A software project test plan is a document that describes 
the objectives, scope, approach, and focus of a software 
testing effort. It should be thorough enough to be useful 
but not so thorough that no one outside the test group will 
read it. The following are some of the items that might be 
included in a test plan, depending on the particular 
project: 

Title 
Identification of software including version/release 
numbers 
Revision history of document including authors, dates, 
approvals 
Table of Contents 
Purpose of document, intended audience 
Objective of testing effort 
Software product overview 
Relevant related document list, such as requirements, 
design documents, other test plans, etc. 
Relevant standards or legal requirements 
Traceability requirements 
Relevant naming conventions and identifier conventions 
Overall software project organization and personnel/contact-
info/responsibilties 
Test organization and personnel/contact-
info/responsibilities 
Assumptions and dependencies 
Project risk analysis 
Testing priorities and focus 
Scope and limitations of testing 
Test outline - a decomposition of the test approach by test 
type, feature, functionality, process, system, module, etc. 
as applicable 
Outline of data input equivalence classes, boundary value 
analysis, error classes 
Test environment - hardware, operating systems, other 
required software, data configurations, interfaces to other 
systems 
Test environment validity analysis - differences between 
the test and production systems and their impact on test 
validity. 
Test environment setup and configuration issues 
Software migration processes 
Software CM processes 
Test data setup requirements 
Database setup requirements 
Outline of system-logging/error-logging/other capabilities, 
and tools such as screen capture software, that will be 
used to help describe and report bugs 
Discussion of any specialized software or hardware tools 
that will be used by testers to help track the cause or 
source of bugs 
Test automation - justification and overview 
Test tools to be used, including versions, patches, etc. 
Test script/test code maintenance processes and version 
control 
Problem tracking and resolution - tools and processes 
Project test metrics to be used 
Reporting requirements and testing deliverables 
Software entrance and exit criteria 
Initial sanity testing period and criteria 
Test suspension and restart criteria 
Personnel allocation 
Personnel pre-training needs 
Test site/location 
Outside test organizations to be utilized and their 
purpose, responsibilties, deliverables, contact persons, 
and coordination issues 
Relevant proprietary, classified, security, and licensing 
issues. 
Open issues 
Appendix - glossary, acronyms, etc. 

Test Plan is a document describing the scope, approach, 
resources and  schedule of testing activity. It identifies 
the test items, features to be tested, who will do each 
task and risk requiring contingency planning.