After doing QA testing estimation for several projects, when it comes to design the template, I still believe the hardest part is to identify the complexity and figure out the factors. And the secondary difficult thing to do is how to add the effort for any contingencies. Finally before to use the template or be confident with any templates, we need to put it into practice and to check how closely does it match the realities.
1. Different testing categories like
System testing, Integration testing, E2E testing, performance testing, UAT, Security testing,etc.
2. Possible Activities in different stages (Pre-stage Planning, TC development, TC execution, Post-stage.) like
- Pre-stage: Environment Plan, Data Plan, Detailed Functional Testing Plan,UI Testing Plan, Performance Test plan, E2E test plan, Risk/dependencies Identify/Management plan, communication plan.
- TC Prep/Develop Stage: Test Execution Plan, Test Data Preparation,Test Scripts/Test Case Development , Test Scripts/Test Case Review/Approval
- TC Exec Stage: Smoke Test, Test Case/Scripts Execution, Report Defect, Validate Defect, Update Test Case Result , Coordination with other Teams, especially in integration testing, Report Test Results,etc.
- Post-stage: Training, Documentation, Knowledge Transfer,etc.
3. Other common factors need to consider for getting the estimation.
Browser / OS Option, TCs Amount, Functional/System testing Cycle#,Interface Testing Cycle#,Performance Testing Cycle#,Performance Testing Type#,etc.
4. Here is one sample factors used for different types testing.
| Functionality Complexity Percents | |||
| High | 47% | ||
| Medium | 43% | ||
| Low | 10% | ||
| All the following effort factor is for one test case per round | |||
| System Testing | |||
| Prepare effort estimate | Complexity type | Effort Factor | |
| 1. For New TCs | High | 4 | |
| Medium | 3 | ||
| Low | 2 | ||
| 2. For Existing TCs | High | 2 | |
| Medium | 1.5 | ||
| Low | 1 | ||
| Execution effort estimate | Complexity type | Effort Factor | |
| 1. For All TCs | High | 2 | |
| Medium | 2 | ||
| Low | 1 | ||
| Interfaces Testing | |||
| Prepare effort estimate | Complexity type | Effort Factor | |
| 1. For New TCs | High | 6 | |
| Medium | 4 | ||
| Low | 2 | ||
| 2. For Existing TCs | High | 2 | |
| Medium | 1 | ||
| Low | 1 | ||
| Execution effort estimate | Complexity type | Effort Factor | |
| 1. For All TCs | High | 8 | |
| Medium | 4 | ||
| Low | 2 | ||
| Performance / Topaz | |||
| Prepare effort estimate | Complexity type | Effort Factor | |
| 1. For New TCs | High Complexity | 40 | |
| Medium Complexity | 24 | ||
| Low Complexity | 16 | ||
| 1. For Existing TCs | Topaz | 8 | |
| Execution effort estimate | Complexity type | Effort Factor | |
| 1. For All TCs | High Complexity | 2 | |
| Medium Complexity | 2 | ||
| Low Complexity | 1 | ||
| Topaz | 1 | ||
| End 2 End testing | Prepare effort estimate | Complexity type | Effort Factor |
| 1. For New TCs | High | 4 | |
| Medium | 3 | ||
| Low | 2 | ||
| 2. For Existing TCs | High | 2 | |
| Medium | 1.5 | ||
| Low | 1 | ||
| Support effort estimate | Complexity type | Effort Factor | |
| 1. For All TCs | High | 2 | |
| Medium | 1 | ||
| Low | 1 | ||
Hi, its good one about QA estimation. thanks.