as they are described or to modify them to something that is more applicable to your scenario.
So, we thought it would be beneficial if we explained most of the key things we have tried to incorporate and how they can be customized by you for your specific scenario.
Let’s start by explaining what each part is designed to accomplish. Each tab of the template has a specific purpose. There are four (4) tabs:
- General – this is where you document the higher-level things involved with your testing such as the name of your company, the name of the project or task you are testing, the people involved with the testing process, dates you are starting and ending your testing process, and an overall status of each category of testing.
- Test Activity Control Log – this is where you document a little more detail about the success, completion, and/or results of your testing for each category.
- Test Plan Detail – this is where you document the individual steps necessary to be tested and whether they completed successfully.
- Glossary – this is where you document every tab, title, or item that is expected to be filled out on the Test Plan.
Where can I find help planning my Automation testing?
If you’d like to find out more about planning Automation testing, reach out to your account manager or get in touch with us.
Further Reading:
Downloadable Templates for Runbook Documentation
About Kelverion
Experts in Cloud, On-Premise and Hybrid automation, Kelverion provide solutions and integrations that remove the manual process tying up IT staff; transforming the productivity, efficiency, and supportability of IT service automation. Our products utilize and enhance the power of Microsoft Azure and System Center Orchestrator.
Working closely alongside Microsoft we have developed our integrations and automation solutions to help bridge the gap between Microsoft’s automation platforms and third-party systems, in the process building key alliance partnerships with multiple vendors to ensure our products are fully certified. Find Kelverion on the Azure Marketplace here.
Since 2010, Kelverion has expanded to become a global company, with offices now in the UK, Canada, and the US. Through this, we are able to offer and support products and professional services engagements to enterprise-level organizations no matter where they are.
For more information, to arrange a discovery call or to see a demonstration please contact our helpful team today via info@kelverion.com.
