TRACEABILITY MATRIX

TRACEABILITY MATRIX

We have learnt about TM earlier. Once the missing requirements are identified – we write the test cases for the requirements which we have missed – review it and get it approved – and then store the test cases in the repository and then fill in the name of the test case for which the requirements have been missed.

Traceability Matrix is a document which has got the mapping between requirements and test cases. We write TM to make sure that every requirement has got atleast 1 test case.

	REQUIREMNTS … … …. …. …. …. …

 

Serial No.	Module Name	High Level Requirements	Detailed Requirement	Test Case Name	Automation Script Name
1	LOANS	1.1 Personal Loans	1.1.1 …	CBO_PL_Approval
			1.1.2 …	CBO_PL_Elgibility check
		1.2 Home Loans	1.2.1 …
			1.2.2 …
2	AMOUNT TRANSFER	2.1 FAN text field	2.1.1 Should accept only 10 digit integer	…
			2.1.2 Should accept only those numbers which are created by manager	..
		2.2 TAN text field	2.2.1 Should accept only 10 digit integer	…
			2.2.2 Should accept only those numbers created by manager
		2.3 Amount Text field	2.3.1 Should accept only 100 - 5000, positive integer	…
			2.3.2 Should not accept more than balance
…	…	…	…	…

In the above TM – we have written the above TM looking at the requirements. For every requirement, we write the test case name(given in the header of the test case) and thus we know that we have written a test case for that particular requirement. Now, we block the cells for which we have not written test cases. Thus we have missed out on these requirements.

We block it in red. For whichever requirement we have not written test case – we read the requirements – write test cases – review it and get it approved – store it in repository – then go fill in the test case name for whichever requirements we have missed. Thus, in this way for every requirements we have atleast 1 test case.

Look at the figure in the next page,

Thus now all the blocked cells have been removed and test cases have been written for the missing requirements.

Serial No.	Module Name	High Level Requirements	Detailed Requirement	Test Case Name	Automation Script Name
1	LOANS	1.1 Personal Loans	1.1.1 …	CBO_PL_Approval
			1.1.2 …	CBO_PL_Elgibility check
		1.2 Home Loans	1.2.1 …	…
			1.2.2 …	…
2	AMOUNT TRANSFER	2.1 FAN text field	2.1.1 Should accept only 10 digit integer	…
			2.1.2 Should accept only those numbers which are created by manager	…
		2.2 TAN text field	2.2.1 Should accept only 10 digit integer	…
			2.2.2 Should accept only those numbers created by manager	…
		2.3 Amount Text field	2.3.1 Should accept only 100 - 5000, positive integer	…
			2.3.2 Should not accept more than balance	…
…	…	…	…	…

But 100% coverage is not assured in Traceability matrix. For ex, a requirement may have about 10 scenarios, but we have covered only 3 scenarios. Thus, TM will not promise you that we have 100% coverage. Instead it ensures that every requirement has atleast 1 test case which in turn gives the confidence that we are touching all the features atleast once.

In the above table, we have a column named automation script name. If we are automating any test case, we fill in the automation script name (which is same as manual test case name) and which we are not converting, we write it as manual. Thus, we can know which test case is automated and manual. We write this because we cant check every test case to see if it is manual or automated. This is shown in the table given below,

Serial No.	Module Name	High Level Requirements	Detailed Requirement	Test Case Name	Automation Script Name
1	LOANS	1.1 Personal Loans	1.1.1 …	CBO_PL_Approval	CBO_PL_Approval
			1.1.2 …	CBO_PL_Elgibility check	CBO_PL_Elgibility check
		1.2 Home Loans	1.2.1 …	…	..
			1.2.2 …	…	…
2	AMOUNT TRANSFER	2.1 FAN text field	2.1.1 Should accept only 10 digit integer	…	Manual
			2.1.2 Should accept only those numbers which are created by manager	…	Manual
		2.2 TAN text field	2.2.1 Should accept only 10 digit integer	…	…
			2.2.2 Should accept only those numbers created by manager	…	…
		2.3 Amount Text field	2.3.1 Should accept only 100 - 5000, positive integer	…	…
			2.3.2 Should not accept more than balance	…	Manual
…	…	…	…	…

TM gives traceability from high level requirements to automation script name.

Advantages of Traceability Matrix

·         Ensures that every requirement has atleast 1 test case

·         If suddenly requirement is changed – we will be knowing which is the exact test case or automation script to  be modified

·         We will come to know which test case should be executed manually and which are to be done automatically.

Who writes Traceability Matrix?

Test Lead gives an empty template and Test Engineer fills it up for his respective modules. Each Test Engineer fills it up for their modules. For ex, TE concerned with Loans feature will fill in the details(test case names) for Loans feature. Similarly other TE(s) do for their features.

Test Lead consolidates the report after everything has been filled up.