Test Plans

A test plan defines what you are going to test for a specific release, sprint, or milestone. It brings together test suites and individual test cases into a single plan, assigns testers, and tracks progress toward your coverage goals.

When to Use Test Plans

Use test plans when you need to:

• Plan a release -- Define all the testing that needs to happen before a release goes live.
• Coordinate a sprint -- Organize testing work for a sprint with assignments and deadlines.
• Track coverage -- Set coverage targets and monitor how much of the plan has been executed.
• Assign work -- Distribute test cases across multiple testers.

tip

For quick, informal testing, you can skip test plans and create test runs directly from suites. Test plans are most valuable when you need to coordinate testing across a team.

Create a Test Plan

1. Navigate to your project.
2. Click Test Plans in the project navigation.
3. Click + New Test Plan.
4. Fill in the details:
   • Name -- A descriptive name tied to the release or milestone (e.g., "Release 3.2 - Full Regression" or "Sprint 15 - Feature Testing").
   • Description -- The scope and objectives of this testing effort.
   • Start Date -- When testing is expected to begin.
   • End Date -- The target completion date.
5. Click Create Plan.

Add Test Content to the Plan

After creating a plan, you need to add the test cases that should be executed.

Add Test Suites

1. Open the test plan.
2. Click Add Test Suites.
3. Browse or search for suites.
4. Select the suites you want to include.
5. Click Add Selected.

All test cases within the selected suites are included in the plan.

Add Individual Test Cases

1. Open the test plan.
2. Click Add Test Cases.
3. Search or browse for specific test cases.
4. Select the ones you want to include.
5. Click Add Selected.

info

If you add a test suite and also add individual test cases from that suite, ProvaLab.io avoids duplicates. Each test case appears only once in the plan.

Assign Testers

Distribute the testing work across your team:

1. Open the test plan.
2. Click Assign Testers (or go to the Assignments tab).
3. For each tester:
   • Select the team member from the dropdown.
   • Choose which test cases or suites they are responsible for.
4. Click Save Assignments.

You can also use Auto-Assign to distribute test cases evenly across selected team members.

Set Coverage Targets

Coverage targets help you track whether enough testing has been completed:

1. Open the test plan.
2. Go to the Coverage tab.
3. Set your targets:
   • Execution coverage -- Percentage of test cases that must be executed (e.g., 100%).
   • Pass rate target -- Minimum pass rate to consider the plan successful (e.g., 95%).
4. Click Save Targets.

ProvaLab.io displays progress bars showing how close you are to each target as test runs are completed.

Track Plan Progress

The test plan dashboard shows real-time progress:

Metric	Description
Total test cases	How many test cases are in the plan.
Executed	How many have been run (with percentage).
Passed / Failed / Skipped / Blocked	Breakdown of results.
Pass rate	Current pass rate vs. your target.
Assigned vs. Unassigned	How many test cases still need an owner.
Time remaining	Days until the plan's end date.

Create a Test Run from a Plan

When you are ready to start executing:

1. Open the test plan.
2. Click Create Test Run.
3. ProvaLab.io pre-fills the run with the plan's test cases and assignments.
4. Adjust the run name, environment, or other details as needed.
5. Click Create Test Run.

You can create multiple test runs from the same plan. This is useful when you need to:

• Re-test after bug fixes.
• Test across different environments (Staging, QA, Production).
• Split execution across time (e.g., Day 1 smoke tests, Day 2 full regression).

Plan Lifecycle

Test plans have a natural progression:

Stage	Description
Draft	The plan is being assembled. Test cases and assignments are still being added.
Active	Testing is in progress. Test runs have been created and are being executed.
Completed	All test runs are finished and results are in. The plan can be reviewed and closed.
Archived	The plan is no longer active but preserved for historical reference.

Best Practices

• One plan per release or sprint -- Keep plans focused on a single testing effort.
• Set realistic coverage targets -- 100% execution coverage is ideal but may not always be feasible. Set targets your team can actually achieve.
• Review unassigned test cases -- Before starting execution, make sure every test case has an owner.
• Link to your project management tool -- Note the sprint or release version in the plan description for easy cross-referencing with Jira or your project tracker.