Outcome Driven Assurance
Clear Test Outcomes
Summary
Each testing activity has a defined purpose and an established test outcome.
Standards
- A team or vendor responsible for a testing activity MUST define, before the activity begins, its purpose and the behaviour, requirement, or risk it is intended to assess.
std-qe-clear-test-outcomes-01 - The purpose of a recurring testing activity SHOULD be reviewed when the related behaviour, requirement, or risk changes, and the activity SHOULD be updated or retired when it no longer provides useful information.
std-qe-clear-test-outcomes-02 - Test evidence retained for a testing activity MUST have a clear correlation to the test outcome stated for that activity.
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Implements These Principles
Clear and Useful Test Evidence
Summary
Test evidence provides accessible information that supports evaluation of the stated outcome and any subsequent quality decision.
Standards
- Test evidence MUST identify what was tested, the relevant results and findings, and any limitation or gap that affects confidence in the stated outcome.
std-qe-clear-useful-test-evidence-01 - Test evidence and reporting data MUST be accessible to the team members responsible for evaluating the stated outcome and making subsequent quality decisions.
std-qe-clear-useful-test-evidence-02 - Test evidence MUST contain enough context for those team members to evaluate the stated outcome without repeating the testing or depending on the person who performed it to interpret the evidence.
std-qe-clear-useful-test-evidence-03 - A gap in test evidence MUST be raised with Quality Assurance and resolved within an agreed timeframe proportionate to its effect on confidence in the stated outcome.
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Implements These Principles
Quality Acceptance Criteria
Summary
Acceptance criteria are defined and challenged before implementation so they describe observable, testable conditions that provide an objective and stable basis for evaluating whether work is acceptable.
Standards
- Acceptance criteria MUST define the relevant starting conditions, event or action, and observable expected result for each product or service behaviour within the scope of the work.
std-qe-quality-acceptance-criteria-01 - Quality Assurance SHOULD review and challenge acceptance criteria before implementation begins to identify ambiguity, conflicting expectations, and outcomes that cannot be objectively evaluated.
std-qe-quality-acceptance-criteria-02 - Each acceptance criterion MUST provide enough information to derive one or more tests that objectively determine whether its expected result occurred.
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Implements These Principles
Traceable Assurance Outcomes
Summary
Expected outcomes and acceptance criteria remain traceable through their tests, results, findings, resolution, and the release decision they support.
Standards
- Each expected outcome and acceptance criterion for a feature MUST be traceable to the tests intended to verify it.
std-qe-traceable-assurance-outcomes-01 - Each test result, evidence record, and finding MUST be traceable to its originating test and the expected outcome or acceptance criterion that test verifies.
std-qe-traceable-assurance-outcomes-02 - Each test finding MUST remain traceable to its current disposition and, when resolved, the evidence that verifies its resolution.
std-qe-traceable-assurance-outcomes-03 - A release decision SHOULD identify the test evidence on which it relies and any unresolved evidence gap or finding that affects confidence in the decision.
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