key management documents(1) - test policy document

Test policy:the document that describes the organization;s philosophy, objectives and key metrics for testing, and possible quality assurance as well. 

Usually company management establishes the test policy, however, test team might draft the policy and submit it to management for approval. Test policy document is not a long document, about one to two pages, in which, it discuss the following topic:

• the objective of testing, such as building confidence in the system, detecting defects, generating information, and managing quality risks. 

• the organization's basic, generic, fundamental test process, following the ISTQB process or some other process. 

• Various metrics for measuring the effectiveness and efficiency of testing, for all of the objectives defined earlier. For example, in terms of defect detection, the test policy might mention defect detection percentage as an effectivness metric  and the relative cost of defects detected in testing as opposed to after release as an efficiency metric. 

• quality targets, if the document is addressing quality assurance.

• approaches for metrics-driven, expericen-based improvements in the test process, such as checking the metrics for effectiveness and efficiency during a project retrospective and then applying Critical Testing Process, Test Process Improvement, or the Testing Maturity Model to improve.

• new development and maintenance for large projects and small.