QA Test Reporting

Reporting – collection and dissemination of information on the results of work (including the current status, assessment of progress, and forecast of the development of the situation). 

High-level reporting tasks include:

• Collection, aggregation, and provision of objective information about the results of work in a form convenient for perception. 
• Formation of an assessment of the current status and progress (in comparison with the plan). 
• Identification of existing and possible problems (if any).
• Formation of a forecast of the development of the situation and fixing recommendations for eliminating problems and improving work efficiency. 

Test results report is a document that summarizes the results of testing work and contains information sufficient to correlate the current situation with the test plan and make the necessary management decisions.

Low-level reporting tasks in testing include:

• Evaluation of the volume and quality of work performed. 
• Comparison of current progress with the test plan (including by analyzing metric values). 
• Description of the existing difficulties and the formation of recommendations for their elimination. 
• Providing persons interested in the project with complete and objective information about the current state of the quality of the project, expressed in specific facts and figures.

A qualitative test report has many properties of qualitative requirements, and also expands their set with the following points:

• informative (ideally, after reading the report, there should be no open questions about what is happening with the project in the context of quality); 
• accuracy and objectivity (under no circumstances is a report allowed to distort facts, and personal opinions must be supported by solid justifications).

The test results report is created according to a predetermined schedule (depending on the project management model) with the participation of the majority of the project team members involved in quality assurance. A large amount of factual data for the report can be easily retrieved in a convenient form from the project management system. As a rule, the test lead is responsible for creating the report. If necessary, the report can be discussed in small meetings.

The test results report is provided:

• To the project manager – as a source of information about the current situation and the basis for making management decisions; 
• To the head of the development team (“dev-lead”) – as an additional objective view of what is happening on the project; 
• to the head of the testing team (“test lead”) – as a way to structure your own thoughts and collect the necessary material to contact the project manager on pressing issues, if necessary; 
• to the customer – as the most objective source of information about what is happening on the project for which he pays his money.

The test results report includes the following sections: 

1. Short description. In the most concise form, it reflects the main achievements, problems, conclusions and recommendations. Ideally, reading the summary should be enough to give you a good idea of ​​what’s going on, eliminating the need to read the entire report (this is important because a test report can end up in the hands of very busy people). 
2. Team of testers. List of project team members involved in quality assurance, indicating their positions and roles during the reporting period.
3. Description of the testing process. A consistent description of what work was performed during the reporting period. 
4. Schedule. Detailed work schedule of the testing team and/or personal schedules of team members. 
5. Statistics on new defects. A table that presents data on defects detected during the reporting period (classified by life cycle stage and importance). 
6. List of new defects. List of defects discovered during the reporting period with their brief descriptions and importance.
7. Statistics for all defects. A table that presents data on defects discovered during the entire life of the project (classified by life cycle stage and importance). As a rule, a graph reflecting such statistics is added to the same section. 
8. Recommendations. Reasonable conclusions and recommendations for making certain management decisions (changing a test plan, requesting or releasing resources, etc.) Here, this information can be given more space than in a brief description (summary), focusing on exactly what and why it is recommended to do in the current situation.
9. Applications. Actual data (usually metric values ​​and a graphical representation of how they change over time). 

The logic of building a report on test results 

In order for the test results report to be really useful, when creating it, you should always keep in mind the universal reporting logic: 

1. Conclusions are built on the basis of the goals (which were reflected in the plan). 
2. The conclusions are supplemented by recommendations. 
3. Conclusions, as well as recommendations, are strictly substantiated. 
4. The rationale is based on objective facts.

The conclusions should be: 

• Brief. 
• Informative. 
• Useful to the reader of the report.

Recommendations should be: 

• Brief. 
• Realistically doable. 
• Giving an understanding of what needs to be done.