"Performance Testing has become a crucial part of the Software Testing Lifecycle (STLC). The result of this test practice helps to assure a number of benefits which include validating the software’s speed, accuracy, and stability. However, to achieve the best result, it is very important to have an effective performance testing plan. And, during this performance test planning, enterprises need to assure that is well-documented and validated with the required steps before establishing the plan."

Before beginning any type of software testing, the most important requirement is to have a Detailed Test Plan (DTP). Performance testing is one of the testing types which effectively needs a detailed performance test plan. In project delivery, a performance test plan has crucial importance, and as well as it is even difficult to construct. During this planning, it is necessary to make needful assumptions and then document to validate.

What is Performance Test Planning?

Performance Test Planning is a step by step process that is defined to perform a successful software performance testing of software. It is one of the crucial testing phases in STLC. In this method, the tester plans the approaches that should be performed for an application. Generally, these approaches are defined based on the risk assessment outcomes and non-functional requirements. The final approach that is made by considering all supportive information is commonly known as a performance test plan.

Before planning for the test plan, it is essential to look into the type of tests to be conducted such as stress test, load test, endurance test, and peak test.The steps that are considered while performing a performance test plan include:

Step 1: Need for describing the scope and non-functional requirement

Step 2: Required to map the requirements of non-functional with the non-functional tests

Step 3: Required to develop a test execution strategy

Step 4: Should mention the entry and exit criteria of the test plan

Step 5: Required to decide the needed amount of execution cycles based on project timelines

Step 6: Gather the required information on environment scaling

Step 7: Required to highlight Risk, Assumption, Issue, and Dependency, also known as RAID

Step 8: Mention the Performance testing timelines

While preparing this performance testing plan, teams are required to overcome several challenges. Hence, it is important to build a test plan with the best practices.

A few best practices for building a good performance testing plan are:

• Should build a detailed test strategy plan by determining the types of tests to be included
• Before actual execution, make sure to do good preparation and planning
• Whenever a bug arises, always try to start testing with the individual components unlike focusing on the complete module
• Make sure to maintain good time management for performance testing project

Conclusion:

A well-structured test plan with the required information is always a key to support the app development, especially when planning for performance testing. A well-planned performance test plan helps to conduct smooth performance testing and assures to benefits in meeting the project requirements. Leverage performance testing services from an independent QA testing services provider for achieving a performance test plan that consists of the best testing goals, known risks, assumptions, structured test strategy, etc.

About the Author:

I am a technical content, interested in writing articles on the latest IT related topics. In this article, I tried to share my views on the performance testing plan and the best practices for building it.