Applied ICT A Level Unit 10 - Advanced Spreadsheets
Section F - Test Plans:
You need to plan how to test:
- each individual part of the system - each formulae, each function, each cell where data gets entered, each macro, each drop down, each button, bullet or tick box. Everything
- the system as a whole - for example, testing that for a specific customer the system works to produce an accurate invoice as required by the client
In the exam you'll then actually carry out these tests - covered by Row G of the markgrid. What's clever is that some of the marks in Row G can't be got unless you've done Row F properly.
Part of the prep work needs to be to create data sets which will allow you to test the elements of the spreadsheet. This means you have to clearly specify what data you're going to enter in the cells of the sheet - the examples show this. Some of this data will need to "provoke failure" - i.e. try to 'break' the spreadsheet.
Example test plan showing a possible layout. Note that you'd almost certainly want to link this to some screenshots. You might not need a screenshot for every test - one might allow you to demonstrate several tests if you think about it carefully
Example whole system test (also known as integration testing - but nothing to do with mathematical integration I'm pleased to say). You'd want several whole system test cases to test a range of possibilities
Note that you can take sheets like these into the exam to evidence Row F. You could then take second copies in to evidence Row G - but you'd have to hand write the test results and comments etc... as you aren't able to take any electronic files in to the exam
Expected, Extreme and Erroneous:
Row G is clear that it wants you to have tested all three types of data input. But what do they mean?
Expected input (or normal input) is a standard value which you would expect the system to accept. It's perfectly reasonable for me to order 3 cakes, or buy 10 packets of biscuits for example.
Extreme input is a value at the edges of what is allowable. I can order 1 cake or, depending on the client needs analysis, up to 20 cakes, so I'd better test these values as well - the extreme values. These are sometimes known as Boundary Values. I could also test the next step across the boundary - if the system should accept up to 20 cakes then I should test 20 and 21. One should be accepted, one shouldn't.
Erroneous input values are simply wrong - things that I should never be allowed to enter. So, I shouldn't be able to order minus 4 cakes. Or 3.142 cakes (that's not a cake, it's a pi...<groan>). Or "red" cakes. If I do any of this I should get an error message - preferably a helpful one that you've customised to say something helpful to me.
Note that a lot of the time you're testing validation rules.
Entry values for things like names and addresses are difficult (or often impossible) to validate, but you can still test that whatever value the user enters is copied into the appropriate cells on the other sheets and so on.
The Markgrid:
You'll also want to look at the markgrid for Row G as well - the testing during the exam.
