IEEE 829

Abstract

This standard describes a set of basic test documents that are associated with the dynamic aspects of software testing (i.e, the execution of procedures and code). The standard defines the purpose, outline, and content of each basic document. While the documents described in the standard focus on dynamic testing, several of them may be applicable to other testing activities (e.g., the test plan and test incident report may be used for design and code reviews).<br>This standard may be applied to commercial, scientific, or military software that runs on any digital computer. Applicability is not restricted by the size, complexity, or criticality of the software. However, the standard does <em>not</em> specify any class of software to which it must be applied. The standard addresses the documentation of both initial development testing and the testing of subsequent software releases. For a particular software release, it may be applied to all phases of testing from module testing through user acceptance. However, since all of the basic test documents may not be useful in each test phase, the particular documents to be used in a phase are <em>not</em> specified. Each organization using the standard will need to specify the classes of software to which it applies and the specific documents required for a particular test phase.<br>The standard does <em>not</em> call for specific testing methodologies, approaches, techniques, facilities, or tools, and does <em>not</em> specify the documentation of their use. Additional test documentation may be required (e.g., code inspection checklists and reports). The standard also does <em>not</em> imply or impose specific methodologies for documentation control, configuration management, or quality assurance. Additional documentation (e.g., a quality assurance plan) may be needed depending on the particular methodologies used.<br>Within each standard document, the content of each section (i.e., the text that covers the designated topics) may be tailored to the particular application and the particular testing phase. In addition to tailoring content, additional documents may be added to the basic set, additional sections may be added to any document, and additional content may be added to any section. It may be useful to organize some of the sections into subsections. Some or all of the contents of a section may be contained in another document which is then referenced. Each organization using the standard should specify additional content requirements and conventions in order to reflect their own particular methodologies, approaches, facilities, and tools for testing, documentation control, configuration management, and quality assurance.<br>This standard applies to documentation on electronic media as well as paper. Paper must be used for documents requiring approval signatures, unless the electronic documentation system has a secure approval annotation mechanism and that mechanism is used.