Analytical test strategies start with analysis as its foundation.
Object Guided Strategy
With an object guided strategy, tester looks at requirements, design and/or implementation objects to determine testing focus. These objects can include requirement specifications, design specifications, use cases, UML diagrams, entity-relationship (E-R) diagrams and database schema. This approach relies on extensive documentation, and breaks down when documentation is not available.
Risk Based Strategy
With a risk based strategy, tester uses formal or informal techniques to assess and prioritize quality risks. Various available sources of information can be used. As with the object guided strategy, tester should also draw on the insights of cross functional project team members and other stakeholders. Adjust the tests and the extent of testing according to the risk priority levels. Unlike the object guided variant, this approach can handle situations where there is little or no project documentation.
Fully Informed Strategy
With a fully informed strategy, tester starts with the object guided or risk based strategy, but take the analysis further. Study the system, the usage profiles, the target configurations and as much other data as one can find. Design, develop and execute tests based on the broad, deep knowledge gained in analysis. This approach is great if there is adequate time to research the system.
The items being analyzed are sometimes called the test basis. The results of the analysis guide the entire testing, often through some form of coverage analysis during test design, development, execution and results reporting. These strategies tend to be thorough, good at mitigating quality risks and finding bugs. However, they do require an up-front investment of time.
Sourced from Surveying Test Strategies: A Guide to Smart Selection and Blending by Rex Black, Testing Experience Issue 2-2008. Slight modification has been made to the original text.
