ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the opportunity for reusability in the testing assets and existing industry practices for reusing tests. It shows how test data can also be managed as a reusable asset to enable Full Reuse—reuse of the manual tests, automation scripts, and test data. The chapter explores how the full reuse provides significant savings through fewer shared test assets and minimal maintenance. Testers usually start with a test plan to establish the foundation for the testing effort including scope, responsibilities, environments, tools, approaches, procedures, and so forth. Several industry approaches are taking partial advantage of the test reusability opportunities. Most testers today manage test data by assembling the data for each test in a data sheet. They may develop the manual tests with reusable components, but then they pair the test with one or more spreadsheets that supply the necessary test data.
