Test Plans

Overview

A test plan is the highest-level organizational container in TestKase. While a test case defines what to test and a test cycle defines when and who tests it, a test plan defines why and how an entire body of testing fits together. Plans let you group multiple test cycles and standalone test cases under a single umbrella, giving stakeholders a consolidated view of testing scope, ownership, and progress for a release, sprint, milestone, or any cross-cutting initiative.

In professional test management, test plans serve as the strategic layer above individual execution runs. They answer questions like "Are we ready to ship v3.0?" by aggregating pass rates across the regression cycle, the smoke-test cycle, the UAT cycle, and any ad-hoc cases that do not belong to a specific cycle. Without a plan, teams must manually compile data from separate cycles to form a release-readiness picture. With a plan, that picture is always one click away.

When to Use a Test Plan

• Release verification — Group all cycles and cases that must pass before a release ships (e.g., "v3.0 Release Plan" containing a Regression cycle, a Performance cycle, and a UAT cycle).
• Sprint-level planning — Wrap the sprint's regression cycle plus any exploratory or ad-hoc test cases into a single plan for sprint-review reporting.
• Cross-team initiatives — When multiple teams each own separate cycles (e.g., Backend API, Frontend UI, Mobile), a plan consolidates their results into one dashboard.
• Compliance and audit — Regulated industries often require a documented test plan that references all executed tests. A TestKase plan provides that traceability.

Create a Test Plan

Creating a test plan is the first step toward organizing a coordinated testing effort. A plan captures high-level metadata about the testing scope and serves as the container you will populate with cycles and cases.

Step-by-Step

1. Navigate to the Test Plans tab in your project. You can find this in the project sidebar alongside Test Cases and Test Cycles.
2. Click the Create Plan button in the toolbar. The plan creation dialog opens.
3. Enter a plan name. Choose a descriptive name that communicates scope and context at a glance (see naming tips below).
4. Optionally add a description. Use the description to document the plan's purpose, scope boundaries, entry/exit criteria, or links to related requirements and design documents.
5. Click Create to save the plan. The plan is created in an empty state, ready for you to link cycles and test cases.

Plan Fields

Plan Structure

A test plan organizes testing activities in a clear hierarchy. Understanding this structure helps you design plans that are easy to navigate and produce meaningful aggregated metrics.

Three-Tier Hierarchy

TestKase uses a three-tier hierarchy for test management:

Test Plan (Strategic container — groups cycles and standalone cases)
├── Linked Test Cycles
│   └── Test cases within each cycle (managed in the cycle, reflected in the plan)
└── Standalone Test Cases (individual cases linked directly to the plan, outside any cycle)

Example Plan Structure

Consider a release plan for version 3.0 of a web application. The plan might be structured as follows:

This structure gives the release manager a single view of all 152 test cases (149 from cycles + 3 standalone) with aggregated progress tracking across every team and testing category.

Next Steps

• Link Cycles & Test Cases — Add test cycles and individual test cases to your plan.
• Execution & Progress Tracking — Assign testers, execute tests, and monitor aggregated progress.
• Plan Management — Clone plans, review history, and compare plans vs. cycles.
• Best Practices & FAQ — Guidelines and answers to common questions.