December 6, 2019 Test Case and Test Scenario: Things You Need To Know (Part 1)

Recently, there have been QA challenges in which participants are required to write test cases and test scenarios for specific webpages of our very own Topcoder website. Both test cases and test scenarios are under the field of Software Testing which aims to evaluate the end-to-end functionality and quality of a software application and verify if it meets the specified requirements for the software. In this 2-part article, we will introduce the ‘what’, ‘why’, and ‘who’ of test cases and test scenario creation.

What are Test Case and Test Scenario?

Test Scenario is a high-level documentation of a use case. It assesses the performance and functionality of the system as a whole, from the point of view of the user. Consider test scenario as the mother of all related test cases.

On the other hand, Test Case is a set of conditions or variables which help to determine whether the software under test satisfies the requirements and functions properly or not. A test case is a single executable test which guides the tester to perform a series of steps to complete the test. It can include detailed functional tests, positive tests, negative tests, and integration tests.

Why Should We Use Test Cases and Test Scenarios?

If you want to release a new software/web application or just want to make sure that the major release update for a software/website works well in all conditions and circumstances, there’s no doubt that those need to undergo several tests before the end-users can consume. And in testing a product/service, having a guide on what the scope of the product/service needs to cover first is very helpful. Not only that it is documented, it also prevents others from doing the same amount of work for the same result across teams of testers or QAs. It really saves a lot of time, money, and efforts which are required to exhaustively test a product/service.

Every product manager knows what priorities are needed to be satisfied for the next release of a product/service. That’s why having documented test cases and test scenarios is crucially beneficial in times of unforeseen events like shortened deadline. With this, people involved (PMs, testers, developers, etc.) can cherry-pick which of those many test scenarios and test cases would be part of the priority coverage.

Who should create Test Cases and Test Scenarios?

As long as you have a background in software testing or quality assurance, anyone has the capability to write valid test cases and test scenarios. But anyone can learn how to write a valid one because at the release of a product/service, we all could be an end-user for it. As we know, we should create test scenarios and test cases with end-users in mind on how they would use your product/service in the real-world.

The only advantage of people who are already in this field is that they already know the best practices and techniques to use to come up with a set of test scenarios and test cases that will cover the selected areas of a product/service. This would be one of the next topics for part 2 of this article.