The master test plan for a first-generation Internet appliance.Hardware, client software, server software, and operations, one plan.

The following test plan describes the testing to be performed and/or managed by the "Some IA Maker" independent test team. It covers the included items in the test project, the specific risks to product quality we intend to address, timeframes, the test environment, problems that could threaten the success of testing, test tools and harnesses we will need to develop, and the test execution process. The independent test team is the quality control organization for "Some IA Maker". Some testing occurs outside of the independent test team's area, such as user testing and unit testing.

The plan opens with an explicit scope table. This is the most copied, least-used section in any test plan we read in the wild.

The plan enumerates quality risks across hardware and software, each with specific failure modes and a priority placeholder. We have reproduced the category structure here; failure-mode detail lives in the PDF download.

Four phases, each gated by written criteria. The full criteria lists are in the PDF.

• Integration Test Entry Criteria
• System Test Entry Criteria
• System Test Continuation Criteria
• System Test Exit Criteria
• DVT Test Entry Criteria
• DVT Test Exit Criteria
• PVT Test Entry Criteria
• PVT Test Exit Criteria

The plan describes how the test organization actually runs, not just what it tests.

• Human resources, who sits in the chair, what they own, who they escalate to
• Test case and bug tracking, lifecycle, states, SLAs
• Bug isolation, the sequence we follow before filing
• Release management, revision control and what counts as a "build"
• Test cycles, the cadence that keeps the program moving

The plan closes by naming what can go wrong with the test program itself (schedule compression, supplier delays, environment instability) and what the test organization will do in response. This is the section most often missing from first-attempt test plans.